Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in full celebration mode after their blowout win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. Boat parades have been held. Lombardi Trophies have been thrown.
While the Buccaneers are enjoying the spoils of victory, the other 15 teams in the NFC have begun pursuit of a similar goal ruining the party in Tampa and preventing Tom Brady and the Buccaneers from a repeat performance as conference champions.
A handful of teams have the talent to pull that off, but one squad stands above the rest as the biggest threat to dethrone the Buccaneers in 2021. It s the team that lost to Brady and the New England Patriots back in Super Bowl LIII: the Los Angeles Rams.
February 4, 2021 in Columns, Sports
When the Rams were knocked out of the playoffs by the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Playoffs’ divisional round, lots of questions surrounded next season’s Los Angeles squad.
Would they be able to replicate their league-best defense with pending free agents like safety John Johnson and cornerback Troy Hill likely leaving? Would the third-best offensive line be able to create similar gaps between the tackles next season?
However, the most important question was a simple one who would be their starting quarterback?
Franchise quarterback and former No. 1 pick Jared Goff looked far from promising last season, throwing 20 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. At times, he was flat out awful. This was most notably on display when Goff had two interceptions and two fumbles against the Miami Dolphins in a stinker.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay decided he wanted a new quarterback. He set his sights on the Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford and not long after, Rams general manager Les Snead got the deal done.
Apparently a lot can change in nearly 17 months, from the time Goff signed a four-year, $110 million guaranteed contract to him being dealt in a blockbuster trade.
Along with Goff, the Rams sent two first-round picks and a third-round pick to the Lions in exchange for Stafford.
It s a rare quarterback-for-quarterback swap, along with the Rams additional compensation to acquire Stafford and unload Goff s burdensome contract.
Rams’ trade brings Sean McVay new QB and new pressure [Daily News, Los Angeles]
Feb. 1 Sean McVay laughed one day last fall when a writer suggested he’s now a “veteran” coach.
“I don’t know that that’s the case,” McVay interrupted. “I might feel like I’m 85, but …”
The NFL doesn’t define when a coach officially goes from spiky-haired wunderkind to grizzled veteran, and it’s understandable if McVay doesn’t think he’s there yet as a 35-year-old who just completed his fourth season on the L.A. sideline.
But there’s another stage in a coaching career that he definitely has reached, one available only to those who last this long in a job so tenuous that McVay currently is the eighth most senior head coach with any NFL team.