Matthew Stafford: We have a high ceiling, have to continue raising our floor

The Rams were among the favorites for Super Bowl LXIII before they traded for Myles Garrett in June and acquiring the defensive player of the year has only pushed expectations for the coming season higher in Los Angeles.

Head coach Sean McVay acknowledged those expectations at the start of training camp while noting that " there’s a lot of stuff in the midst of the journey that we don’t control." McVay wants the Rams to prioritize the things they do control when it comes to preparing for the season and quarterback Matthew Stafford was in a similar frame of mind when he spoke to reporters on Monday.

Stafford said he wants the team to focus on improving their baseline level of play rather than thinking about how high they can climb if everything falls into place.

“We can’t help but make each other better, [but] pieces of paper and names on a roster, those don’t win football games,” Stafford said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. “Teams and players and groups do. . . . Sean said it the other night, we’ve got potentially a high ceiling, right? We’ve got great players that have done a lot in this league. What can we do to continue to raise our floor , so if I’m off a little bit, we can still go find a way to win a football game? If our defense is off a little bit, we can still find a way to go win a football game. Continuing to raise that floor is something that’s going to be a huge part of our journey this season.”

There are a number of ways that a talented team can get thrown off track over the course of an NFL season. The work that Stafford and the Rams do now can't eliminate all of them, but anything they can do to pare that number down will help them weather the inevitable curveballs that come their way over the next few months.

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