It didn\u2019t take long for the Rams to lose that “super team” sheen. One poorly planned trip across the globe and an uncompetitive loss to the 49ers did most of the work. Splitting their next four games, including Monday\u2019s overtime loss to the Bills, finished the job. And now this team that was expected to dominate the 2026 season faces an uphill climb just to get back in the NFC West race. To be fair, the super team theory hasn\u2019t really been put to the test. Myles Garrett, the offseason addition that got the narrative rolling, has played one injury-compromised game and hasn’t played a snap with Aaron Donald, whose return solidified Los Angeles as the team to beat. Unsurprisingly, the Rams defense hasn\u2019t taken the step forward we all expected after the team\u2019s eventful offseason, but that\u2019s not the team\u2019s biggest issue right now. Even the special teams unit, which cost Los Angeles the Buffalo game, isn\u2019t the biggest concern. That would be the offensive regression \u2013 specifically, the regression of Matthew Stafford. Stafford’s numbers have dropped across the board. A year after throwing 45 touchdowns and just eight interceptions, the reigning MVP is on pace to throw 30 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. The Rams passing game, which finished second in expected points added in 2025, is down to 13th this season. Overall, the offense has fallen from the league\u2019s most efficient unit down to ninth. That\u2019s not a calamitous fall, but the Rams being a super team depended on the offense staying at the top of the statistical charts. Through five games, it\u2019s been merely “good,” which isn\u2019t good enough for a team that wants to win a Super Bowl. If Los Angeles wants to do it, it needs Stafford back in MVP form. Whether that\u2019s even possible is fair to question for reasons that can be answered with a quick Google search of “Matthew Stafford age.” Outside of Tom Brady, 38-year-olds don\u2019t typically get better. That\u2019s around the age when we start to see a physical decline, and the underlying numbers suggest Stafford is starting to cede ground to Father Time. Stafford\u2019s play under pressure is particularly concerning. Per Pro Football Focus, he\u2019s averaging just 4.5 yards per attempt under pressure, about 2 yards lower than his 2025 average (6.3). He\u2019s also thrown three picks, which ties him for the league lead. The film tells a similar story: Stafford doesn’t look as confident in the pocket when pass rushers bear down on him. It\u2019s easy for me to tell Stafford to stand in there and eat those hits while I type this up in pajama pants. Those hits hurt like hell, especially when you\u2019re pushing 40. But his waning tolerance for those hits is the biggest factor in his declining production. In 2025, Stafford threw eight touchdowns to zero interceptions in a “closing” pocket, per PFF. This season, he\u2019s already thrown four interceptions and hasn’t thrown a touchdown yet. His yards-per-attempt average is down a full yard. In a way, Stafford’s season resembles Peyton Manning\u2019s final year in 2015, when the Hall-of-Fame quarterback started throwing with more anticipation to beat pressure before it gets home. That led to more interceptions. Throwing with anticipation is generally good, but it\u2019s not always the case. It requires guesswork, and you can\u2019t perfectly predict how the other 21 people on the field will move. On this play from the Week 3 loss in Denver, Stafford thought Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga would stick with his assignment and run with tight end Tyler Higbee. Instead, he fell off his man and undercut Stafford\u2019s throw for a pick-6. Here, Stafford thought 49ers cornerback Renardo Green would stay in the flat, as he was assigned. Instead, he drifted underneath Puka Nacua\u2019s corner route and made the easy interception. Interceptions aren\u2019t the only issue. Stafford\u2019s early throws have made things harder for his receivers, who have to adjust to the ball quicker than expected. This has been the main issue for the passing game, but it\u2019s too early to say that it can\u2019t be fixed. Stafford is basically a part-time participant in training camp at this point in his career, and he doesn\u2019t play at all in the preseason. It\u2019s understandable \u2013 if not expected – that it\u2019s taking him a little longer to re-acclimate to the speed of an NFL game and get comfortable throwing under pressure. This could also be a self-preservation thing. Super Bowls aren\u2019t won in September or October. Before the Rams can lift the Lombardi in February, Stafford will first have to stay healthy throughout the season. Like the defense, it\u2019s hard to measure the offense\u2019s ceiling without seeing it at full strength. Nacua and tight end Terrance Ferguson, who was projected for a breakout season, have missed two games apiece and have shared the field for just 25 snaps. We still haven’t seen Sean McVay\u2019s fully realized vision for this offense beyond a handful of snaps. I don\u2019t need to elaborate on why Nacua’s missed time has been detrimental, but Ferguson\u2019s absences shouldn\u2019t be discounted either. He\u2019s the skeleton key that unlocks L.A.\u2019s three tight-end packages everyone was raving about in the offseason. The second-year pro can line up as a traditional tight end to block or out wide to stretch the field, which is extremely rare for his position. McVay has expanded his usage to include a Travis Kelce-like role, lining up in the slot and running option routes against safeties and linebackers, who stand no chance against an athletic route-runner with a two-way go. I have my concerns about Stafford, but I\u2019m not hitting the panic button on the Rams just yet. Stafford has plenty of time to play himself off “washed watch,” and the receiving corps should return to full strength in the coming weeks, unlocking the full potential of McVay\u2019s offense. There are still three months until the postseason. That\u2019s plenty of time for Los Angeles to reclaim the “super team” title and its spot atop the list of title favorites. But if Stafford is still shying away from hits and making mistakes under pressure come wintertime, this team can forget about the Super Bowl. Just getting to the playoffs will be a challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It didn\u2019t take long for the Rams to lose that “super team” sheen. One poorly planned trip across the globe and an uncompetitive loss to the 49ers did most of the work. Splitting their next four games, including Monday\u2019s overtime loss to the Bills, finished the job. And now this team that was expected to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}