After 10-7 season that saw them win the NFC West and lose to the eventual Super Bowl champions in the divisional round, the Los Angeles Rams will open up their 2025 campaign with a home game against the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday afternoon.
While Los Angeles has the talent to pick up from where they left off last year, quarterback Matthew Stafford’s health has been front of mind for Rams fans, after the 37-year-old missed most of the team’s training camp due to a back injury.
Stafford is expected to play in Los Angeles’ season opener, but with how debilitating back injuries can be, there are real questions about his short and long term futures in football.
On Friday, The Athletic’s Andy Behrens put together a list of things that NFL fans would love to see in 2025, and among his points, was Stafford starting and finishing all 17 games in this upcoming campaign.
“This one truly feels like a desperate wish written on my last scrap of paper, stuffed in a bottle, then tossed into a raging ocean,” Behrens wrote. “Stafford has dealt with a medley of injuries in recent seasons, the most worrisome of which is the persistent back issue…
“Let’s lock in, Rams training staff. This team’s offense is simply too big to fail. We can’t have it. If Stafford is sidelined, it’s a significant step down to Jimmy Garoppolo or Stetson Bennett. Hopefully, we will never have to learn what the Jimmy-to-Puka connection looks like. We’ve already seen Jimmy-to-Davante and — to say the very least — it’s problematic. Don’t need to experience that ever again.”
It’s evident that Stafford’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning, but he’s just been so electric and fun to watch each week, that everyone, whether they’re Rams fans or not, is hoping that the former first-overall pick can go.
Stafford’s been one of the toughest quarterbacks in the league for some time, and he’s already made it clear, that he’s not even worrying about the injury when he’s on the field.
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This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL writer has high, maybe unrealistic, hopes for Rams QB in 2025
