Adam Schein@AdamSchein
Matthew Stafford: 2nd QB in past 50 seasons to lead NFL in passing yards, passing TD & TD-INT ratio.

The other? 2007 Tom Brady.

Truly special season from Rams QB. 46 TDs, 4707 passing yards against incredibly tough schedule. Totally dominant. Best QB in NFL in 2025.

J.B. Long@JB_Long
The argument “but he’s the 5-seed” is completely understandable. Team success should matter.

However, the counterargument is so much stronger: LA’s runner-up finish in the NFC West is far outweighed by earning the 2nd-best point differential in the NFL (+172) & doing so against the strongest schedule of any playoff team.

Benjamin Allbright@AllbrightNFL
if I had to guess, based on asking around… I would say Mike Vrabel gets coach of the year and Matt Stafford MVP

Right now Cousins is kneeling out a Falcons 19 to 17 win.

Rams, if they win, play the Panthers.

It just appears that in the race to not take the division, the Buxx didn’t want the division more. As we know, “not wanting it more” can be a big deal in games.

So…Panthers are stuck with it.

Brady Henderson@BradyHenderson
Per ESPN Research, the 173 yards the Seahawks held the 49ers to was SF’s fewest in any game under Kyle Shanahan, who became their coach in 2017. It was the only time since that season’s opener that they failed to top three points.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME BAKER??

pic.twitter.com/UkWiyZNMvs

— Travis J Davidson (@TravisSkol) January 3, 2026

Moderately insane chain of events.

Bryce Young throws obvious backward pass to Dowdle, who picks it up with room to run but it’s whistled dead immediately by an official who ruled it a forward pass. Referee Brad Allen then announces it’s a backward pass “that went out of bounds”… pic.twitter.com/csa1XQkUKP

— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) January 3, 2026

The playmaking instincts of Trinidad Chambliss are ridiculous.

This 3-play sequence sums it up. pic.twitter.com/scveD6uOFc

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 2, 2026

from Nate Atkins: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6935178/2026/01/02/rams-quentin-lake-late-season-form/?source=emp_shared_article

Quentin Lake

The biggest jolt the Rams could get after that Falcons loss arrived this week: Not only is safety Quentin Lake back to practice after a six-week absence, but the Rams believe so much in what he’s coming back as that they were ready to lock it in for the long term.

In the span of one hour Thursday, Los Angeles opened the practice window for Lake and announced a three-year contract extension that will pay him $42 million with $25.7 million in guarantees, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. Conversations about the deal had been in the works since this spring, but the timing of it feels like a statement about what this defense needs now.

“He does so many things and wears so many hats for this defense, and there are no excuses,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said of Lake. “Anytime you lose a great player like that, you definitely feel the absence when you don’t have them. You feel it when you’re game planning, and then you feel it on the practice field all the time.”

On a defense that is the lowest-paid in the NFL, Lake, a 2022 sixth-round pick, has become the engine to the creative elements Shula wants to deploy in a group built around the pass rush to run heavy dime packages and disguised zone looks to make quarterbacks hold the ball and play in the face of Jared Verse, Byron Young and others.

Verse and Young will be Pro Bowl starters. In the 10 games Lake started, Young and Verse combined for 13 sacks. In the six games without him, they’ve combined for just 4.5.

But perhaps the most noticeable difference has been in the run defense. Through the first 10 games, the Rams allowed 100.7 rushing yards per game. In the six games without Lake, that has grown to 133 yards per game. The explosive plays have skyrocketed. A unit that rarely allowed a run of 15 yards or more has been gashed in two straight weeks by Kenneth Walker III and Bijan Robinson as the Seattle Seahawks and the Falcons combined for 6.7 yards per carry.

One illustrative play came when Verse had a chance to stop Robinson in the backfield Monday night, and Verse grabbed Robinson by the collar and said he was expecting backup to arrive. It never came, and Robinson shook Verse off and ran for 31 yards. The backup Verse expected would come from Lake, or would often be coordinated by him. He is known for moving his alignment just before the snap to disrupt blocking schemes and free up the second level to make tackles, allowing Nate Landman to enjoy a breakout season to earn an extension of his own, only to see his tackle rate plummet during Lake’s absence.

Lake won’t play Sunday as he’s gaining game speed in a precautionary way ahead of the playoffs. But his return will bring some run defense, a back-end force in coverage and the coordination a younger secondary could use right now.