You’d be hard-pressed to find a time this season when Rams head coach Sean McVay was happier than he was after his team’s 34-24 Week 3 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. The Rams had traded Jared Goff, two first-round picks, and a third-round pick to the Lions for Matthew Stafford, and this was one instance in which Stafford’s plus-level attributes showed up en masse. McVay had grown tired of Goff hitting his head on his own ceiling, but with Stafford, the Rams had nothing but blue sky, as he completed 27 of 38 passes for 343 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 134.0.
Stafford bombed the Bucs’ depleted secondary for three completions on five attempts of 20 or more air yards for 117 yards and a touchdown, and this as close to McVay’s ideal vision for his passing game as you’ll ever see.
“What he’s done through three games, I think his resumé speaks for itself,” the giddy coach said after the game. “He’s done a great job through these three games. And that’s all he can really do. I think he’s just seamlessly accommodated himself or really acclimated himself to being in our building. His teammates love him. His coaches love him. And he just goes about his business. He’s so steady, so consistent. And I just thought he got better as the game progressed. And, you know, love working with him.”
Stafford has had his ups and downs since, and there are clear things about his game that can be countered, but if he’s able to put together a similar performance, and everything else breaks as it did for the Rams in Week 3, there’s a pretty good chance that McVay is about to dethrone the champs and head back to the NFC Championship game for the first time since the 2018 season.
Here’s what the Rams should do in a schematic sense to ensure that the second verse is the same as the first. .