Rams Wire@TheRamsWire
No QB has more games with 4-plus TD passes than Matthew Stafford since 2021

Bad coaching
Good coaching
Great coaching@RamsNFL pic.twitter.com/oDGrBNIOk6

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) September 22, 2026

"The Rams' problems are rich people problems. Like, 'My Porsche is in the shop' and 'My private jet is delayed'"@colincowherd thinks the Rams aren't clicking yet… and they still dominated the Giants pic.twitter.com/Pt6lHinNGI

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) September 22, 2026

It is true that the Giants were more banged up than the Rams. But of course the Rams were banged up too. On the Rams side, this led to the double specter of a top run game and a brilliant connection between Stafford and Adams, all against a very good defense.

There were times we can all remember where the Rams would lose games like this.

For me, in the midst of the weird combo of gaudy yet mistake prone offense, it was a pleasure to see players like Adams and McDuffie excel.

And in the middle of all this chaos league wide driven by compromised OL play, it was good to see the Rams OL just be solidly effective.

Some details.

* Kyren Wms said he worked on his speed in the offseason. To me, it showed. He didn’t suddenly become Tony Dorsett, but he had a bit more speed in his game.

* The Rams DL is so deep it’s almost unbelievable. And we didn’t even hear much from Fiske or Ford. I have this radical new deep revelation that leads to me to a profound new claim: namely, I think this unit is going to just get better and better. Really. I promise. It’s true. I swear.

* Some games, Lake just makes plays. When he does that he just seems to be tuned in to what the opposing offense is trying to do.

* Atwell, in his few plays, looked more confidently decisive than before. He’s still a role player, but it could grow into an important role.

* Ferguson took steps toward being the “TE in the 3rd WR” role that he is kind of destined for in McVay’s mind. I like the fact that both Stafford and McVay chewed him out for the dropped 3rd down pass, and that he responded to that in a constructive way.

* Protection is big for this offense. Higbee was more a 6th lineman than a true TE. I bet we see more of that this year.

* Everyone on defense plays crazier and more tuned in when Donald is active–that’s whether he is on the field or the sideline. Players used to say that with Steven Jackson on the team, you just played harder out of respect for him. I think it’s the same with Donald.

* Special teams has gone from being a game-killing, bottom of the league unit capable of causing multiple disasters, to being just somewhat below average/slash/mediocre. So…big improvement!

* On third and short, setting up a run look then rolling Stafford out to hit a TE who had lined up before the snap as a blocker? That play looks unstoppable. In the future, teams will defend that, but doing so will just subtract from the run defense. It’s a clever thing McVay does with that, since the play and then (eventually) just threatening to run that play will force defenders into contradictory no-win responses.

* To be honest? I knew Adams was good, we all did. But I had no idea how good. He truly ranks right up there with a very long list of great Rams WRs, including Ellard, Bruce, Holt, Kupp, OBJ, and Nacua. That’s just true of course but what I want to stress here is how much seeing him in that game just drove that point home. In one game, I went from “yeah he’s good glad we have him” to “wow.”

from ESPN, Ben Solak: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49999213/week-3-seven-things-solak-thinks-baker-mayfield-patriots-chargers#lar

… Aaron Donald’s ridiculous retirement workout regimen has paid off

Thirty-two snaps? For a 35-year-old defensive tackle who hasn’t played in 2½ years? I really can’t believe it. Even if you remind me that this guy is a supervillain athlete, I still would have guessed 15, maybe 20 snaps in his debut game.

Only three defensive tackles at least 35 years old have taken at least 30 snaps in a game since the start of last season: John Jenkins, Calais Campbell and Cameron Heyward. Donald could have easily gotten to 40 if forced to contribute in the second half; he took four snaps in the fourth quarter.

The Rams didn’t give Donald long strings of plays. They subbed their lines consistently, especially as they used four- and five-man fronts to combat various personnel groupings from the Giants. So, I still have conditioning questions, though those will exist with any big man playing at his age; it’s hard to keep that engine humming for four quarters.

The Giants also wanted to test that motor, and they went tempo in the third quarter when Donald was on the field, though they weren’t good enough on offense to pick up first downs and keep him trapped.

But how did Donald look with fresh legs? I was impressed. He’s still quick as a cat off the line of scrimmage. Watch here on the final play of the first quarter. The Giants are trying to pin him with the right tackle and pull the center and guard around the block. Donald is so quick upfield that he forces the center (John Michael Schmitz Jr., No. 61) to take a wide path around his disruption (and he gets a little tug on the jersey as a bonus) while running back Cam Skattebo is accelerated by the blitz behind. The timing of the play is ruined.

pic.twitter.com/XkzQBcX5sM

— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) September 22, 2026

Late in the first half, the Giants ask tight end Isaiah Likely to block down on Donald so they can run a puller in behind. This is a very silly idea. Donald again gets too far upfield and disrupts the puller, and Najee Harris is forced to burrow his head into the line of scrimmage and eat a TFL.

pic.twitter.com/H5yiONHRZu

— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) September 22, 2026

As long as that first step is still kicking, Donald will be a problem for opposing offenses. Next Gen Stats had Donald with a 0.75-second get-off in this game, tied for the third-fastest get-off for a defensive tackle in a game this season. That sort of upfield disruption, even if it comes with fewer finished rushes and sacks, or comes on a lower snap count, still matters a great deal.

Were this a random game in 2023, I’d call it a bad performance for Donald’s pass-rushing presence. He ate a lot of double-teams, which opened up other rushers. But he struggled to separate from offensive linemen and create pressure on the quarterback. He had only one pressure on the day, which occurred late in the fourth quarter, when the Giants were down by 22 and in desperation mode. In the Next Gen Stats era — from 2016, 134 regular-season and playoff games — Donald has had only one pressure in eight games. This was a rare sight.

I’d be worried about that if it weren’t a weird game script: Jaxson Dart out (knee), good Giants offensive line, no real reason to play Donald in the fourth quarter. The pressures will come as Donald gets back into the flow of pass rushing against real offensive linemen. That’s the sort of thing that no shirtless Instagram workout can really replace.

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2026/09/21/rams-matthew-stafford-touchdown-passes-history-franchise/91882791007/?taid=6ab20b9714be170001b918ce&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Matthew Stafford is only in his sixth season with the Los Angeles Rams and he’s already approaching the top of the team’s all-time leaderboards. On Monday night against the New York Giants, Stafford threw two first-half touchdown passes to give him 143 in his Rams career.

That moved him into second place all-time in Rams history, behind only Roman Gabriel, who had 154 touchdown passes with the franchise. Stafford has only played 65 games with the Rams, which is half as many as Gabriel played (130) to reach 154.

With other teams if a star player is out, they lose that player’s production and try to compensate for that.

With the Rams it’s like, okay, Nacua is out, so this gives us a chance to make up for neglecting Adams as much as we have till now.

BTW I don’t know if people know this, but the Rams had 3 WRs on the inactive list, 2 cause of injury. Nacua, Whittington, and Daniels.