PFF LA Rams@PFF_Rams
EDGE: Jared Verse 💪

PFF’s Team of the Week for the divisional round

If Rams’ beautifully improbable season had to end, Matthew Stafford got a last word

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6074132/2025/01/19/rams-playoff-loss-matthew-stafford-comeback/

PHILADELPHIA — If it had to end, as all things do, then Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was going to make it such an end that it would leave no doubt about what he and this team are made of.

In the icy, sideways-swirling white fury of snow, down two touchdowns as underdogs to the Eagles and grimacing through injured ribs (again), Stafford drove the Rams 10 plays and 70 yards for a touchdown in under two minutes, letting us all know exactly which dude had arrived by capping the drive with one of his signature no-look passes. Defensive tackle and team captain Kobie Turner sacked quarterback Jalen Hurts on the other side of the possession for a 12-yard loss, ultimately forcing a punt and preventing the game’s clinching first down.

For a few moments, the noise from the notorious Philadelphia crowd — explosive and energetic and packed to the gills in its finest all-weather gear — dulled.

And as Stafford and the offense took the field with 2:23 left in the game, down just 6 points, he and the Rams and their head coach all believed.

“I didn’t see it going any other way than us winning 29-28,” said Sean McVay at the lectern postgame. As he spoke for the next few minutes, he fought back tears. It’s rare anywhere but in the movies that a sports team that makes such an improbable run as the Rams did from their 1-4 start gets the ending it dreams about, the ending that was just a few yards and one or two plays away in Sunday night’s 28-22 divisional round loss.

Oh, it felt so close. First the Rams won 10 of 14 games after their dismal start and an emotional and mental reset during the Week 6 bye. They got healthy. They clinched the NFC West and earned a home-field game in the wild-card round. Literal disaster struck: Their beloved city, the initials of which many players have tattooed on their arms or legs, was decimated by wildfires that emergency crews are still battling. Their first playoff game relocated to Arizona last Monday, they brought their entire operation with them and bused in thousands of fans who cried together in the stands during tributes to first responders and as a massive “L.A. Together” banner unfurled across the stands, and then the team smoked the 14-win Minnesota Vikings.

So, so close to the fairytale. There are still some on this Rams roster and coaching staff who know a real-life fairytale is possible — some who had to evacuate their homes over the last two weeks and brought their Super Bowl rings with them. Some moments about Sunday night’s loss to the Eagles felt like a fateful night in Tampa Bay a few years ago, when Stafford first showed the world the “soul-stealer,” the relish he has for football’s darkest chaos and most blinding pain.

This team didn’t get that story. It got something else instead. It isn’t hosting the NFC Championship Game, or a ring, but it matters.

“I think this game in a lot of ways epitomized the resilience, the grit, the ability to overcome adversity,” McVay said. “There will be some things that we can learn from. But this is the time for gratitude, for appreciation. I love this group. I love this coaching staff. I love these players. And I also understand and appreciate how difficult it is to be in positions like this, where you got the game in hand.”

Two late fumbles, one by running back Kyren Williams (who has struggled with ball security at times this year) and one by Stafford — both aided in part by the weather — were recovered by the Eagles but only turned into field goals. They slightly widened the gap between the teams in an otherwise tight game to that point. Running back Saquon Barkley, whose historic day against the Rams in Week 12 led to an embarrassing loss, ripped out the second of two long touchdowns in the fourth quarter for 78 yards (Barkley finished the game with 205 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and his 232 scrimmage yards accounted for 76 percent of the Eagles’ net offense).

But Stafford had a say.

He did fumble. But he finished the game 26 of 44 (with at least three second-half drops by receivers due to the conditions) for 324 yards and two touchdowns. On the Rams’ final possession, he hit a short 11-yard pass to veteran receiver Demarcus Robinson, and then one of his vintage sideline shots to second-year receiver Puka Nacua to set the offense up in scoring position at the Philadelphia 21-yard line.

“As (for) the conditions, you thinking they ain’t gonna throw it as much as like, as aggressive like that,” said Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, Stafford’s former teammate in Detroit, of the late-game surge by the quarterback and the Rams offense. “S—. Stafford was slinging that mf—–. And look here, I’m talking about everything was catchable.”

Rams guard Kevin Dotson — the only offensive lineman who was available for every game this season — false-started on second-and-7 to set up second-and-12, and Stafford and Nacua connected to get back 10 of those yards. A “miscommunication” (McVay’s words) led to a sack for a 9-yard loss on third-and-2 by standout Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter. After a fourth down fell incomplete (a play McVay alluded to some frustration over, likely because of contact on Nacua during his route) it was over, the Eagles crowd roaring again as suddenly as it had gone quiet just a few minutes earlier.

“(Stafford) led us. He put us in a position to be able to win that football game,” McVay said. “That’s who he is. I’m not at all surprised. We had the expectation with him leading the way that we were gonna win that game.”

Stafford, who turns 37 in February, restructured his contract ahead of training camp this summer to shape its guarantees into effectively a one-year deal with the idea to revisit that conversation this offseason. Neither he nor McVay wanted to talk about that contract or his direct future with the Rams so quickly after a loss (understandable).

“It’s 30 minutes after the last game, so I’ll take some time to think about it,” he said, “but I feel like I was playing some pretty good ball.”

I asked Stafford in the locker room if he believes he still has some football left in him and he half-grinned and said, “Sure feels like it.”

At one point this year, the spiraling Rams were on the verge of blowing up their roster ahead of the trade deadline and in conversation with teams about a possible Cooper Kupp trade. If Kupp went the belief was that it was only a matter of time before Stafford did, too. But they didn’t, and as he always has when put in some sort of mental or physical stress, Stafford responded.

“I’m just proud to be associated with this group,” he said. “Group of players, coaches, training staff, equipment guys, it was everybody. And there were a lot of people at 1-4 that were talking about ‘who was gonna replace everybody on every position of our team’ and ‘should we sell the farm at the trade deadline, should we tank,’ all of that.

“Just proud of our guys (for) not listening to all of that bulls— and just going and playing. Doing what we can do. We did that, and obviously got to a point where we had a chance to make some noise and did. Didn’t come away with the win today, but just proud to be associated with this group and the way that they went about their business day in and day out, distractions, whatever it was. Never letting anything really get to us.”

All things must end eventually, but even when they don’t end-end — in football, they still change. This team’s personality was different from the scrappy collection of youngsters who made it all the way to the wild-card round in 2023. Next year’s team will be different, too. We just don’t know how yet. We don’t know who it’ll be. We don’t know who we will be.

I think part of the beauty in all of these weeks and months and wins and losses and bad days and good ones is finding that out as we all go.

“I love this group,” McVay said, “and I’m just really sad that this journey is over. This was a special season. It’s as much fun as I’ve had, as much as (I have) ever wanted to do right for the people in that locker room.

“We’ve had a lot of special teams. But this team, there was something really special about ’em.”

grit… almost one helluva comeback. pic.twitter.com/S4JzAYluyG

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) January 19, 2025

.

Puka Nacua, how?!?!?!?pic.twitter.com/DuSMTiZkKa

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 19, 2025

RedAlice

Odd statistic. I guess this will hold unless we beat the Eagles and then play the Lions again. (Unless the Commanders beat the Lions).

Weird Fact: Sean McVay will coach his 13th playoff game as head coach of the Rams this weekend. All 13 games have been against different opponents.

Opponent -Date
Atlanta Falcons January 6, 2018
Dallas Cowboys January 12, 2019
New Orleans Saints January 20, 2019
New England Patriots February 3, 2019
Seattle Seahawks January 9, 2021
Green Bay Packers January 16, 2021
Arizona Cardinals January 17, 2022
Tampa Bay Buccaneers January 23, 2022
San Francisco 49ers January 30, 2022
Cincinnati Bengals February 13, 2022
Detroit Lions January 6, 2024
Minnesota Vikings January 13, 2025
Philadelphia Eagles January 19, 2025

So he only needs to face the Commanders, Giants, Panthers, and Bears to play every NFC team besides the Rams in the playoffs.

ahead of today's game, the number of times each team has played in the divisional round (super bowl era) – this year's divisional round teams highlighted in blue: pic.twitter.com/nERXTMMjxi

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) January 18, 2025

The Rams defense is playing so fast.

Omar Speights meets Aaron Jones in the hole and three other Rams defenders are there for help.

Going to be key this week to contain Barkley. pic.twitter.com/H1akQZNAaN

— Blaine Grisak 💭 (@bgrisakTST) January 18, 2025

Coming into the game I noted that the Rams would need a big game from Cobie Durant. Was their best man corner.

Durant keeps his eyes on the QB and takes a great angle to undercut Addison for his first career playoff INT. pic.twitter.com/7zo7PdkNjM

— Blaine Grisak 💭 (@bgrisakTST) January 18, 2025

LA Rams Roster Moves:
• Activated, from Practice Squad (Standard Elevation) OL A.J. Arcuri, OLB Keir Thomas pic.twitter.com/Jgb4yzlhx0

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 18, 2025

6 minutes of epic Jayden Daniels finishes but they get increasingly more clutch 📈 @Commanders pic.twitter.com/WmHhyoTuTS

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) January 17, 2025