Mickey the Mouth
The Syndicate News Wire
- May 21, 2026
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Making Matthew Stafford's MVP season more impressive was that he almost didn't play in Week 1.
In a recent appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Rams coach Sean McVay said Stafford's preseason back injury nearly resulted in Stafford landing on injured reserve.
"What people don't realize is how close -- [Stafford] and I sat down -- and I was like, 'Hey, this isn't responding the way we had hoped,'" McVay said, via John Breech of CBS Sports. "'Let's put you on temporary IR so we don't put this, where we feel like this anxiety of having to hit a timeline to be ready to go.'"
Stafford, who tweaked his back in the downtime between the offseason program and the start of training camp, didn't practice until August 18.
McVay previously said in a March appearance on PFT Live that other teams thought he was simply giving Stafford extended time off during camp. McVay shared in his more recent interview a story from Stafford.
"We're playing in London against Jacksonville," McVay said. "Matthew comes to me before the game, and he goes, 'How about this?' He goes, 'I'm talking to the Jacksonville staff. Those guys are like, 'Man, that's pretty cool of Sean to let you have off of camp and use the back injury to do that.' And he's like, 'The fuck you talking about, man? The back injury was real as shit.' We were nervous as hell. I mean, it was a week before we're playing Houston."
Time in an Ammortal chamber helped get Stafford's back where it needed to be. And everything worked out.
But here's the reality. Back problems can return. With Stafford now 38, it can come back at any time.
Last year, the Rams got lucky. This year, the question of whether Stafford will have a relapse will linger. Which makes it even more important to have an understudy ready to go.
Whether that would be rookie Ty Simpson or Stetson Bennett or (if he decides to play again) Jimmy Garoppolo remains to be seen.
View complete report...
In a recent appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Rams coach Sean McVay said Stafford's preseason back injury nearly resulted in Stafford landing on injured reserve.
"What people don't realize is how close -- [Stafford] and I sat down -- and I was like, 'Hey, this isn't responding the way we had hoped,'" McVay said, via John Breech of CBS Sports. "'Let's put you on temporary IR so we don't put this, where we feel like this anxiety of having to hit a timeline to be ready to go.'"
Stafford, who tweaked his back in the downtime between the offseason program and the start of training camp, didn't practice until August 18.
McVay previously said in a March appearance on PFT Live that other teams thought he was simply giving Stafford extended time off during camp. McVay shared in his more recent interview a story from Stafford.
"We're playing in London against Jacksonville," McVay said. "Matthew comes to me before the game, and he goes, 'How about this?' He goes, 'I'm talking to the Jacksonville staff. Those guys are like, 'Man, that's pretty cool of Sean to let you have off of camp and use the back injury to do that.' And he's like, 'The fuck you talking about, man? The back injury was real as shit.' We were nervous as hell. I mean, it was a week before we're playing Houston."
Time in an Ammortal chamber helped get Stafford's back where it needed to be. And everything worked out.
But here's the reality. Back problems can return. With Stafford now 38, it can come back at any time.
Last year, the Rams got lucky. This year, the question of whether Stafford will have a relapse will linger. Which makes it even more important to have an understudy ready to go.
Whether that would be rookie Ty Simpson or Stetson Bennett or (if he decides to play again) Jimmy Garoppolo remains to be seen.
View complete report...