IRVINE — Matthew Stafford must wait more than 200 days between joining the Rams in a late-January trade and getting an official chance to perform for the team in the mid-September season opener.
To pass the time, he has been giving daily reminders of why the Rams got him.
It happened again as the Rams wrapped up their first week of training camp by treating a capacity crowd of fans to an unusually competitive practice at UC Irvine.
In one of several highlight plays during red-zone drills between the first-unit offense and defense Sunday, Stafford scrambled toward the right sideline under a rush and zinged a pass back to the middle to lunging wide receiver Cooper Kupp at the back of the end zone.
“I love the way he’s been able to move and manipulate the pocket,” Rams coach Sean McVay said afterward. “He found Cooper, he found Darrell (Henderson with another pass). Those are the things that are exciting. That’s one of the things that I think has been a staple of what he’s done at such a high level throughout his career.
“It was special stuff.”
More special, McVay thought, because those plays came right after a Stafford pass went for an interception and runback by cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
“What I really liked, too, was there was a great play by Ramsey and the defense, and what I’m interested in seeing more than anything is the response,” McVay said. “He’s (Stafford) just so steady, he comes right back and made a lot of really good plays.”
All together, now: It’s only practice.
But it’s also flashes of creativity from Stafford, 33, that the Rams rarely saw from former quarterback Jared Goff who was sent to the Lions along with three draft picks in the Jan. 30 deal.
When a writer told outside linebacker Leonard Floyd the offense seemed to be winning more practice reps than it did a year ago, Floyd replied: “I think it’s Matthew, man,” adding, “He’s a competitor.”
The biggest crowd of fans at Rams practice in the first four days of training camp was treated to receivers-vs.-cornerbacks one-on-one drills that saw DeSean Jackson test Jalen Ramsey.
Jackson got a step on Ramsey on a deep route up the right sideline, only to have Ramsey catch up and break up Stafford’s pass.
Even though it went incomplete, it was the kind of play that Jackson, a free-agent signing, and Stafford were brought in to run.
Stafford has been low-key in interviews, perhaps not wanting to feed the hype about him and the Rams during the long offseason.
“I’m just trying to soak it all in and try to get as comfortable as I possibly can, as quickly as I can,” he said of the early days of training camp.
Asked Friday what impressed him about Stafford, Kupp talked about the finer points.
“The subtleties in terms of how he’s moving defenses, what he’s doing with his eyes,” Kupp said. “He made a throw out here today that was just disgusting. He is looking guys off mid-throw, where he’s throwing across his body. The ball is out before receivers are looking.”
Stafford and his receivers are still working on getting on the same page of the playbook, Kupp said.
When they do, the receiver said, “it’s going to be a special thing for us.”
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Defensive lineman Bobby Brown III (thumb) and defensive back Robert Rochell (wrist) will have surgery, setbacks for two rookies competing for playing time.
McVay said Rochell will have surgery Monday.
“Once they get in there, we’ll have a better idea what his timetable for return is,” McVay said.
Brown will have a “quick little fix” on an ulnar collateral ligament and should be back in practice within a week, the coach said.
Brown and Rochelle were both fourth-round draft picks, chosen 13 picks apart.
NUMBERS GAME
Friday, Ramsey said he wound up switching from jersey No. 20 to No. 5 after giving first choice No. 2 to wide receiver Robert Woods.
Saturday, Woods explained why it was important for him to switch from 17 to 2 after the NFL expanded the position groups allowed to wear single digits, noting that was his number growing up.
“For me, it just goes back to when I first started in Pop Warner, coming up, always competing, coming up from the Carson Colts to Serra High School to USC,” Woods said. “It means a lot to come back here to L.A. and be able to put on the same number.”
NOTES
Sean McVay blamed himself for a “mixup” that led people to think the Rams would practice in full pads Saturday. NFL teams can’t practice in pads until Monday. “Fortunately we got it cleaned up before I probably got fined,” the coach said. After taking Sunday off, the Rams are will practice without pads once more Monday before putting them on Tuesday, McVay said.
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