Matthew Stafford must lead the LA Rams as though he’s been here before

The LA Rams have one more game to win. Just one more contest on the football field this season. Now, the question is, can they remain focused? It will be up to each player and coach. But the veteran leadership of this team will need to step up, keep pointing the attention of younger players to the ultimate goal. It’s not enough to ‘get’ there. These LA Rams need to win Super Bowl LVI.

When is a football game not a football game? When it’s Super Bowl LVI, in which the entire planet perches in front of a video monitor or in the stands to participate in the annual NFL/NFLPA Gala Event. This is the social event of the year for football fans. Even the television commercials up their game to an entirely new level.

Stay on target

And through it all, football players from the LA Rams and Cincinnati Bengals must stay focused. No, it won’t be easy. It will be very similar to trying to softly hum a tune with Bose headphones cranked up in both ears. This one is worse than most. That noise in the ears?  It changes volumes, adds visual distractions too. For the next two weeks, the precursor to the Super Bowl is which team can remain focused long enough to play their game?

Being the leader of the offense, and in many ways, of the team, has come very naturally to LA Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. He has been through some pretty tough times with the Detroit Lions in his NFL career. In most seasons, he would be visiting his physician about now for rehabilitative and restorative procedures to put his body back together and be all set to play the next season.

After that? Family vacations. Perhaps a trip to Cabo, Mexico, where he would accidentally meet with a head coach who would talk football, theorize what a quarterback like Matthew Stafford could do for his offense, and then go back to the office to make a trade happen.