COLUMN: Rams Jimmy Garoppolo Deserves His Flowers

We will rally around Jimmy Garoppolo and we will play good football. That's the words many expected Sean McVay to say on Monday during his highly anticipated press conference regarding Matthew Stafford's health. While McVay may have had fewer tears than Dick Vermeil when Vermeil used that exact phrase over 25 years ago to launch The Greatest Show On Turf.

That announcement didn't happen on Monday as Stafford returned to practice, and while the Rams are not out of the woods regarding Stafford's back, as they're taking things on a day-to-day basis, it appears Stafford is on a path to be back by week one.

Garoppolo held down the fort

Due to the complex situation that is Stafford's health issues, Garoppolo took his place to begin training camp and while he was only meant to steer the ship for four days, that ended up lasting until Monday.

Jun 3, 2025; Woodland Hills, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (11) during organized team activities at Rams Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In the meantime, Garoppolo was the focal point of training camp and the joint practice against the Cowboys, events heavily covered by the national media with his name being the target of debate among fan bases, with criticisms thrown his way from all angles.

He guided an offense into another joint practice against the Saints, running a basic offense that's tailored to his weak points, in order not to give the Saints an advantage when they play them during the regular season.

In that effort, he was attempting to make throws that looked awful when posted to social media without context, and yet, he continued to do everything in his power to get this offense ready for the season.

While Garoppolo was preparing himself to step up in case Stafford can't start week one, the narrative until last week was that Stafford was set to play and despite all that, the offense has been efficient with many young players stepping up.

So when Stafford walked back into the offense on Monday, it was like a car that's been properly maintained. The operation was smooth, the ball went where it needed to go, the receivers knew what spots to hit on every play, the offensive line understood their assignments, and the running backs were playing free.

Whatever happens from here on out, the success of the Rams' offense should be partly credited to the work he did when only a few were looking at the whole picture. The ultimate teammate, Garoppolo deserves his flowers.

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