What will LA Rams extension of Matthew Stafford mean over long haul?

For the NFC West

The road to the NFL Playoffs appears to lead through Los Angeles for the foreseeable future. For the rest of the NFC West, that is not a good thing.  Stafford, while tremendously gifted as an individual player, is more about focusing upon winning than statistics. And it was that ability to shake off previous disappointments to claim hard-fought victories over each of the NFC West rivals.

Stafford defeated each of the Rams’ rivals in their last encounter. Overall, he has already amassed a 5-3 record in the NFC West Division (3-3 in the regular season, and 2-0 in the postseason). Better yet, from the Rams’ perspective at least, the experience has set all three teams on their heels a bit.

The Seattle Seahawks have tossed in the towel and are playing the long game now. They’ve traded veteran QB Russell Wilson, cut major stars, and appear to be quite content to rebuild over the next couple of seasons.  The San Francisco 49ers are turning over their offensive reigns to second-year quarterback Trey Lance. While they hope they will remain in contention after that migration, there is reason to expect a bit of a learning curve from Lance even with a very optimistic view.

For the Arizona Cardinals, the rift between their quarterback Kyler Murray and the team is deep and deeply concerning. If the rumors are true, and he refused to retake the football field during another embarrassing loss to the LA Rams in the Wildcard Round of the NFL Playoffs, then any talks about throwing sacks of cash at the young man would be a huge mistake. I’m not clear why the Cardinals would have any incentive to do so beyond the fact that they have no true option B right now.

However else you view it, the LA Rams are settled at the quarterback position for the foreseeable future, and their three NFC West opponents are not. Advantage? LA Rams.  Now, what about the rest of the NFL?