Get on Matthew Stafford NFL MVP bandwagon before it’s too late…

Get on the Matthew Stafford NFL MVP Bandwagon Before It's Too Late​

[bleacherreport.com]

BRAD GAGNON

Remember Rich Gannon? Dude spent his first 12 seasons toiling away as a replacement-level quarterback in Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City, sometimes as a backup, other times as an underwhelming starter.

Then, at the age of 33, he moved to California to run Jon Gruden's innovative offense with the Oakland Raiders. Over the course of the next four years, Gannon made four Pro Bowls, was a first-team All-Pro twice and was league MVP once for an Oakland team that was a perennial contender.

It's hard not to think about Gannon's career arc while watching Matthew Stafford, who spent the first 12 seasons of his career toiling away with little support and even fewer accolades in Detroit before moving to California at the age of 33 to run Sean McVay's innovative offense with the Los Angeles Rams.
That's especially the case because Stafford has emerged as the league's top MVP candidate three weeks into his first season with the still-undefeated Rams.

The 2009 No. 1 overall pick took down fellow early-season MVP contender Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a rather dominant fashion with a 34-24 victory Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

With Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks dropping to 1-2 and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs dropping their second consecutive game on Sunday, Stafford should be considered the MVP of September, and the Rams ought to be viewed as the new team to beat in the NFC.

Stafford entered Sunday as the league's third-highest-rated passer with a 127.0 rating, but he's now up to 129.8 in that metric following a four-touchdown, zero-interception performance against the league's hottest team. That leaves him just a few points back of Wilson, whose Seahawks have lost twice.

The Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders are right there with L.A. at 3-0, but they haven't been tested to the same degree, and their quarterbacks haven't performed at Stafford's level.

In fact, nobody really has when you combine individual numbers with team success.

Stafford was the only quarterback in the league averaging more than 15 yards per completion before lighting up an experienced and talented Buccaneers defense in front of a national audience, partly because he had taken just two sacks in two games (it's now three in three). He also ranked third among qualified quarterbacks with 5.5 completed air yards per attempt before completing several mega passes Sunday, including a bomb on a 75-yard third-down touchdown to DeSean Jackson.

His chemistry with Jackson and reliable veteran receiver Cooper Kupp is downright scary considering how new this arrangement is. Watching him work with those guys and fellow pass-catching weapons Tyler Higbee, Robert Woods and Van Jefferson, you'd swear this core has been together for several seasons. Primo pass protection helps, as Stafford's been one of the least-pressured passers in football, but the point is he now has more support than he ever did with the Lions.

Some credit must go to McVay, who appeared to identify Stafford as the key piece to put his offense over the top after the Rams fell short of the NFC Championship Game for the second consecutive year in 2020.

Pro Football Talk reported back in February that McVay was "fixated" on Stafford. In June, he told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated that Stafford was "even better than advertised."

That same month, Jackson wasn't bluffing when he told us the Rams' new-look offense would be scary, and with hindsight, it's easy to see why McVay said he was in a better mood this offseason. We kept hearing that both McVay and Stafford were thrilled to be working with each other, and now it all makes a lot of sense.

Stafford said way back in March that he was "reenergized" by his new setting, and that certainly hasn't worn off. Those who expect it to at some point soon might want to look at Gannon's experience with the Raiders at the turn of the century.

"You look at Sean and you look at Matthew," Gannon told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times in the spring. "I see some similarities to when I went to Oakland with Jon Gruden. I was at a point where I had bounced around a little bit and no one ever really...I mean it's different; he was the No. 1 draft pick and I kind of had to find my way. But he's going to a situation where he's got a young head coach who's a really good play-caller, very innovative, really involved in coaching that position. And that's where Jon was with me, and we just hit it off. We never looked back."

It's entirely possible Stafford and the Rams are headed down a similar path. They absolutely have the coaching, the weapons and the experience, plus the balance that comes from the presence of stars Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey on defense.

DraftKings had Stafford at +1800 to win MVP prior to the season, that number was down to +1200 this past week, and I'd expect it to plummet well below +1000 when new odds are posted this week. Soon, any value on futures odds for either Stafford or the Rams will be gone. So if you've been sleeping on Stafford and the Rams, it's time to wake up.