Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t believe the Wings won the WNBA lottery for the second straight year. Are they going to take UConn’s Azzi Fudd to pair with her former teammate, Paige Bueckers?
In today’s SI:AM:
🐏 Stafford shines as Rams win again
🏈 How the Cowboys rallied after tragedy
🟠 Shedeur’s first start
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Two-thirds of the way through the NFL season, the true Super Bowl contenders are beginning to separate themselves from the pack. And in the NFC, it’s the Rams who have emerged as the team to beat.
Los Angeles now holds the best record in the conference at 9–2 after demolishing the Buccaneers 34–7 at home on Sunday Night Football. The Rams have won six games in a row with an average margin of victory of 18.5 points.
That leaves the Rams as the only team in the NFC with fewer than three losses on the season. The Patriots and Broncos are the only other teams in the league that have yet to lose three games. But as impressive as New England and Denver have been, the Rams have proven that they belong in a tier above other top teams.
Sunday’s win went how most other Rams games have gone this season. The offense marched down the field with ease while the defense put its opponent in a stranglehold. Los Angeles raced out to a 31–7 halftime lead after Matthew Stafford sliced through the Bucs’ defense and the Rams picked off Baker Mayfield twice. The Rams managed only a field goal in the second half, but it didn’t matter. Mayfield was sidelined after halftime with a shoulder injury, and backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater struggled to get the offense going.
Stafford strengthened his case for his first career MVP award with another brilliant performance. He completed 25-of-35 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 30 passing touchdowns this season, by far the most of any quarterback in the NFL—Jared Goff and Dak Prescott are tied for second with 23—and could very well end up setting a new career high for TD passes. As it stands now, Stafford has only had three seasons in which he’s thrown for more touchdowns than he has this season. His career high is 41, set in 2011 and matched in ’21, his first season with the Rams. But what makes Stafford’s performance in his 17th NFL season MVP-worthy is that he’s taking care of the ball better than he ever has before.
Stafford threw 16 interceptions in 2011 and 17 in ’21 (tied with Trevor Lawrence for the most in the NFL that year). This year, he’s thrown two. The last one came on his third pass of the day in a game against the Eagles, all the way back on Sept. 21. In the two months since then, he’s thrown 308 passes without an interception. That’s the longest such streak in Rams franchise history. His 27 touchdowns without an interception are the most since at least 1978 (when the NFL began tracking play-by-play data). ‘
“He’s playing like the most valuable player in the league,” teammate Davante Adams said of Stafford after Sunday’s game. “You can see it in the numbers, the way he’s taking command of the huddle and the offense, the way him and Sean [McVay] put things together and work throughout the week together to put together a good product for us. Just all around. I mean, he’s a great leader and obviously knows how to put points on the board and keep this offense moving.”
The Rams’ offense has been great this year (sixth-best in the NFL with 27.8 points per game), but the defense has been even better. Los Angeles leads the NFL with a paltry 16.3 points allowed per game. This is what sets this year apart from recent Rams’ seasons. In the first four years of the Stafford era, the Rams had thoroughly mediocre defenses, ranking in the middle of the pack in points allowed. This year, though, we’re seeing the benefit of pairing an efficient offense with a vastly improved defense.
One thing that makes the defense so good is its ability pressure the quarterback without blitzing. The Rams are tied for seventh in the NFL in quarterback pressure percentage but rank 31st in blitz percentage. How? Because they have two elite pass rushers in Byron Young and Jared Verse, who can win one-on-one battles and get to the quarterback. Verse has 20 QB hits this season and Young has 18. The only other team in the NFL that has two players with at least 18 QB hits is the Broncos (Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto). The ability to generate pressure with only four rushers makes the Rams one of the league’s most formidable pass defenses, ranking fifth in net yards per attempt.
The combination of a high-powered offense and an elite defense should already have the rest of the NFL getting nervous, but there’s one more thing that proves just how outstanding the Rams have been: They’ve sprinted out to this 9–2 start while playing one of the toughest schedules. The Rams are tied for fifth in strength of schedule, according to Pro Football Reference. (The Patriots—the only team with double-digit wins—rank dead last.) If you had to pick today who was going to win the Super Bowl, the battle-tested team with the best record in the NFC must be the best choice.
Shedeur Sanders throws a pass
Shedeur Sanders did enough in his first career start to keep people talking. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
… things I saw yesterday:
5. A wild scrambling save by Philadelphia Union goalie Andre Blake to keep his team within striking distance in the MLS playoffs against NYCFC. New York went on to win 1–0 to advance to the Eastern Conference final, where it will face Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
4. A 63-yard bomb from Sam Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. It was JSN’s second touchdown catch of at least 60 yards this season, making him the only player in the NFL with multiple such plays.
3. DeVonta Smith’s adjustment to come down with an amazing catch.
2. A beautiful move by the Sabres’ Beck Malenstyn for a goal against the Hurricanes.
1. Jameis Winston’s first career touchdown catch on a trick play against the Lions.