The Rams' Super-Bowl-or-bust season has started, for the most part, bust, given their great expectations. Everything went wrong in a Week 1 blowout loss to the 49ers, from the travel plan to the on-field product to the health problems that emerged from it: Myles Garrett underwent knee surgery, and Puka Nacua missed several weeks with a hip/groin issue. Los Angeles blew out the Giants in Week 2 after Jaxson Dart left early, but collapsed in Week 3 against the Broncos and needed a late comeback to overcome a sloppy first 50 minutes against the struggling Eagles.
The Rams are 2-2 -- hardly the end of the world, but not looking close to a championship winner. One of the biggest reasons is that Matthew Stafford doesn't look close to what he was during his MVP-winning 2025. If the Rams want to live up to their superteam reputation, it starts with him.
Stafford was at the peak of his powers last season in several facets, but perhaps the most impressive was his lack of turnovers. He threw just eight interceptions, and his 1.3% interception rate was the lowest of his career. He's already up to six interceptions this season -- only Drake Maye has more -- and his 3.7% interception rate would be his highest since his 2009 rookie season.
It's been a combination of bad throws and bad decisions. The crushing pick-six he threw to Talanoa Hufanga in Week 3? "Yeah, that was forced ...
Hufanga did a really nice job of kind of fighting through the Y, and [I threw] just a little bit back behind [my target]." The two picks against the Eagles? "Obviously, I don't ever want to turn the ball over like the first one. It was a physical mistake; the ball kind of sailed on me.
On the second one, I just got too aggressive. ... I put that ball in a bad spot ..." jumped the pass, ran a lot, took the leadWhat an effort by Talanoa Hufanga 🙌 pic.twitter.com/9xvvAC6uoF The aggressive mindset is ingrained in Stafford. He wants to and can make the big-time throws.
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