Swanson: Rams QB Matthew Stafford’s best is more than good enough

INGLEWOOD — Just came here to say: Matthew Stafford > Drake Maye for MVP.

Stafford >  Jonathan Taylor.

Stafford > everyone.

There’s no one doing it like the Rams’ 37-year-old, 17th-year QB, who doesn’t want to label it this way himself, but who is, in fact, playing the best football the best of his long, illustrious career.

He’s playing the best football in the whole wide world, and it’s a pretty incredible – and incredibly pretty – sight. Not that any defender should believe those lying eyes of Stafford’s.

Not the way side-arming, no-look-passing Showtime signal-caller is slinging it.

The state of the Rams? Flow.

In rhythm.

Hurrying up right out of the gate again in their 34-7 Sunday Night statement over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-5) before a record crowd of 75,545 at SoFi Stadium.

All of the Rams (9-2) are in the zone, but none more than Stafford. His three touchdowns Sunday came in the first half, when the now-top-seed-in-the-NFC Rams were “in total command and control,” coach Sean McVay said. They went into halftime with a 31-7 lead to nourish and protect, and they did so, much as the Rams’ offensive line has been shielding their QB.

Stafford’s three TD passes – if you were counting, and I hope you were – were his 25th, 26th and 27th without an interception. Rarefied air beneath those tosses, which put him in the company of only Tom Brady.

Stafford also became the NFL’s ninth QB – and the first since Brady (in 2021, with Tampa Bay) – with at least 30 touchdown passes in his team’s first 11 contests.

And Stafford now has thrown at least two passing touchdowns in each of his past five games, which, yes, is the longest streak in the league.

In just his past eight games, Stafford has thrown 25 touchdowns without a pick, and he’s thrown for 2,091 yards while completing 66.5% of his passes. His 308 consecutive attempts without an interception is, all of the above: the longest streak of his career, the longest in the NFL this season and the longest in Rams history.

“Ahh, I’m not trying to label it,” Stafford said. “I just know I’m having fun.”

His story this dream season just keeps delivering history. Don’t pinch him, don’t wake him up, don’t disturb the man, who surely could not have imagined such sublime production nine months ago.

In February, remember, we weren’t sure whether Stafford would still be quarterbacking the Rams, let alone piloting them back into championship contention, with a real chance to deliver an encore following the Super Bowl LVI championship they won with Stafford leading the way four seasons ago.

In February, the team had given Stafford the OK to shop his services elsewhere before both sides reconvened to rework his deal and keep him here, where he belongs.

Neither he – nor we – could have predicted this monumental display four months ago, when training camp opened without Stafford, who was shelved with an aggravated disc in his back.

Or even three months ago, when he stepped on the field in Week 1 of the regular season against Houston without having taken a hit since the previous season, without having completed any game reps with new star receiver Davante Adams, without knowing how his body, another year older, would hold up.

“My situation during training camp with the injury that I was going through and not being able to really do much of anything for about four to six weeks … sometimes being without something lets you know how much you really love doing it,” Stafford said. “And I love playing this game.”

And it’s loving him back. Talk about creating a most valuable narrative. Talk about what an MVP award could mean for the Hall of Fame argument in favor a two-time Pro Bowler and no-time All-Pro pick whose best finish in MVP voting was eighth, in 2023 – a future campaign on which Rams linebacker Jared Verse Talk has already ruled: “first-ballot.”

Talk about 10/10, no notes – or, on Sunday, 12 for his first 12, a career-best-tying start to a game for the former No. 1 pick out of Georgia.

If Stafford were a pitcher like his buddy Clayton Kershaw, the strike zone would look like the ocean. If he were a batter, he’d be swinging at beach balls. A basketball player? The cylinder would be at least as big as a hula hoop.

As it is, he’s a quarterback making the NFL look like child’s play, as though he’s having a casual catch with his pals in the backyard.

And he’s feeding all of those friends well, too; eight Rams receivers could give thanks for passes caught Sunday – including Adams, whose touchdown catches of 1 and 24 yards brought his total for the season to 11, the most by a first-year Ram, surpassing Bucky Pope’s 10 in 1964.

“It’s just repetition being the mother of learning, those guys just continuing to work together,” McVay said of the Rams’ new productive pairing. “Two great players that are just accumulating experience in the midst of this season.”

It’s just how things go, Stafford said, all aw-shucks and shrugs Sunday.

“I’m trying to do the best I can at putting the ball where it needs to go,” he said. “Not putting it in harm’s way but also … taking chances when we’ve got opportunities. Because we got great skill players out there, and I gotta give those guys chances.

“It’s just … trying to do the best I can.”