Rams and Arizona have an NFL playoff date

INGLEWOOD (News4usonline) – The NFL playoff picture is set. The Los Angeles Rams will play the Arizona Cardinals a third time this season. This should be fun. It’s the old gunslinger going up against the hotshot youngster. 

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, a veteran of 13 NFL seasons, is that old gunslinger. Kyler Murray, the quarterback with a motor engine in his two feet, would be that young hotshot.

The Rams lost out on hosting two playoff games when they were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers in their last game of the regular season. The defeat sent the Rams from the No. 2 seed slot to the No. 4 spot. The Cardinals are the No. 5 seed.   

After throwing for 238 yards and three touchdowns to go along with two interceptions against the 49ers, Stafford has confidence that the Rams can rebound and play their way into Super Bowl LV.  

“Yeah, I think the biggest thing is we’re a resilient bunch,” Stafford said. “We have been all year, whether we’re playing at home, playing on the road, things are going our way, things aren’t going our way, we continue to battle. That’s what it takes to win games in the playoffs, there’s no question. You’ve got to play good football, but you’ve got to be resilient too. Right now, it’s testing us. We lost the football game that we had chances to win and would have felt great winning that game and winning the division the way we wanted to win the division, but we’re a resilient group and we’ll be ready to go.”

After winning the NFC West, the Rams will have the opportunity to host Kyler Murray and an Arizona team looking every bit like they are in the middle of a freefall.

The first time the Rams played the Cardinals was in Week 4. Arizona beat the pants off the Rams with a 37-20 win at SoFi Stadium. The Rams would avenge that defeat with a rough and tumble 30-23 road win in Week 14.

Under head coach Sean McVay, the Rams have posted a 9-1 record against Arizona. McVay, whose team backed their way into the division crown after the Seattle Seahawks thumped the Cardinals on the last weekend of the regular season,

“I think you’ve got to look at each play as its own entity,” McVay said. “If we end up making a couple plays in that last drive, this is a totally different tenor and temperature of the conversation, but we’ve got to be able to do it. Not going to make excuses. We’ll go back to work and we’ll get this thing figured out.”

With quarterback play being at a premium in the postseason, Stafford has a lot of pressure riding on his right arm. That’s because before he was traded to the Rams, Stafford played 12 seasons for the Detroit Lions. He never won a playoff game there.

After completing his first season as the Rams starting quarterback, Stafford has already left his mark with the ballclub, ending Year 1 as the franchise record holder for most yards thrown in a season (4,976 yards), breaking Kurt Warner’s previous mark (4,830 yards). Stafford said he doesn’t feel any added pressure. 

“No, just want to go out there and play as good a football as I can and help our team win,” Stafford said.

Feature Image Caption: Oct. 3, 2021. Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) looks for the open receiver against the Arizona Cardinals. Stafford finished the game completing 26 of 41 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline