What will it take to make the Stafford trade worth it in your opinion?

[Faceplant]

Losing Akers hurts

No doubt. That one is a game changer. Luckily we have a pretty good coach and an amazing group of veteran WRs. We should be able to find a way. Also, and I'm sorry if this wasn't mentioned earlier, but we have a pretty good QB as well. Should be fun to watch.

 

[FarNorth]

Mr North...in your opinion, does that description really define for yourself how much the Rams have upgraded the position?

Not at all. I was making a point about the overall offense, not assessing Stafford. I have high hopes for Stafford and the Rams in 2021 but I'm being conservative in predictions. We'll see what happens.

Obviously Stafford has talent. That's always been clear. In past years I expected better results from him in Detroit and was disappointed and frankly puzzled by the lack of success at least on a team level. However, I personally didn't really see him play there enough to understand what happened with their offense. Since the trade I haven't had time or interest to unravel it. (Who could stand to go back and watch old Lions' games? I did see one by accident from last year against GB, which was not Stafford's best performance. )

So I am not an expert on Stafford and am not yet prepared to make predictions about how he may be able to improve the Rams' offense. As a Rams' fan however I'm prepared to believe that Detroit's poor record wasn't Stafford's fault. And instead I'm waiting to see him on the field with the Rams.

Of course the team around him matters too. This the key point made by his supporters about his 12 years in Detroit, and it is fair to make it now. I was very encouraged by the Rams' addition of speed receivers and deletion of Blythe, Reynolds and Everett, all inconsistent players imo. But losing Akers could potentially undermine the Rams' running game. I hope not, but the running game matters a lot to McVay's deception offense, which is the point I was trying to make in the post. And it matters for Stafford's success. A poor running game is again a point often cited for Detroit's lack of success.

I'm still very hopeful for the Rams this year but I would rather have conservative expectations and see Stafford and the Rams greatly exceed them than to predict Super Bowl wins and MVPs and be disappointed (for any one of a number of reasons including injuries.)

 

[XXXIVwin]

Without reading most of this thread...

IMHO the Stafford trade is already worth it.

All indications are that Stafford is a significant upgrade at the QB position.

"Super Bowl or bust" is IMHO a totally unrealistic expectation. In order to get to and win the Super Bowl, ya need good luck and minimal injuries, both of which have nothing to do with the Stafford trade.

Love the Stafford trade mostly because it confirms this FO is willing to go for it.

 

[FrantikRam]

Without reading most of this thread...

IMHO the Stafford trade is already worth it.

All indications are that Stafford is a significant upgrade at the QB position.

"Super Bowl or bust" is IMHO a totally unrealistic expectation. In order to get to and win the Super Bowl, ya need good luck and minimal injuries, both of which have nothing to do with the Stafford trade.

Love the Stafford trade mostly because it confirms this FO is willing to go for it.

To this point - if you watch a championship parade, the star players will often reference the end of the roster types as being crucial. Reason for this is that they go to work with these guys every single day. It's a bit eye opening for us fans because it sheds light on the fact that in their day to day, there's little that were actually aware of.

So - we saw Ramsey already talk about Stafford pin pointing passes and throwing guys open as something that he'd "never seen before" - if you accept that Stafford is better than Goff, the trade is paying dividends in camp right now as Stafford will be helping not only the offense, but the defense too as Ramsey alluded to.

 

[Shuie3225]

Without reading most of this thread...

IMHO the Stafford trade is already worth it.

All indications are that Stafford is a significant upgrade at the QB position.

"Super Bowl or bust" is IMHO a totally unrealistic expectation. In order to get to and win the Super Bowl, ya need good luck and minimal injuries, both of which have nothing to do with the Stafford trade.

Love the Stafford trade mostly because it confirms this FO is willing to go for it.

This right here. The fact is simple, we dont win a Super Bowl without high level QB play. Goff was obviously not the answer. Stafford is a more talented player and by all accounts has been impressing in camp big time. After two days we've heard Ramsey say his ball placement is elite and something he's never seen before. We also heard McVay and Kupp sing his praises regarding how he manipulates defenses with his eyes.

To me there is no price to expensive when it comes to getting a franchise QB. And now we have one. Paying Goff the huge contract was a big mistake by McVay no doubt, but you cant fault him for fixing the issue two years later. It takes a lot of balls to admit defeat like that publicly. Now he's got his guy.

 

[RamFan503]

Hey, I hope he wins MVP. Hope he carries this team as far as possible, but I am not blinded by team colors and assume he turns into Tom Brady all of sudden. You know, the guy who went to an organization with a losing culture and won a SB in one yr. A guy who actually elevated his new team, while his old team fell off a cliff without him.

Is that what happened in TB? Really? The only change was Brady?

 

[Merlin]

This right here. The fact is simple, we dont win a Super Bowl without high level QB play. Goff was obviously not the answer. Stafford is a more talented player and by all accounts has been impressing in camp big time. After two days we've heard Ramsey say his ball placement is elite and something he's never seen before. We also heard McVay and Kupp sing his praises regarding how he manipulates defenses with his eyes.

To me there is no price to expensive when it comes to getting a franchise QB. And now we have one. Paying Goff the huge contract was a big mistake by McVay no doubt, but you cant fault him for fixing the issue two years later. It takes a lot of balls to admit defeat like that publicly. Now he's got his guy.

What pisses me off is Belichick got off lucky with us not having Kupp. With Kupp on the field we win that Super Bowl.

But the whole prob is that you don't know you'll be in that situation again. We might get to the dance this year and face a team of rare quality. So you want to have as good a player at your signal caller as possible.

IMO the Rams are gonna have a truly elite QB behind center this year. My hopes are insanely high.

 

[Loyal]

Is that what happened in TB? Really? The only change was Brady?

....and they only had to play us once, cuz we'd have owned their ass again!

 

[PhillyRam]

Is that what happened in TB? Really? The only change was Brady?

Yeah

 

[Faceplant]

Yeah

View: https://youtu.be/_asNhzXq72w

 

[1maGoh]

Huh?! Are you serious? So you're saying that if the rams have a losing record this season while not having one in 4 seasons as long as Stafford puts up numbers you'll think the trade was a success?
LMAO Wow. That's all I can say to that logic.

I'm only at page 14, so I don't know if this has been addressed already or if this argument played out or whatever, but I think there's two things being rolled into one as people address the thread topic.

There's a difference between "was the trade a good idea at the time it was made" and "did the end goal of the trade get accomplished". Those two things aren't always related.

For example, if I told you I was going to pick a numbered ball out of a jar that contained the numbers 1 through 100. You win one million dollars if you choose correctly. You can either choose 1 or all of 2-99. The correct choice in the moment is to pick 2-99. Given the available data, 2-99 is the only smart choice. If I pull out the number 1 ball, 2-99 was still the best choice at the time that you made the choice, even though it didn't accomplish the goal. You can disagree, but what if I offer you the same deal again? Are you going to pick 1, just because it hit last time? 2-99 is always the statistically superior choice, regardless of what actually happens.

I think people are confusing these two things when taking about this trade. Is trading for Stafford the right choice right now given all the information we have? That's up for debate, but a lot of people would say yes. It doesn't matter if he gets hurt or completely fails it decides to retire the day before game 1. Trading for him was probably the statistically best decision we could make at the time with the info we had.

In 4 years we can ask if the trade was worth it. Hopefully we can answer that after this year if we win the super bowl.

I don't know if I would say the trade is a success no matter what because it's an on paper upgrade, but I would say it was the right decision no matter what because it's an on paper upgrade.

 

[blackbart]

Perineal SB contender.

I don’t buy in to pinning the whole thing on the QB. Stafford will make a difference with this team.

There are a lot of other factors that will contribute injuries, whatever happens with attendance, growth of other players and coaches and other teams playing better at crucial points in games.

It’s entertainment and I’m not so sure some of it isn’t controlled and scripted any more. I hope it isn’t but who knows what these mega wealthy families do behind closed doors.

 

[oldnotdead]

Bottom line is that Stafford already has met that threshold. Everyone including Donald feels it and sees it at every practice. They know the Rams can go toe to toe with any team including the Bucs. They faced the Bucs with a lesser team. The Rams have improved tremendously in key areas, whereas the Bucs are the exact same team. IMO last year's matchup was only close because of some very questionable calls by the refs that put them into a position to score. Without that help, this would have been won by two scores.

That is the metric I go by when I measure how good this team is. That is the metric I use when I judge this roster to be a Super Bowl roster. Stafford admittedly was a huge part of that improvement. But even without him, this team would be in the race. Stafford brings confidence on both sides of the ball. This team KNOWS they are good enough to win it all. It's one thing to feel they are and it's another to KNOW IT.

The Rams will start the season not just knowing they can be competitive. They will start knowing they are the team to beat in both the NFC and AFC. Last year showed the chinks in KC's armor. The only way the Rams lose games will be by beating themselves. As long as they play their game and play it clean, they are the best team in the NFL.

 

[tempests]

Without reading most of this thread...

IMHO the Stafford trade is already worth it.

All indications are that Stafford is a significant upgrade at the QB position.

"Super Bowl or bust" is IMHO a totally unrealistic expectation. In order to get to and win the Super Bowl, ya need good luck and minimal injuries, both of which have nothing to do with the Stafford trade.

Love the Stafford trade mostly because it confirms this FO is willing to go for it.

Not for this team. Rams obviously believe they have a championship calibre roster and were only missing the QB. Losing Akers was a blow but I don't see anyone backing off the Rams because of that injury. SB run is still the expectation here.

Improving on paper or upgrading at QB is not enough. The organizational goal is not just to go back to the playoffs but win once they are there. All the more so for hosting the SB in their own stadium, and having fans in SoFi for the first time. All the more for having a player like Donald now approaching the backside of his career. We gave up a hell of a lot to bring Stafford here, and if he's not here to lead the Rams to a championship, then I don't know why he's here.

Stakes are high for this team.

 

[Tano]

I feel we should be a Super Bowl team right now as long as the "Injury Gods" don't hex us.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Yeah

Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr. Ryan Succop say hello.
Sack leader Jason Pierre-Paul also played a full season last year.

Brady's addition was HUGE. He's a great QB. But, playoff games vs. the QB less Redskins & the Saints with Brees who could no longer get the ball downfield was HUGE, too.

But most importantly, Tampa moved on from the only QB who had more turnovers the past few years than Goff (Winston).

 

[Tano]

Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr. Ryan Succop say hello.
Sack leader Jason Pierre-Paul also played a full season last year.

Brady's addition was HUGE. He's a great QB. But, playoff games vs. the QB less Redskins & the Saints with Brees who could no longer get the ball downfield was HUGE, too.

But most importantly, Tampa moved on from the only QB who had more turnovers the past few years than Goff (Winston).

But Brady had 3 interceptions in the Championship game on back to back to back series in the second half. No way they should win that game. Rodgers played like crap in the second half.

That's the one thing I did like about Goff. Usually he played well in second halves to give us a chance to win the game. I think every game last year that we lost we still had a chance to win in the last 5 minutes.

 

[PhillyRam]

Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr. Ryan Succop say hello.
Sack leader Jason Pierre-Paul also played a full season last year.

Brady's addition was HUGE. He's a great QB. But, playoff games vs. the QB less Redskins & the Saints with Brees who could no longer get the ball downfield was HUGE, too.

But most importantly, Tampa moved on from the only QB who had more turnovers the past few years than Goff (Winston).

Every team adds players every year... Or get injured players back. I would hope you understood that, but if Jameis Winston was still the QB they don't make the playoffs.

So I assume if the Rams end up with 13 wins this yr, you will credit the OL changes, adding deep speed to the offense, and beefing up the front 7 in the draft along with a full 16 gms from Ashawn Robinson?

 

[bubbaramfan]

Goff TC update

Google--Day 3 notes and observations: Lions QB Jarred Goff still trying to get the deep ball going.

 

[1maGoh]

What pisses me off is Belichick got off lucky with us not having Kupp. With Kupp on the field we win that Super Bowl.

But the whole prob is that you don't know you'll be in that situation again. We might get to the dance this year and face a team of rare quality. So you want to have as good a player at your signal caller as possible.

IMO the Rams are gonna have a truly elite QB behind center this year. My hopes are insanely high.

And Gurley not fully back from his injury. Healthy Gurley and healthy Kupp, that game is ours. Sadly it didn't play out that way.