Why aren't the LA Rams talking? 'Talk is cheap. You've got to earn it.'

While the LA Rams may not be in the most enviable of situations as the team prepares for the upcoming 2023 NFL season, there are some aspects about this team that are far more positive than the national media narrative has given this team credit. So let's take some time to highlight one of the best qualities of this team that has not gotten a lot of coverage.

LA Rams veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford is coming back to compete in his 15th NFL season, and third season for the LA Rams. While he started 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions, Stafford was the engineer of the Lions offense. Some years he had the offense humming. Other years? Not so much. But he was always able to shake off previous seasons and load up each new year.

Right now, that experience and ability to shake off an injury riddled season and comeback to throw for over 5000 yards is exactly what this Rams offense needs. And Matthew Stafford was able to come back and let 'er rip in 2011 for 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns. Likewise, Stafford was able to let 'er rip for 4,084 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2020. Both seasons came after the quarterback was coming back from an injury shortened season.

'Talk is cheap'

Unlike the boisterous and annoying players competing for the San Francisco 49ers, the LA Rams roster has players who do not trash talk on social media. I, for one, am good with that. The best comments for any NFL player happen on a football field. Right now, there are plenty of comments being said about the LA Rams again, and unfortunately for the rookies who just arrived, most of the comments and predictions are apocalyptic and utter nonsense. But that's how rage-baiting works now. Infuriate readers to get clicks.

The Rams are not biting. The Rams roster, although young, still has plenty of seasoned veterans who have competed in the NFL for years, and as Rams veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford says with simplicity and elegance:

"This time of year talk is cheap. You gotta go out there and earn it."

- Matthew Stafford

So the question is: Can the Rams earn respect this year?

Rams are giving off confident vibes

Perhaps it's the positive chatter that is spilling over from training camp, but I think that the Rams may be a better team than many expect. How so? Well, I've continued to ponder over trying to extrapolate what we know into what we don't know, and I've come up with some parallels for optimism for the LA Rams 2023 NFL season.

Perhaps the greatest single concern of the LA Rams for the 2023 NFL season is the strength and durability of the Rams' offensive line. But the team already appears to be investing a lot of time in training camp to properly vet and rank offensive linemen on the team's depth chart. Unlike in the past, when decisions seemed to be based on politics, OL Coach Ryan Wendall truly seems to know what he's doing in the early stages. And the Rams' offensive line seems to reflect that passion in comments shared out of training camp so far.

Of course, the next target of the doomsayers is the Rams' defense. While it is indeed young, the second half of the 2022 NFL season found many of the players competing for starting roles this season in starting roles last year. When we compared 2022 vs. 2023 defenses, we uncovered a better-than-expected performance as the season wound down. As has been the case in recent years, fans seem to project frustrations by offense onto the defense.

Finally, it comes down to a bit of faith. If you don't believe in HC Sean McVay, so be it. But if you do, you have to give this coaching staff the benefit of the doubt. The entire Rams organization saw what went wrong in 2022. And the coaches had an entire off-season to plan the corrections to ensure it won't happen this year.

Yes, talk is cheap, and the LA Rams certainly have to earn it. But in case we need a reminder, the Rams players are not talking right now. That not only bodes well for Rams fans, but it is setting up all of the naysayers for a huge serving of crow.