By Anthony Cardone
We are only a quarter of the way through the NFL season, and there have already been so many surprises and storylines to talk about with the 32 teams. One of the most shocking is that there could already be a runaway Super Bowl favorite.
The Los Angeles Rams have won every game and put up amazing numbers on both sides of the ball. It just seems like they don’t have any flaws. You could literally go from position to position, from strength to speed and coaching to pride and passion, and they still would come out on top.
Head coach Sean McVay, the youngest coach in the NFL, has taken just two years to turn this franchise around. Last year in his first season, he won Coach of the Year after turning the worst offense into the highest-scoring offense. Then, with an offseason frenzy including many big names coming over via trade or signings, the Rams look like a super-team through four games.
They have put up 30 or more points in every game and have embarrassed defenses despite a pretty tough schedule so far. Quarterback Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley, who was the Offensive Player of the Year last season—have not shown any signs of slowing down. The receivers, Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, have been running all over defenses, with all three in the top 20 in receiving yards.
The defense has been outstanding too, with newly acquired defensive backs Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib getting the job done in the secondary, and scariest duo in football Ndamukong Suh and 2017 Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald up front.
This past week, when they played a top-five defense in the Minnesota Vikings, the Rams proved they were no joke. Goff was dropping dimes in the end zone, passing for 465 yards and five touchdowns. He had a perfect quarterback rating.
The defense did not play as well, but that is what made it such a good game on Thursday night.
With the 49ers losing Jimmy Garoppolo to a torn ACL and Seattle and Arizona struggling early in the year, no one is coming close to the Rams in the NFC West. They already blew out the Cardinals 34-0 in Week 2 and they have a two-game lead in the division through four games.
The NFC is full of surprises this year, so who knows who could come out of it in the Super Bowl. Each team has at least some hope to make it to the postseason early in the year. Almost every team has that one piece that can give them that little push, but it seems the Rams have the whole puzzle figured out already.
After not advancing far in the playoffs last year, McVay and the Rams are poised not only to make the postseason, but to go far. The NFC is very talented and could be an interesting ride down the line, but right now, nothing is stopping Los Angeles.