There were two Matthew Stafford moments suitable for framing in the Rams’ upset of the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.
First, a touchdown to Cooper Kupp. Stafford twisted free of an unblocked defender rushing up the middle, ducked under a second would-be tackler, then scissored his legs like a high-stepping Houdini an instant before finding the star receiver with a seven-yard scoring pass.
Kupp said he and Stafford talked about the split-legged move that morning, having watched another quarterback do it, and Stafford claimed he was too old to attempt it.
“I had a great view of him doing that exact thing,” Kupp said. “After he threw the ball I was looking for him like, `You liar.’ He needs a little self-doubt there. He needs to doubt himself a little bit so he can see, `Oh, maybe I can do that.’”
Next, a pinpoint, 25-yard touchdown to Demarcus Robinson. Actually, the first option on the play was Kupp, but Stafford gave Robinson an early indication the ball might be coming to him.
“It was a little choice route inside for Cooper, but to be honest with you, something in the huddle before the snap I’m like, ‘Hey, D-Rob, be live on this,’” Stafford said. “It just felt like we might catch man coverage.”
Stafford split two defenders — one of which was flagged for pass interference — with an exquisitely precise throw. It was equivalent to the quarterback tossing the ball through an open window of a car zipping past on the 405.
“Only one place he could have put that ball,” said Robinson, who caught two scoring passes in the 30-20 victory.
Two weeks ago, the Rams were heading into their off week at 1-4 with a slew of injuries and pretty much circling the drain. Now, they have won two games in five days and their world looks entirely different. They’re 1-1 in the NFC West and have four more of those games to go, beginning a week from Sunday at Seattle.
The Rams have one of the youngest rosters but are well suited for this type of revival, not just because they’ve gotten receivers Kupp and Puka Nacua back, but because they can draw on the experience of last season when they bounced back from a 3-6 start to make the playoffs.
Most notably, they have the even-keeled Stafford, who has made a career of steering his team through turbulent stretches.
“He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback, hands down,” tackle Rob Havenstein said. “The stuff he can do with the football, but even more than that is just the leadership he brings, the calmness, the swag, the intensity. He’s always right mentally, and it’s just an amazing thing to see.”
The timing couldn’t be better for the Rams, who, like furiously paddling surfers, have successfully caught this city’s swell of sports magic. With less than two minutes to play and the victory in hand, the Rams posted “Good Luck, Dodgers” on the circular Infinity Board suspended above the field.
As deflated Vikings fans made their way to the exits, hundreds or maybe thousands of Rams fans cheered their team with overhead Skol claps, a Minnesota ritual.
Meanwhile, the Rams have established a tradition of stirring Thursday night wins. In 2018, they beat the Vikings at the Coliseum and Jared Goff had a “perfect” passer rating.
In 2022, an otherwise forgettable season, Baker Mayfield orchestrated a stunning win over Las Vegas despite joining the Rams just a couple of days earlier.
Last season the Rams beat New Orleans on a Thursday night with Shohei Ohtani, who had just been signed by the Dodgers, on their sideline during pregame warmups.
Then there was this win over the Vikings, who had been 5-0 before a two-point loss to Detroit on Sunday.
With the trade deadline coming next week, there were even some rumblings the Rams might ship Stafford to the Vikings, even though Minnesota has been quite happy with Sam Darnold (who, incidentally, had a gaudy passer rating of 128.8 on Thursday, eclipsing Stafford’s 124.5.)
There’s no indication the Stafford rumors are true, although coach Sean McVay did acknowledge that teams have reached out about Kupp.
The coach dismissed much of the Kupp trade talk as “speculation” and, although he wasn’t definitive, said he believes the receiver will wind up staying put.
As for his quarterback, McVay said Stafford “had a look in his eye,” and, “It was like, ‘Hey, you’re coming with me because we’re going to do this thing the right way.’”
Amazon Prime noted during its broadcast that Stafford, 36 and selected No. 1 overall in 2009, is one of two players still active from that class. The other is New York Jets punter Thomas Morestead.
Stafford was unaware of that stat.
“Man,” he said, “that’s a long time.”
To the reborn Rams, it all feels fresh and new again.