Rams QB Matthew Stafford is ready to trade practice for games

THOUSAND OAKS — For Matthew Stafford and the Rams, the hold is astir over.

Only successful the NFL, with its lengthy offseason and wont of holding starters retired of preseason games, would a prima subordinate beryllium traded and person to hold 7½ months to vie with his caller team.

Stafford was acquired from the Detroit Lions for Jared Goff and draught choices connected Jan. 30 (the play the instrumentality of outdoor eating successful Los Angeles signaled unstoppable advancement against COVID-19). The backmost volition yet marque his Rams debut Sunday nighttime astatine SoFi Stadium against the Chicago Bears. That’s a agelong time.

Long oregon useful?

“Both,” Stafford said Wednesday aft reasoning for a moment. “I’ve decidedly needed each the clip I could get. I’m inactive going to proceed to larn and effort to get amended successful this offense.

“But it decidedly feels similar it’s clip to spell and play football.”

To wide receiver Robert Woods, the 225 days since the Stafford commercialized person been a clip of hype and hard work.

“That’s however offseasons are, a batch of what-ifs and what’s expected to happen,” Woods said. “I deliberation for us, it’s truly conscionable working. Being capable to get with Stafford successful the offseason, throw, prime his encephalon and get prepared for a play with him.

“I deliberation everyone’s conscionable excited to yet get going.”

The complexity of playing backmost successful the Rams’ discourtesy has made the clip valuable, Coach Sean McVay said.

“You guys cognize from being astir him, he’s truly casual to get on with,” McVay told reporters. “He’s got truly beardown opinions, but if helium does person a disagreement, it’s ne'er successful a mode that makes you consciousness like, ‘What the heck?’

“It’s ever successful specified a disarming, bully way, of not needfully having to hold with everything, but let’s beryllium solution-oriented, and that’s precisely what Matthew’s like.”

Counting organized squad activities, mandatory minicamp and grooming camp, the Rams volition person enactment successful 10 weeks of signifier earlier the regular season’s archetypal game, and that doesn’t number what players bash unofficially.

“There’s truthful overmuch enactment that goes into this, starting months ago,” Stafford said. “It’s amusive to beryllium capable to spell retired and play against idiosyncratic else, and spot wherever we are.”

NOTES

Matthew and Kelly Stafford are donating 100 tickets for Sunday night’s crippled to Camp Pendleton’s 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, on with T-shirts speechmaking “Thank you for your service.” … The season’s archetypal authoritative wounded study listed Rams antiaircraft lineman A’Shawn Robinson (knee) arsenic not practicing Wednesday, though helium performed idiosyncratic drills with a brace connected his close genu and a trainer watching. McVay said Robinson mightiness play. … The study said backup extracurricular linebacker Terrell Lewis skipped signifier for “rest,” though helium has an ongoing genu problem. … The Rams released their regular-season “uniform schedule.” They’ll deterioration their 1973-99 throwback achromatic jerseys and yellowish pants for Sunday’s crippled against the Bears and for the location crippled against the Tennessee Titans and the roadworthy crippled against the San Francisco 49ers; bluish jerseys and yellowish pants for the location games against the Arizona Cardinals, Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and 49ers, and all-bone-white for the rest.