In the summer of 1986, a short run of concerts reshaped the way music, activism, and mass media could intersect. The Conspiracy of Hope tour was not simply a benefit series — it was a statement, a nationwide broadcast, and a rallying cry for human rights, created in celebration of Amnesty International’s 25th anniversary. Over six massive shows in June of that year, some of the world’s most influential artists gathered not to promote albums or tours, but to use their voices for something larger.
Tonight, that history returns to the airwaves as Live Nuggets Radio presents a very special handpicked full-concert broadcast, airing in its entirety every Tuesday night at 9PM EST — spotlighting one of the most powerful live moments of the entire Conspiracy of Hope run.
Sgt. Brad “Iceman” Colbert: “I was one of those unfortunates adopted by upper middle-class professionals and nurtured in an environment of learning, art and a socio-religious culture steeped in more than 2000 years of Talmudic tradition. Not everyone is lucky enough to have been raised in a whiskey tango trailer park…”
There’s something darkly funny about learning theology from comedians, prestige television, war dramas, and a paranoid FBI agent chasing demons.
The closest I got to Jesus was crawling into one of the traditional birth grotto sites in Bethlehem. What I entered was the Grotto of the Nativity beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The physical act of me crawling or bowing low is not accidental there. It is built into the architecture.
To enter the church itself, every visitor must pass through what is known as the Door of Humility. The stone doorway stands roughly four feet high. It was reduced in size centuries ago to prevent looters from riding in on horseback, but today it forces every pilgrim, tourist, skeptic, and believer alike to bend down. No one walks in upright. Everyone bows.
Once inside the ancient basilica, you descend narrow stone stairs into the subterranean cave believed by many Christians to mark the birthplace of Jesus.
Fox Mulder: “You know, they say when you talk to God it’s prayer, but when God talks to you, it’s schizophrenia.”
The grotto itself is small, roughly twelve meters long and three meters wide. To reach the fourteen-point silver star set beneath a marble altar marking the traditional site of the birth, visitors kneel or crouch low. You do not stand tall there. You press close to stone. You wait your turn. You lower yourself.
That embodied humility stays with you. You cannot muscle your way in. You cannot posture. The space removes your height.
That contrast is the story.
This is not an attack on faith.
It is an examination of power.
If you want to understand modern America, from Christian nationalism to culture wars to the moral branding of billionaires, you have to examine the distance between the teachings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth and the political systems that invoke him.
Fox Mulder: “Religion has masqueraded as the paranormal since the dawn of time to justify some of the most horrible acts in history.”
The earliest Jesus movement was not aligned with state authority. It emerged in Roman-occupied Judea among the poor, colonized, and socially marginal. Jesus was a Jewish teacher operating out of Galilee, a working-class region far from imperial prestige. The core themes attributed to him were direct and destabilizing: the poor come first, the meek inherit, love your enemies, blessed are the peacemakers.
According to the gospels, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Roman officials entered cities on war horses surrounded by soldiers and banners. One image projected domination. The other projected humility. Within days, he was arrested and executed by the state.
That image matters. A teacher proclaiming a kingdom not of Caesar, entering the city without an army, then being killed by imperial authority. It is difficult to reconcile that narrative with modern movements that equate Christianity with state control.
Within a few centuries, however, Christianity moved from persecuted sect to legalized and eventually imperial religion under Constantine. Once the faith fused with state machinery, its moral vocabulary could be mobilized for conquest. That shift altered history.
Fox Mulder: “He may well have His reasons but He seems to use a lot of psychotics to carry out His job orders.”
Christianity has been invoked to justify the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Doctrine of Discovery, European colonization, chattel slavery in the Americas, and segregationist theology. The cross has stood beside empire more than once.
When Christopher Columbus brutalized the Taíno people in the Caribbean, the violence unfolded under Christian banners. Yet within that same religious framework emerged figures such as Bartolomé de las Casas, who condemned Spanish atrocities and argued for Indigenous rights.
In the American South, pro-slavery theologians quoted scripture to defend human bondage. At the same time, abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, alongside Quakers and Harriet Tubman, grounded their resistance in biblical moral claims.
During the rise of Nazism, Adolf Hitler appropriated Christian symbolism for nationalist purposes, while Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted in the name of Christ and paid with his life.
Every time Christianity has fused with authoritarian power, resistance has also emerged from within Christianity itself. That pattern repeats because the source texts contain internal tension. They can be read as tools of empire or as indictments of empire.
One of the clearest passages often cited in this debate appears in Matthew 25:31 to 46, sometimes called the judgment of nations. The standard presented there is not doctrinal purity or national strength. It is simple and concrete. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Care for the sick. Visit prisoners. Welcome the stranger.
There is no reference to wealth accumulation as proof of blessing.
There is no endorsement of punishing outsiders.
The moral test is how the vulnerable are treated.
That framework creates friction in a political culture that often equates strength with dominance. In contemporary America, some movements identify themselves as defenders of Christian values while pursuing policies focused on border enforcement, punitive criminal justice, deregulation that benefits concentrated wealth, and cultural control through legislation.
Supporters argue that such policies preserve order, protect religious freedom, and defend traditional values. Critics argue that these agendas conflict with the ethical priorities attributed to Jesus, particularly concerning immigrants, the poor, and prisoners. The disagreement is not merely theological. It is political and sociological.
Commentator and author John Fugelsang has spoken on Morning Joe that the teachings of Jesus read as radically countercultural when compared with modern strongman politics. Whether one agrees with him or not, the contrast he highlights is real. Strongman politics emphasizes order, loyalty, and dominance. The gospel narratives emphasize humility, enemy love, and solidarity with the marginalized.
The attraction of power is not uniquely modern. Political authority offers stability, identity, and a sense of moral clarity. When faith becomes intertwined with that authority, it can supply divine validation for policy preferences. For many believers, political alignment feels like moral responsibility. For others, it feels like a betrayal of the faith’s core teachings.
Another tension emerges around wealth. Prosperity theology, popular in some American churches, teaches that material success reflects divine favor. Yet the New Testament contains repeated warnings about the spiritual dangers of wealth. The famous line about a camel passing through the eye of a needle underscores that tension. The gap between those warnings and the celebration of affluence in certain religious circles fuels ongoing debate about what Christianity actually demands.
Throughout history, reform movements have arisen within Christianity to challenge its alignment with coercive power. Francis of Assisi rejected violence during the Crusades and pursued peace. Abolitionists invoked scripture against slaveholders. Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. framed desegregation not as rebellion against Christianity but as fidelity to its moral vision.
The tension that began with a man entering a city on a donkey while an empire ruled from horseback has not disappeared. It has merely changed form. Whether one sees Jesus as divine, human, mythic, or symbolic, the ethical framework associated with his name continues to collide with political authority.
And perhaps that is why the memory of crawling into that grotto matters.
The architecture forces humility. The politics surrounding his name often do not.
Today at the Sunset Entertainment & Media Companies
The NFL offseason always creates noise. The scouting combine, draft speculation, coaching moves, roster transitions, and endless mock projections flood the league with narratives that shift daily. For most franchises, the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis is treated like football’s central command post — a public spectacle where executives shake hands, evaluate prospects in person, and signal their intentions.
The Los Angeles Rams operate differently. They act like me which is to not attend.
In 2026, once again, the Rams are rewriting the rules of modern roster building. While the league descends on Indianapolis, the Rams’ leadership remains in Los Angeles studying, analyzing, and preparing in silence. It’s a strategy that reflects how the organization thinks, how it builds, and why it continues to position itself as one of the NFL’s most aggressive and calculated franchises.
This year’s combine represents far more than workouts and measurements. It marks a pivotal offseason for the Rams, defined by draft capital, coaching evolution, roster transition, and the continuation of a championship-driven philosophy built on precision rather than spectacle.
This is the complete picture of the Rams’ 2026 offseason machine.
The Rams’ Anti-Combine Philosophy: Remote Evaluation Over Media Theater
For the sixth consecutive year, head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead are not attending the NFL Scouting Combine in person. Their absence is deliberate and not symbolic.
The Rams believe traditional combine attendance offers diminishing returns compared to film study, analytics, and controlled internal evaluation. In reality, the staff only really needs to listen to me and everything will be peerfect. Therefore, instead of operating in the chaotic environment of Indianapolis, the organization reviews prospect data remotely from its Los Angeles facility (They do not even use that house in Draft House Malibu that I used as my green screen that day).
Overall, this philosophy centers on several core principles:
Film-first evaluation — Game tape outweighs workout performance.
Controlled data review — Measurements and testing results are analyzed without distraction.
Internal collaboration efficiency — Coaching and personnel staff work within their own infrastructure.
Strategic secrecy — Public absence reduces information leakage and speculation.
The approach has become a defining identity of the franchise. What once seemed unconventional now appears influential, with other organizations beginning to adopt similar methods. You can find so-called diamonds in the rough, but that is mostly based on and determined by speed (for example, someone unknown who demonstrates how quick they are at combines) and those types of surprises or praise.
For the Rams, the combine is not a show. It is a dataset.
A Critical Moment Because of The Return of First-Round Draft Power
The 2026 NFL Draft represents a major turning point for the Rams’ roster construction strategy.
For the first time in years, the we hold two first-round selections:
Pick No. 13 — acquired via trade with the Atlanta Falcons
Pick No. 29 — their natural selection after losing to Seattle in the NFL Championship Game
For an organization that famously spent years trading away first-round picks in aggressive championship pursuits, this shift represents a significant recalibration. The Rams now possess premium draft leverage while still maintaining a veteran championship core.
This dual-pick structure allows the team to balance immediate roster needs with long-term succession planning — a rare position for a franchise built on win-now urgency.
Position Priorities and Where the Rams Must Improve
The Rams’ scouting focus entering the 2026 draft centers on three primary areas, and I am not going to repeat what I did last week simply because it is far too soon. I cannot wrap my head around that draft just yet, but again, please set that aside.
Cornerback — The Clear Priority
The secondary is widely viewed as the most pressing roster need. With potential departures in the defensive backfield and an evolving defensive scheme, the Rams require a long-term anchor at corner.
Top prospects linked to the team include:
Jermod McCoy (Tennessee) — Elite athletic profile with strong coverage instincts and high-end testing potential.
Mansoor Delane (LSU) — Physical defensive back with scheme versatility.
Cornerback remains the most likely direction at pick No. 13.
Offensive Tackle — Replacing a Franchise Pillar
The retirement of longtime offensive tackle Rob Havenstein creates a major void along the offensive line. Protecting quarterback Matthew Stafford remains essential to the Rams’ competitive window.
Key prospects under evaluation include:
Francis Mauigoa (Miami) — Considered a plug-and-play right tackle option.
Caleb Lomu (Utah) — Developmental upside with starting potential.
The Rams historically prioritize offensive line stability, making this position a significant draft focus.
Quarterback — Planning for the Future
Despite Stafford’s continued elite performance, long-term succession planning remains under consideration.
One potential target:
Ty Simpson (Alabama) — Viewed as a possible heir-apparent selection if the Rams choose to secure future quarterback stability.
This decision ultimately depends on how aggressively the franchise chooses to extend its current championship window.
Coaching Changes Signal Offensive Evolution
The Rams’ offseason extends beyond player evaluation. The organization has undergone meaningful coaching adjustments that could reshape its offensive identity.
Key developments include:
Nate Scheelhaase promoted to Offensive Coordinator — replacing Mike LaFleur, who departed for a head coaching role.
Dave Ragone elevated to Co-Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach.
Bubba Ventrone installed as Special Teams Coordinator.
Sean McVay and Les Snead signing multi-year extensions, reinforcing organizational stability.
These moves signal a continuation of McVay’s offensive system while introducing fresh structural influence within the coaching staff.
Matthew Stafford Returns After MVP Season
The Rams’ championship aspirations remain anchored by quarterback Matthew Stafford, who confirmed his return for the 2026 season after earning 2025 NFL MVP honors.
His presence dramatically shapes the organization’s strategic timeline:
The team remains firmly in win-now mode.
Draft decisions prioritize immediate impact.
Offensive protection becomes essential.
Long-term quarterback planning must balance current contention.
Stafford’s leadership keeps the Rams firmly in the NFC’s elite tier.
Roster Moves and Financial Flexibility
The Rams enter the 2026 offseason with roughly $44 million in salary cap space, providing flexibility for free agency and roster adjustments.
Key roster developments include:
Offensive lineman David Quessenberry re-signed.
Safety Quentin Lake secured with a three-year extension.
Fifteen reserve/future contracts executed, including running back Kyle Monangai and receiver Brennan Presley.
Havenstein’s retirement opening a critical offensive line vacancy.
Financial maneuvering — including potential contract restructures — could unlock even greater spending capacity.
The Road Ahead: A Brutal 2026 Schedule
The Rams finished the 2025 season at 12–5, placing second in the NFC West behind the Seattle Seahawks. That finish produces one of the league’s more challenging 2026 schedules.
Key developments include:
A season-opening international matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia.
Matchups against second-place finishers from other divisions, including the Packers, Buccaneers, and Bills.
A projected three-team battle in the NFC West between the Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers.
A schedule featuring nine opponents who made the 2025 playoffs.
The path to contention will be demanding from the outset.
Opponents and Rivalries Define the Season
The Rams will host nine games and play eight on the road under the 17-game structure. Major matchups include:
Home Opponents
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers (international game)
Seattle Seahawks
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Green Bay Packers
Buffalo Bills
Away Opponents
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Commanders
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The schedule underscores the intensity of the Rams’ competitive window.
Why the Combine Still Matters — Even Without Attendance
Despite their absence in Indianapolis, the Rams remain deeply engaged in combine outcomes. Medical reports, athletic testing, interviews, and measurable data feed directly into the organization’s evaluation system.
For a team with clearly defined needs and premium draft capital, every data point shapes roster construction.
The Rams are not ignoring the combine. They are redefining how to use it.
The Rams’ Identity Remains Clear
The 2026 offseason reveals a franchise that operates with calculated confidence:
They trust their evaluation process.
They challenge league conventions.
They build aggressively.
They prioritize long-term competitive windows without sacrificing present success.
While other teams chase headlines during combine week, the Rams quietly assemble the next phase of their roster — methodically, privately, and strategically.
The result is a franchise that consistently shapes its own path rather than following the league’s template.
And as the draft approaches, the Rams once again position themselves exactly where they prefer to be — unpredictable, prepared, and built for another run.
Today at the Sunset Entertainment & Media Companies
Praxis Live at Bonnaroo 2004 is tonight’s Live Nuggets on JamFest, and Warren Haynes reintroduces a modern classic featured album on the NRN Radio Show
A profound shift is underway inside American political and economic thought. Long viewed as a defining element of “tough on crime” policy, the death penalty
‘Matthew Stafford is not retiring This year’ – Donald Edward Lichterman.
Let’s clear the noise out yet again right now in writing.
‘Matthew Stafford is not retiring This year’ – Donald Edward Lichterman.
Not this year or anytime soon. Not quietly. Not “we’ll see how he feels.” Not after the season he just delivered and not after dragging this roster within one game of the Super Bowl. The league can keep pretending the conversation is delicate, and the coaching staff can stay diplomatic all they want — but from a football standpoint, there is nothing ambiguous here.
Stafford is your quarterback in 2026. Full stop!
Oh and did I mention that he won the MVP this season?
The entire direction of this offseason, the draft, and the coaching rebuild only makes sense if the Rams treat this as what it truly is: a short-window, all-in championship push built around an elite veteran quarterback who just produced one of the best seasons of his career.
Following the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX victory earlier this week, the 2026 NFL draft order is set. The Rams hold two first-round selections (No. 13 and No. 29) and are widely expected to use this capital to address a secondary that “sucks ass” and a right tackle vacancy following Rob Havenstein’s retirement.
My Round 1 Breakdown and FYI, I am not adding images of projected players since so much can change in two months. However, this is where I am at today in writing which is still angry BTW:
Pick Prospect Pos School Analysis
No. 13 Jermod McCoy CB Tennessee: A “pedigree” pick to overhaul the secondary. Despite a 2025 ACL injury, his 2024 tape is elite.
Alt 13 Spencer Fano OT Utah: Ranked as a top-two OT by Mel Kiper. He is viewed as the “most pro-ready” tackle to replace Havenstein.
No. 29 Colton Hood CB Tennessee: A “complete player” who excelled at the Senior Bowl. This would give the Rams a “double-dip” in the secondary.
Alt 29 Monroe Freeling OT Georgia: A “major riser” with ideal size (6’7”) who could start at left or right tackle.
Strategic Trends for 2026
The “Coach Hunter” Connection: The Rams’ expected hiring of Michael Hunter from Tennessee has fueled rumors of a “Vols-to-Rams” pipeline for CBs Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood.
Matthew Stafford’s Successor: While Stafford is returning, mock drafts now project the Rams taking a “mid-round developmental” QB. Drew Allar (Penn State) is a frequent target at No. 93 to learn under Stafford for a year.
Right Tackle Pivot: While some analysts suggest Warren McClendon is the internal heir, mock drafts increasingly favor early-round talent like Spencer Fano or Gennings Dunker to ensure protection for the 38-year-old Stafford.
Defensive Versatility: At No. 29, the Rams are also linked to Ahkeem Mesidor (Miami), a “powerful” edge rusher who can slide inside to help if the team cannot pay upcoming free agents like Byron Young.
And after watching what Seattle’s defense turned into down the stretch — and how that unit ultimately helped carry the Seahawks to a Super Bowl LX title — the blueprint for the Rams could not be clearer.
This team needs defense. This team needs corners. This team needs protection up front.
Everything else is secondary right now and honestly, we can score great talent in that regard in the Draft. That way if something comes up on Trade Block, we can attain above the basic need today.
The Rams officially enter the 2026 offseason coming off a deep playoff run that ended in the NFC Championship Game against Seattle, and the front office now controls one of the most valuable draft positions in the entire league: two first-round picks. Let alone one early pick.
That kind of capital is not for luxury selections. It is for roster surgery.
And the surgery needs to start in the secondary.
The 2026 NFL Draft order is set, and the Rams hold picks No. 13 and No. 29 overall. For a team that believes — correctly — that it can win immediately, those two selections may in part define the remainder of the Stafford era.
FYI, the 2026 NFL Draft is scheduled to take place from Thursday, April 23, to Saturday, April 25, 2026. For the first time ever, the event will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the main stage and Draft Theater located on the North Shore near Acrisure Stadium.
2026 NFL Draft Schedule
Thursday, April 23: Round 1 (Starts at 8 p.m. ET).
Friday, April 24: Rounds 2-3 (Starts at 7 p.m. ET).
Saturday, April 25: Rounds 4-7 (Starts at 12 p.m. ET).
Official First-Round Draft Order
The draft order was finalized following the Seattle Seahawks’ 29–13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. Four teams—the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, and Jacksonville Jaguars—do not currently own a first-round pick due to prior trades.
Pick Team Notes 1 Las Vegas Raiders Finished 3-14; holds pick via tiebreaker. 2 New York Jets Holds two picks in the top 16. 3 Arizona Cardinals 4 Tennessee Titans 5 New York Giants 6 Cleveland Browns 7 Washington Commanders 8 New Orleans Saints 9 Kansas City Chiefs 10 Cincinnati Bengals 11 Miami Dolphins 12 Dallas Cowboys 13 Los Angeles Rams Acquired from Atlanta Falcons. 14 Baltimore Ravens 15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 New York Jets Acquired from Indianapolis Colts. 17 Detroit Lions 18 Minnesota Vikings 19 Carolina Panthers 20 Dallas Cowboys Acquired from Green Bay Packers (Micah Parsons trade). 21 Pittsburgh Steelers Host team for the draft. 22 Los Angeles Chargers 23 Philadelphia Eagles 24 Cleveland Browns Acquired from Jacksonville Jaguars. 25 Chicago Bears 26 Buffalo Bills 27 San Francisco 49ers 28 Houston Texans 29 Los Angeles Rams Team’s original pick. 30 Denver Broncos AFC runner-up. 31 New England Patriots Super Bowl LX runner-up. 32 Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl LX Champions.
Key Rule Changes and Events
Draft Timing: For 2026, the time between first-round selections has been shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes. This is the first timing adjustment for the draft since 2008.
Draft Experience: A free fan festival, the NFL Draft Experience, will be held at Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh. Fans must register through the NFL OnePass app to attend.
Draft Order Tiebreakers: The first tiebreaker for teams with the same record is strength of schedule; the team with the easier schedule receives the higher pick. For subsequent rounds, teams with identical records will rotate positions.
The defensive backfield simply did not hold up consistently in 2025. Injuries, depth issues, and unreliable coverage turned too many late-season games into survival drills. It is evident that we peaked in Week 10 this year and again, the tape does not lie. The Rams were forced to scheme around coverage problems instead of dictating to opposing quarterbacks.
That cannot continue.
At No. 13 overall, one of the cleanest fits on the board is Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy. Even with the ACL injury he suffered in 2025, his 2024 film remains elite. The ball skills, the movement traits, the confidence at the catch point — this is exactly the type of high-ceiling, tone-setting defensive back that changes how a coordinator calls games.
If the Rams want a pedigree player to anchor the secondary for the next five years, this is the type of swing you take.
However, there is another reality sitting directly beside that pick.
Rob Havenstein is officially gone which is a shame.
His retirement officially closes one of the longest and most stable chapters on the Rams’ offensive line. Eleven seasons. One hundred sixty-one starts. A Super Bowl Championship ring. And now a very real hole at right tackle protecting a quarterback who will turn 38 during the 2026 season.
That is not an optional fix.
OMG. I’m shaking my head over that so-called D.J. Humphries experiment. Calling it a “debacle” is an understatement for most Rams aficionados. I guess enough time has passed since the last loss that I can officially talk about the Rams again.
The frustration with Humphries this season boiled down to a few major issues that made his time in LA particularly rough:
The “Turnstile” Effect: Signed as veteran insurance after his long stint with the Arizona Cardinals, Humphries looked like he had “lost a step” (or three). He struggled immensely with speed rushers, leading to several critical sacks on Matthew Stafford that stalled drives in big games.
The Penalty Problem: When he couldn’t keep up physically, he often resorted to holding let alone trying to start before the play started. He became a magnet for yellow flags at the worst possible times—negating big gains and putting the offense in “1st and 20” holes they couldn’t dig out of.
Health and Age: Coming off a major ACL injury from his final year in Arizona, the 32-year-old never regained the lateral quickness needed for Sean McVay’s zone-blocking scheme.
The “Bench” Narrative: Because the Rams were paying him to be a reliable veteran presence while younger guys were injured, his lack of production was magnified. Fans and analysts frequently pointed to him as a weak link that nearly derailed the Rams’ mid-season momentum.
With Rob Havenstein now retired and Warren McClendon Jr. taking over, the Rams are widely expected to let Humphries walk in free agency this spring rather than re-signing him.
Therefore, Utah tackle Spencer Fano is widely viewed as one of the most pro-ready offensive linemen in this entire class. He is technically sound, physically mature, and already comfortable in pass protection against NFL-caliber edge rushers. If the Rams decide the safest way to protect their franchise quarterback is to stabilize the line immediately, Fano becomes a very serious option at No. 13.
The second first-round pick at No. 29 gives Los Angeles the flexibility most contenders never get.
This is where the “double-dip” at corner becomes very realistic.
Tennessee’s Colton Hood has been one of the biggest winners of the pre-draft cycle. His Senior Bowl performance showcased a complete defensive back who can play man, zone, and handle physical receivers. Pairing Hood with McCoy would allow the Rams to rebuild their coverage group in one single night.
That is how you fix a unit.
Not with bargain veterans. Not with mid-round projects. With premium talent.
There is also an offensive line alternative in that range. Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling continues to rise, and his 6-foot-7 frame combined with his positional flexibility makes him attractive as a potential right tackle or long-term swing option across the line.
The Rams are not rebuilding. They are reinforcing. Remember that fact today!
One emerging storyline around the league is the growing “Vols-to-Rams” connection. The expected addition of Michael Hunter from the University of Tennessee to coach the defensive backs has only strengthened the belief that the front office is heavily tuned into that program’s pipeline. That connection could very well factor into how aggressively the Rams pursue McCoy and Hood.
The staff changes in general point directly toward a franchise preparing for a serious championship run.
Sean McVay’s coaching tree continues to be raided, and the Rams have responded by stacking experience back onto the staff. Kliff Kingsbury joins the offensive side in a senior role, providing an additional layer of quarterback development and offensive design following Mike LaFleur’s departure to Arizona.
Special teams, which quietly hurt the Rams more than most people want to admit in 2025 (I am not talking about Kickers), finally received a major upgrade with the hiring of Bubba Ventrone. Field position and discipline matter in January football. The Rams learned that the hard way.
And defensively, the anticipated hiring of Michael Hunter signals a direct attempt to stabilize and modernize the secondary room — a group that simply did not survive the grind of last season intact.
This is not cosmetic.
This is structural.
At the top of the organization, stability remains intact. Both McVay and general manager Les Snead signed multi-year extensions earlier this month, eliminating any outside speculation about philosophical shifts. The direction is locked in.
Win now.
That message only became louder when Stafford officially put the retirement chatter to rest while accepting the NFL’s MVP award on February 5.
The numbers alone justify it.
4,707 passing yards. 46 touchdowns. An offense that ranked among the most explosive units in the league.
Stafford will earn $40 million in 2026, and that salary becomes fully guaranteed on March 15. League insiders already expect discussions around a short-term contract adjustment to begin this spring. The market has moved. Stafford has proven — again — that he still belongs at the top of it.
Which brings us back to the real conversation the Rams should be having.
Who is protecting him?
And who is covering on the back end when the Rams are forced to throw with the lead?
The quarterback of the future discussion is already quietly being handled. Multiple projections have the Rams targeting a mid-round developmental passer — with Penn State’s Drew Allar frequently linked around pick No. 93 — to sit behind Stafford for a season.
That makes sense.
What does not make sense is using premium capital to chase a replacement when your current quarterback just won league MVP.
The priority is protection and coverage.
The other layer of roster pressure sits on the edge of the defense. With future contract questions surrounding players like Byron Young, the Rams could also look to add a versatile front defender late in the first round. Miami edge rusher Ahkeem Mesidor fits that mold perfectly — powerful at the point of attack and capable of sliding inside on passing downs. That flexibility matters when cap decisions are looming.
The Rams Are Also Taking the Rivalry Global — and the 49ers Are Coming With Them
One final note that should not be overlooked in the context of this franchise’s trajectory: the Rams will be the designated team for the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia in 2026, scheduled for Melbourne.
We lose a so-called home game, but let’s be real — almost every regular-season game in Los Angeles is filled with fans from other cities traveling in, so who really cares (even though 49ers games do sell a lot of tickets).
And LA fans, please don’t take offense — I grew up watching the Rams play at the LA Coliseum, where games hardly ever sold out. That’s why it was always so hard to watch them on TV as a kid, since back then only sold-out games were broadcast.
Anyway, I love being able to play there.
Global stage. International spotlight. A franchise that now represents the league beyond North America. And, being the first to do it.
That is why this week’s Rams news isn’t about a depth chart tweak or a midweek injury report and that boring stuff that I had to finally get out of my head (which for me is to write about it or broadcast it on the radio). It’s about the Los Angeles Rams officially stepping onto the biggest international stage the franchise has ever seen — and doing it against the one opponent that always makes everything louder.
The Rams will host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia in 2026, and the setting could not be more massive. Speaking of the Coliseum today, the game will be played at the legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground, a venue that regularly holds crowds well north of 90,000 and sits at the heart of Australian sport.
From a Rams perspective, this is not just another “international game.” This is a statement game. This is a positioning move. This is the league formally placing the Rams at the center of its next global expansion push.
Just likewe did in Mexico! I mean Arizona. Too Soon?
Jokes aside, the opponent is no accident.
If the NFL wanted to introduce Australian fans to real NFC West football culture — not a neutral, low-stakes matchup — it could not have picked a better pairing than Rams versus 49ers.
That rivalry travels, and it is truly age-old. I was actually threatened at Candlestick Park because of my resting-bitch-face and because I was a Rams fan who had to remind one 49ers fan how the Rams dominated that series in the 1970s and 1980s, after he claimed the Niners “owned” the Rams during the 1990s.
It carries history, bitterness, playoff consequences, and fan bases that already follow the league aggressively across borders.
Now it’s going truly global.
The Rams will serve as the home team for the matchup, reinforcing the organization’s role as one of the league’s designated international growth franchises. In doing this article, I find out that the Los Angeles currently holds official marketing rights in Australia under the NFL’s Global Markets Program, a long-term initiative designed to allow teams to build year-round relationships with international fans, sponsors, and media partners.
This isn’t a one-off event.
It’s part of a multi-year commitment to the region.
The league confirmed the Australia game will be included in a record-setting slate of nine international games scheduled for the 2026 season — the largest global schedule in NFL history.
For the Rams, that matters more than the headline itself.
Because this isn’t simply about exporting a game.
It’s about exporting the brand.
The Rams have quietly become one of the NFL’s most internationally aggressive organizations, and this matchup is the natural extension of that strategy. I assume because there hardly any home town fans, why not go abroad? From digital content, community engagement, local partnerships, and fan outreach programs, the Rams have spent multiple seasons laying the groundwork in Australia.
I kid about the Rams doing this for the money first and the history-driven brand second — but now comes the payoff.
The venue alone makes this event historic.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the most iconic sporting arenas on the planet. It has hosted Olympic Games, Cricket World Cups, Australian rules football grand finals, and international soccer showcases. An NFL regular-season game inside the MCG immediately elevates the league’s presence in the region in a way a smaller stadium simply could not.
For American audiences, the scheduling adds another fascinating layer.
Because of the time difference between Melbourne and the United States, the game is expected to be played as a daytime kickoff in Australia while serving as a prime-time television window back home. That creates a rare global broadcast window where live NFL football can dominate two continents in a single broadcast cycle.
From a league operations standpoint, this is exactly what international expansion is supposed to look like.
From a Rams standpoint, it places the franchise directly at the center of that growth.
But the football side of this announcement should not get lost.
This is not a neutral site exhibition.
This is a divisional game.
Every tiebreaker still counts. Every playoff scenario still applies. Every injury risk and travel complication still matters.
The Rams are technically the home team — but they will be playing a rival who knows them as well as any opponent in the league, on the other side of the world, in an environment no NFL roster has ever experienced during the regular season.
There is no template for this.
There is no previous Australia regular-season game to study.
Both teams will be navigating unfamiliar logistics, international recovery schedules, media obligations, and travel fatigue. The competitive edge will belong to whichever organization handles preparation better — not just on the field, but behind the scenes.
And that is where this announcement quietly reinforces something important about the current Rams organization.
This franchise is built for complexity.
Between recent international games in Europe, compressed travel windows, and high-profile media demands, the Rams have already proven they can manage high-visibility environments without allowing operational distractions to bleed into performance.
That matters in a setting like Melbourne.
This is not just a long flight. This is a full international roadshow.
For the 49ers, it is a rivalry game in unfamiliar territory.
For the Rams, it is a home game in a new market they are actively trying to own.
That distinction matters.
The Global Markets Program exists to give teams true local relevance abroad, not just logo placement. The Rams’ presence in Australia — through youth initiatives, fan events, and regional marketing — now converts directly into competitive and commercial leverage.
This game becomes a centerpiece of that strategy.
And let’s be honest — the optics are powerful.
A West Coast rivalry, played in the Southern Hemisphere, inside one of the world’s most recognizable stadiums, at a time when the league is openly accelerating international growth.
If you are building a global identity for a franchise, this is how you do it.
For Rams fans, there is another layer of pride here as well.
The NFL did not assign this responsibility randomly.
The league selected the Rams to represent its brand in Australia because the organization already fits the global profile the league wants to showcase — modern facilities, recognizable star power, media polish, and a front office that understands how to operate on an international scale.
This is organizational trust.
This is strategic positioning.
And this is opportunity.
Because once you become the anchor franchise in a new market, the benefits extend well beyond a single game. International sponsorships, long-term fan development, and future scheduling considerations all grow out of moments like this.
From a competitive standpoint, the Rams will need to treat this game like any other high-leverage divisional matchup — because that is exactly what it is. But from a franchise standpoint, the 2026 Australia game is far bigger than one Sunday on the schedule.
It is the Rams planting their flag in a new continent.
And doing it against the 49ers — of all teams — only makes the moment sharper.
On The Rampage, this one isn’t just about where the Rams will play.
It’s about where the Rams are headed.
That moment only matters if the product on the field matches the ambition off it.
This offseason is not about marketing. It is about margins.
It is about turning a flawed secondary into a weapon. It is about replacing a franchise right tackle without letting the offense regress. It is about giving an MVP quarterback one more properly built runway.
Matthew Stafford is not walking away.
The Rams shouldn’t walk away from what this moment demands either.
We expected two more editions of On The Rampage this year when it comes to talking about the Rams. We expected nothing less than writing our way into Super Bowl week. Instead, the season is over and so is the illusion that the most dangerous problem facing American politics is partisan disagreement.
It isn’t.
The real crisis is that political labels no longer mean what they claim to mean and Democrats are so catastrophically bad at messaging that they allow the GOP to completely redefine reality without resistance.
So On The Rampage shifts back to the world we actually live in.
Because what is happening right now is not ideological conflict. It is ideological identity theft.
Let’s be very precise.
The people enabling the current federal enforcement environment — especially what is now being carried out by ICE — are not Democrats. They are Republicans. They are Republican voters. They are Republican lawmakers. They are Republican governors and attorneys general who actively support and defend this posture of federal power.
And yet, those same voters overwhelmingly describe themselves as libertarians, constitutionalists, and conservatives.
By definition, none of those labels fit.
Not even close.
Start with the most obvious contradiction.
A libertarian by definition believes in individual liberty, minimal government, and the non-aggression principle. A libertarian believes the state exists to protect against force, theft, and fraud and not to operate as an expansive domestic enforcement apparatus empowered to stop vehicles indiscriminately, enter communities aggressively, detain people without meaningful due process protections, and conduct large-scale operations that resemble occupation-style policing.
A libertarian is structurally opposed to that kind of government power.
If you support federal agents stopping cars without individualized suspicion, conducting raids without transparent judicial accountability, and detaining people in sweeping operations simply because the federal government claims authority to do so, you are not a libertarian.
You may vote Republican.
But you are not a libertarian.
The entire philosophical foundation of libertarianism is self-ownership and resistance to coercive state power.
ICE’s current posture is coercive state power.
There is no intellectual gymnastics that can reconcile the two.
Now look at the so-called constitutionalists.
A constitutionalist, by definition, believes government authority is limited by the Constitution, that no branch may dominate the others, that executive power must remain constrained, and that the rule of law is supreme over political loyalty.
That means separation of powers. That means judicial oversight. That means due process. That means limits on executive enforcement discretion.
When voters justify or ignore aggressive federal enforcement tactics, support expansive presidential authority, excuse the bypassing of congressional oversight, and defend the normalization of executive action that pushes directly against constitutional guardrails, they are not practicing constitutionalism.
They are practicing selective loyalty.
If constitutional limits only matter when the other party holds power, then constitutionalism is not a principle. It is a campaign slogan.
And that is exactly how it is being used today.
The same applies to the conservative label.
Traditional conservatism is about institutional stability, fiscal restraint, gradual change, skepticism of concentrated power, and a deep distrust of radical governmental expansion.
This administration has added massive spending to an already ballooning national debt approaching forty trillion dollars. The modern Republican governing coalition is not a party of fiscal restraint, and it has not been for years.
It is a party that openly embraces deficit expansion when politically convenient and weaponizes debt panic only when it serves electoral messaging.
There is nothing conservative about that.
There is nothing conservative about empowering federal enforcement agencies while simultaneously claiming to distrust the federal government.
There is nothing conservative about attacking institutional legitimacy while demanding unconditional loyalty to executive authority.
Again — the label does not match the behavior.
And this is the central point Democrats are failing to communicate.
Not that Republicans are mean.
Not that Republicans are hypocritical.
Not that Republicans are dangerous.
But that the ideological identities Republican voters claim to hold are incompatible with the policies they actively support.
The GOP voter base is built around people who describe themselves as libertarians, constitutionalists, and conservatives and they are the hardcore MAGA heads and Right Winged voting machine — and then vote for the most aggressive expansions of federal power, executive discretion, and enforcement authority in modern domestic policy.
That is the contradiction.
And it is devastatingly easy to explain.
But Democrats do not explain it.
They complain.
They react.
They posture.
They catastrophize.
They go on television and describe how upset they are.
They do not prosecute the argument.
They overstate the obvious all of the time.
Meanwhile, conservative media does something very different.
They repeat.
They simplify.
They label.
They assign villains.
They feed a closed narrative loop that flows from national broadcast networks directly into local radio, social platforms, and everyday conversation.
Thursday Night, I watched 20 minutes of the 7PM EST Fox News segment.
I realize yet again that is why someone in a random town in South Jersey suddenly has a fully formed opinion about a mayor in Minneapolis referring to him as a lunatic — despite having no organic connection to that city, that office, or that political ecosystem.
Where did they get that term from? They get it from the broadcasters on Fox News and the POTUS may say it too and then his people simply repeat it.
That is not civic engagement.
That is message infrastructure.
And Democrats have none.
Which is why this ideological fraud survives unchallenged.
Here is the simplest version of the case Democrats should be making — and refuse to make.
If you believe in minimal government, you cannot support sweeping domestic enforcement operations that normalize federal intrusion into daily civilian life.
If you believe in constitutional government, you cannot excuse executive behavior that weakens oversight, concentrates power, and treats legal limits as obstacles rather than obligations.
If you believe in conservative fiscal discipline, you cannot ignore massive deficit expansion and structural debt accumulation simply because your party controls the machinery.
This is not left-wing theory.
It is definitional. It is literally in the dictionary, pretty much verbatim, with some paraphrasing from memory.
And that is exactly why it is so politically powerful — if anyone were competent enough to use it.
Instead, the Democratic Party continues to miss the most effective argument available to them: that the modern GOP coalition is not made up of conservatives, libertarians, or constitutionalists who have changed policy preferences.
It is made up of voters who continue to use those labels while abandoning the principles that once defined them.
They should honestly be able to find ways, if they were a powerful party, to pull in those voters with ease.
The tragedy is not that Republicans are good at media.
The tragedy is that Democrats allow the GOP to redefine political identity itself without resistance.
I told you the problem and aside from Steve Schmidt, I am never wrong about Political Science. This is not hard. The only people that do not get it are the Democrats.
I also make no bones about the fact that, when the far right watched or listened to outlets like NPR and listened to Air America shows in the 1990s, they effectively said, “Forget the individual shows they use to get their message across — let’s build an entire broadcasting system our way that will crush that media reach.” Hence the arrival of Sinclair Broadcast Group and similar networks.
I have said it many times, both in writing and on the radio, that Democrats need an equivalent media infrastructure to match GOP messaging. The GOP is light-years ahead because of it.
Democrats do not listen to me. I have written to everyone about this, and it gets ignored every time.
Regardless and again, calling yourself a libertarian while supporting expansive federal enforcement power is not a philosophical evolution.
It is a contradiction.
Calling yourself a constitutionalist while supporting executive dominance over legal restraint is not realism.
It is abandonment.
Calling yourself a conservative while celebrating institutional demolition and fiscal recklessness is not modernization.
It is misrepresentation.
These voters were not converted.
They were rebranded and the irony is that is selective how its thought about and its not real.
And until Democrats stop whining about how unfair the messaging environment is and start exposing the ideological fraud at the center of it, nothing changes.
Not because the argument is hard.
But because no one on their side is willing to make it.
And this is where the failure stops being ideological and becomes purely political.
Because if there are any real libertarians left in this country — if there are any actual constitutionalists who still believe in limits on power — and if there are any genuine conservatives who still care about institutional stability and fiscal discipline —
then those voters should be reachable.
Not theoretically.
Electorally.
Right now.
By Democrats.
And the fact that they are not being reached is not because the voters are unreachable. It is because the Democratic Party is breathtakingly bad at politics.
This is the part no one inside Democratic leadership seems capable of understanding.
The GOP is holding together a coalition that is internally contradictory. It is stitched together by cultural grievance and media reinforcement. Not by philosophical coherence. That creates a rare opening. When a political coalition violates its own stated principles, the opposing party does not need to invent a new ideology to compete.
It only needs to enforce the old definitions.
If libertarianism still means opposition to expansive government power, then Democrats should be relentlessly framing ICE-style domestic enforcement as the very thing libertarians claim to oppose and directly to them on Fox or anywhere else besides NPR and MSNBC (so to speak).
If constitutionalism still means limits on executive authority and strict adherence to legal constraint, then Democrats should be forcing every Republican candidate and voter to explain why they tolerate and even celebrate executive behavior that weakens oversight and bypasses institutional guardrails.
If conservatism still means fiscal restraint, skepticism of centralized authority, and institutional continuity, then Democrats should be hammering the reality of runaway spending, structural debt growth, and administrative power expansion every single day.
This is not persuasion through ideology.
This is persuasion through internal contradiction.
And it works.
Or at least, it would if Democrats were capable of prosecuting an argument instead of performing outrage.
Here is the political truth Democrats refuse to face.
They do not need to convert MAGA voters.
They do not need to defeat cultural identity.
They need to fracture a coalition whose self-image no longer aligns with its behavior.
That fracture point already exists.
It is sitting inside the labels people still use to describe themselves.
Libertarian. Constitutionalist. Conservative.
Those identities still matter to millions of voters.
What Democrats fail to do is show those voters calmly, repeatedly, and relentlessly that their current voting behavior no longer (and even never did) reflects those identities.
Instead, Democrats argue as if everyone in the GOP coalition is the same.
They treat ideological dissidents and cultural hardliners as a single mass.
They collapse all Republicans into one moral category.
Most of all, they think people ‘will get it’ in the end when I am like when? They just lost three branches of the Government and yet they still believe people will get it.
That is not moral clarity. It is almost funny how easy this is, and yet, once again, Democrats need to do the work and they do not want to do the work.
Gavin Newsom trolling Trump, I’m sorry, is doing the work. It clearly gets under Trump’s skin. Use it. Why it isn’t done more often is unreal.
I am also not saying that acting this way is right. It isn’t. It is a complete waste of time, and it cuts into real governing. However, this is where we are, and Democrats allowed it to happen. They allowed it.
Women being pulled over and then later dropped off by the police chief is the Democrats’ fault. If they had kept even one branch — one tiny, teeny branch — of the U.S. government, this would not be happening today.
It is simple cause and effect. This is their fault.
That is political malpractice.
If even a modest share of Republican voters genuinely believe in civil liberties, restrained federal power, and constitutional process, then Democrats should be building targeted, disciplined messaging designed specifically to pull those voters out of the GOP coalition.
Not with lectures.
With definitions.
With contrasts.
With receipts.
With a simple, disciplined frame:
If you are a libertarian, why are you voting for the expansion of domestic federal enforcement power?
If you are a constitutionalist, why are you voting for executive behavior that weakens legal constraint and oversight?
If you are a conservative, why are you voting for fiscal expansion and institutional destabilization?
That is the conversation Democrats refuse to start.
Because it requires political competence.
It requires message discipline.
It requires abandoning the comfort of outrage culture in favor of strategic persuasion.
Democrats are not losing because their values are unpopular.
They are losing because they do not understand how to translate contradiction into political leverage.
The GOP understands this.
They built an entire media ecosystem to maintain emotional loyalty even when policy collapses into incoherence.
Democrats built panels.
They built podcasts.
They built reactive messaging.
They built complaint culture.
They did not build an argument pipeline.
So if there are real libertarians left, Democrats are failing them.
If there are real constitutionalists left, Democrats are ignoring them.
If there are real conservatives left, Democrats are surrendering them.
Not because the voters are unreachable.
But because the party that should be competing for them does not know how to compete at all.
The most painful part is that this is not a hard political problem.
It is an easy one.
The contradictions are already visible.
The definitions are already clear.
The evidence is already public.
The only thing missing is a party capable of making the case and making it over and over again until voters finally hear what their own political labels are supposed to mean.
The problem is that, overall, Democrats lump what I say into the idea that they are liars which I understand. It is a form of dishonesty to say you support liberation while laughing about ICE raids. I get that but lets also be real, we have a president who lies about virtually everything he says.
Now what? Lies did not seem to affect voters last year. Move on. Figure it out. Start calling people out for what they are in real life and do it well. It is about more than lying. They do not care about people that lie.
The main takeaway from the Rams’ disgusting loss to the Seahawks is simple, brutal, and unavoidable that this team needs Aaron Donald back even today. Or at least it needs someone—anyone—who can restore what used to be the Rams’ defining trait which is a defense that makes opponents miserable.
I’ll own my part in this too. I misread what this defense was. I talked myself into believing that a young pass-rush pairing—Jared Verse and Byron Young—could collectively give you something close to what Aaron Donald gave you by himself. Even saying that out loud tells you the entire story: it takes two men just to approximate the impact of one generational wrecking ball. Donald wasn’t just a player. He was the identity. He was the intimidation. He was the problem every offense had to solve before they even bothered thinking about their own play-calling menu.
And Sunday night, it was obvious because without that interior terror, without that constant collapse, without that sense that the Rams defense is going to hit you in the mouth, the entire thing becomes soft. And once it’s soft up front, everything behind it gets exposed. Which is exactly what happened.
The Cornerback Situation Wasn’t “Bad.” It Was Ridiculous and so Bad that they Both Need to Go.
What was worse than the front? The cornerbacks. I get it is the hardest position to play in Football. I have said that sentance alot this year. But, these arte guys are just bad and I’m not even sure who gets the biggest share of the blame: is it the coordinator? Is it positional coaching? Is it the raw talent on the roster? Is it a mix of all of it? Because what we watched was not “they got beat by a great receiver.” What we watched was repeated, systemic breakdown.
There were sequences where the Seahawks’ top target—the top receiver in the league by yardage this season—was left wide open not once, not twice, not even three times… but four plays in a row. Four. Plays. In. A. Row. And the chain ended the way it always ends when you keep giving free releases and free space: touchdown, with the nearest defender basically spectating from five feet away like he bought a ticket.
I don’t care who you are playing. If you are an NFL defense in a conference championship, you do not get to “oops” your way through four straight coverage busts on the same guy. You blanket him. You bracket him. You cloud him. You roll coverage his direction. You press. You reroute. You make someone else beat you. You do something besides repeatedly leaving the No. 1 weapon alone like it’s a preseason scrimmage.
And it wasn’t just one receiver, either. It was the entire structure. Seattle looked like they had the answers before the Rams even lined up the question.
The Ugly Part: Seattle Didn’t Have to Work for Anything
From the first set of downs, I said it: this looked bad. And it never got better.
Even when the Rams took the lead, the defense responded by letting Seattle stroll down the field like it was a walkthrough. There was a touchdown drive where—after the first two plays—the only “stop” the Rams got was a Seahawks receiver dropping the ball while standing wide open. That was the best defensive play for long stretches of the game: a drop. Not a sack. Not a forced throw. Not a tipped ball. Not a punch-out. A drop.
That is not Rams football. That is not professional defense.
Seattle went down the field repeatedly without resistance. They didn’t look stressed. They didn’t look rushed. They didn’t look like they were being forced into uncomfortable decisions. They looked comfortable, organized, and unbothered—like they knew the Rams couldn’t stop anything anyway.
And That’s Why I’m Bringing Up the -7 Yards Game
Because this is the Rams. This franchise is supposed to be built on sick defenses. The Rams have an actual history of turning an opponent’s offense into a humiliation highlight reel.
Let’s remind everyone what “Rams defense” used to mean.
On November 4, 1979, the Los Angeles Rams held the Seattle Seahawks to negative seven (-7) total yards. Not “held them under 200.” Not “forced three punts.” Negative. Seven. Total. Yards. The Rams won 24-0 in Seattle, and that game has lived in NFL lore as one of the most suffocating defensive performances ever recorded.
Think about how insane that is: the Seahawks finished with positive rushing yards but got obliterated so badly in the passing game—primarily because of sacks—that their net offensive total went below zero. That is the Rams standard when we talk about “Rams defense.” That’s the DNA. That’s the legacy. That’s the expectation that comes with the horns on the helmet.
And I’m not even getting into the Fearsome Foursome years and the way those defenses defined brutality for an entire era. The point is simple: this franchise knows what dominance looks like. It has worn dominance like a crown before.
Jack Youngblood’s legendary display of toughness involved playing not just half a game, but three full playoff games — including Super Bowl XIV and the Pro Bowl — with a broken left fibula.
The Injury and the “Gutsiest Performance” as the injury occurred in the second quarter of the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys on December 23, 1979, when Youngblood fell awkwardly over an offensive lineman.
“Tape It Up”: After realizing the severity of the injury, Youngblood told the team doctor to “tape this dadgum thing up” and returned for the second half. He even sealed the Rams’ 21–19 victory with a crucial sack of Roger Staubach in the closing moments.
Three Games, One Leg: He went on to play every defensive snap in the next two games — the NFC Championship against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a 9–0 Rams win, and Super Bowl XIV against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Pro Bowl: One week after the Super Bowl, he also played in the 1980 Pro Bowl in Hawaii on the same injured leg, a feat that stunned teammates and cemented his legend.
Legacy of Toughness is gone as Youngblood’s decision to play through the pain, his leg fitted with a special plastic brace, is widely regarded as one of the gutsiest performances in NFL history. Known for remarkable durability, he missed only one game in his entire 14-year career — a Rams record 201 consecutive games played. His toughness earned him the nickname “the John Wayne of football,” famously given by coach John Madden.
So when you watch Seattle go from their own 20 to the Rams’ 20 in what feels like twenty seconds—multiple times—it’s not just a bad night. It feels like sacrilege.
Seattle ran the ball whenever they wanted. It was five yards a pop like it was a special teams drill. The first time I can remember them getting truly stoned—no gain, negative, something that actually felt like a “statement stop”—it was late in the half. And by then the entire tempo of the game had been set.
That is how you lose playoff games: you let the other team dictate pace, live in second-and-manageable, and call the whole playbook. The Seahawks weren’t “finding openings.” The openings were just there.
And, of course Special Teams Added Gasoline to the Fire as yes, we have to talk about the Xavier Smith disaster. Falling down on your own, in a massive moment, in front of millions, is bad enough. But then trying to play hero-ball and field the ball anyway? What the fuck is wrong with you? He needs to go too. That sequence wasn’t just a mistake—it was a collapse of basic situational discipline. And it came after another fumble that he recovered himself. He looked like a deer in headlights until he was benched, and by that point the damage was real.
The issue is this, in championship games, you can survive a mistake if your defense can answer with a stand, a takeaway, a sack, a tone-setting series. The Rams defense did none of that. So every error became fatal.
Stafford and Nacua Were Good Enough to Win. Here’s the part that should make Rams fans sick: Matthew Stafford played well enough to get to the Super Bowl. Puka Nacua played like a star. That underhanded little shovel/flip to Puka for the first down? That’s the Stafford stuff I love—creative, confident, veteran, taking what the defense gives you and still making it look like art.
But it didn’t matter. Because you can score points all night and still lose when your defense is basically a turnstile.
And that’s the nightmare now, the Rams offense can be championship-level for another year or two if Stafford stays healthy and the line holds up. The window is not closed. The window is wide open.
The problem is the defense is so far from the standard that it’s dragging a Super Bowl-capable offense into a knife fight with no blade.
The Offseason Needs Are Not Complicated either. You don’t need to overthink it. You don’t need to play cute. You don’t need to pretend this is a “few tweaks” situation.
Cornerbacks and coverage talent have to be upgraded. If both corners are free agents? Let them walk. Replace the room. This cannot be the group again.
Get the best defensive lineman available in the draft. The Rams are picking in the top ten. Use that kind of pick on someone who changes games. Someone who collapses pockets and forces offenses to speed up.
Keep the offense intact and plan for the QB future without panicking. Stafford should play another year. He looked capable. The Rams can develop a succession plan, but the urgent, screaming priority is defense.
Trim the roster where it’s obvious. If Atwell is gone, fine. If you can keep Havenstein on a reasonable deal, great. Higbee is worth keeping if the price makes sense, but the Rams do have bodies at tight end. None of those decisions matter if the defense stays this weak.
My Hard Truth
I’m not just saying the Rams played horrible. I’m saying I realized, in real time, that they simply are bad on defense—and I didn’t want to believe it because it’s the Rams and the Rams are “supposed” to defend.
The games where the defense looked respectable were the games against inferior teams or offenses that couldn’t punish mistakes. The well-coached teams, the organized teams, the teams with real passing structure? They carved the Rams up. They lived in the 30s where honestly, every game now is starting to feel like indoor football—every game is a track meet, every game has 35 points each, the kicking is confusing and it makes no sense to mer at least and overall, the Rams are trying to win shootouts without any defensive backbone.
BTW, I did not see one great defensive play in this game. One sack by Fiske came late but that was it. Not one huge play. No moment where you felt the Rams imposed anything. No series where they turned the tide. No sack that mattered. No takeaway. No hit that changed a drive.
Seattle walked to the red zone like it was routine.
That’s why this loss hurts more than just “we were close.” The offense proved the Rams can still contend. The defense proved the Rams cannot finish. At the same time, it’s worth noting that no team displayed full-blown greatness this year. Still, after watching this defense in the Championship game, I do not believe the Rams belonged in the Super Bowl. It was a debacle on every level. It was embarrassing. It was horrible.
And if this franchise wants to get back to being what it is supposed to be—if it wants to honor the legacy of defenses that once held Seattle to negative yards—then the 2026 plan is simple:
Stop pretending this unit is “almost there.” Build a defense that actually scares someone again.
POST GAME: A Defensive Collapse That Exposed the Rams’ Greatest Offseason Need. The Los Angeles Rams came within one possession of the Super Bowl. The offense delivered, Matthew Stafford delivered, Puka Nacua delivered — and yet the season ended one step short because the defense did not simply bend, it broke entirely. The NFC Championship loss to Seattle was not just a painful defeat. It was a spotlight shining directly on the most urgent truth facing this franchise: the Rams’ defense is nowhere near championship caliber in its current form.
The lasting image from Sunday night is not Stafford’s sharp throws or Nacua’s relentless route running. It is Seahawks receivers standing alone in open space, untouched, uncontested, unbothered — play after play after play. There was a time when Rams defenses dictated games. Sunday reminded everyone how far away this unit is from those standards.
For years, the identity of the Rams was built around destructive defensive dominance. Aaron Donald collapsing pockets, offensive coordinators terrified to run interior concepts, quarterbacks rushing throws before routes developed. That presence is gone, and against Seattle it became painfully obvious that no combination of young edge rushers can replicate what one generational interior force provided. Jared Verse and Byron Young are promising talents, but needing two players to approximate one legend says everything about the void left behind.
Even more alarming was the state of the secondary. The Seahawks’ top receiver spent much of the game operating in what looked like open practice conditions. Multiple snaps in a row saw the same target left completely uncovered, culminating in a touchdown where the nearest defender was yards away. That is not simply poor execution — that is systemic failure in communication, scheme, or personnel. Whether the blame lies with coaching or roster construction, the result was the same: Seattle walked down the field at will.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s performance was not a surprise. He led the league in receiving yards this season and has emerged as one of the NFL’s premier young receivers. But elite players should be challenged, bracketed, doubled, forced to earn every yard. Instead, he was gifted them. No disguise. No adjustment. No response. The Seahawks did not out-scheme the Rams — they exploited a unit that could not adapt.
The run defense told a similar story. Seattle consistently gained chunk yardage on early downs, setting up easy passing situations and neutralizing any pass rush threat. Stops behind the line were rare. The Seahawks controlled tempo, possession, and rhythm, and the Rams never found a counterpunch. It looked less like a championship defense and more like a unit hoping for mistakes rather than creating disruption.
Ironically, the best defensive play of the night came not from a Ram, but from a Seahawk dropping a perfectly thrown pass. That cannot happen in a conference championship. Championship defenses create turning points. This one watched them slip by.
And that is what makes this loss so frustrating — the offense did its job. Stafford was composed, creative, and accurate. His underhanded flick to Nacua for a critical conversion was vintage brilliance. Nacua continued his historic rise, attacking coverage and making contested catches look routine. The Rams scored enough points to win. In most playoff games, that offensive output would send a team to the Super Bowl. But when a defense cannot produce a single momentum-changing play, even elite offense becomes irrelevant.
This is not a matter of one bad night. Throughout the season, strong offenses exposed the Rams’ defensive limitations. Inferior opponents were contained; competent, well-coached teams moved the ball with alarming ease. That trend reached its breaking point in the biggest game of the year.
The offseason roadmap is clear.
The secondary must be rebuilt. Starting-caliber cornerbacks are non-negotiable priorities. The free-agent market and early draft capital must be directed toward coverage players who can actually hold up against top-tier receivers. The current group simply cannot.
The defensive line also needs reinforcements, particularly inside. With a top-ten draft pick available, the Rams should target the best defensive lineman on the board. Interior disruption changes everything — coverage, blitz design, run fits, and third-down efficiency. This defense desperately needs a new centerpiece.
On offense, the foundation remains strong. Stafford still has command of this system and showed he can stay healthy and productive. Nacua is already among the league’s elite. The supporting skill positions are solid, with room for minor refinements. The quarterback succession plan will need attention soon, but that is not today’s crisis. Today’s crisis is defense.
The Rams also enter the offseason with flexibility — cap space, draft assets, and an established coaching structure. That combination offers hope. This is not a team entering decline; it is a contender with a glaring weakness. Address that weakness decisively, and the Rams remain in the Super Bowl conversation next season.
But there is no sugarcoating Sunday’s lesson. A championship roster cannot survive a defense that allows receivers to run uncovered, backs to gain free yardage, and quarterbacks to operate untouched. The Rams did not lose because of one mistake. They lost because their defensive structure collapsed under playoff pressure.
The good news is clarity. The path forward is obvious. Build the defense back into a weapon. Restore the identity. Reclaim the standard.
Because if the Rams field even a competent defense next season, with this offense already in place, the road back to the NFC Championship — and beyond — will be wide open.
And this time, they cannot afford to leave anyone uncovered.
