When the Los Angeles Rams acquired veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford in a blockbuster deal with the Detroit Lions last winter, championship-or-bust expectations for the 2021 season were established. And with the mid-season acquisitions of both Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller, the team pushed all of its chips to the center of the table, mortgaging the future.
Los Angeles' all-in gamble of winning Super Bowl 56 on home turf is close to paying off. This Sunday, they'll host the underdog Cincinnati Bengals inside a raucous SoFi Stadium, hoping to capture a Lombardi Trophy for the first time since 1999. And if the Rams do accomplish their goal, former NFL linebacker Brady Poppinga believes other teams might try to adjust their title strategies.
"The NFL has been a draft-and-develop league, probably for the last 15 years because of the Packers, Steelers, Seahawks being so successful. The Rams have been anything but draft and develop," Poppinga told the Reiter Than You show on Tuesday. "They've traded away a lot of their picks. Free agency may be the most fun you've seen it, ever, if the Rams go on and win it.
"Because the league is such a copycat league, they're going to want to follow the Rams' model. 'The draft-and-develop model? Eh, old school. We're going to go and trade away picks and bring in veterans.' So, I do believe it's going to be the Rams [winning Super Bowl 56] and because of it, you're going to see a new kind of NFL culture, in terms of player acquisition. Which should be fun."
Prior to the NFC championship game on Jan. 30, the Rams had been 0-14 under head coach Sean McVay when trailing by 10-plus points entering the fourth quarter, including postseason. Stafford managed to snap the dreaded streak, with three fourth-quarter scoring drives for 13 points against the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers. A 30-yard field goal from Matt Gay with less than two minutes left was a game-winner, as Los Angeles prevailed, 20-17.
Stafford completed 31 of 45 passes for 337 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and his pair of scores were to stud receiver Cooper Kupp, who racked up 11 catches for 142 yards. The Rams' defense also stepped up in the fourth quarter, as they pressured 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on seven of his nine dropbacks and forced a title-clinching interception.
The entire Super Bowl 56 conversation between Poppinga and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.
