45to a restaurant at the resort for drinks. Stafford wore
board shorts and a dark gray T-shirt with a U.S. f lag
pocket. They ordered a round, then another, then dinner.
Stafford stepped outside to take a phone call from his
agent. Soon after, McVay walked in. Gesturing toward
Stafford like a magician ready for the grand reveal, he
said, “This is your new quarterback.”
Later that night, Stafford called his best friend from
second grade, Pan Lucas, over FaceTime. Stafford is
many things—driven, gifted, competitive as hell—but
he is rarely emotional. But now he was giddy. “I just
got traded to the Rams,” Stafford said, “and I’m going
to win a ring.”T
O HELP SPEED up their integration, McVay
met with Stafford and receiver Cooper Kupp
on Tuesdays. They transformed typical prepa-
ration into a football science class, all angles,
geometry and spacing concepts.
Their respective ages (McVay, 36; Stafford, 34;
Kupp, 28) helped them connect, as did their shared
obsession, how football mattered far more to all of them
than playing football in Los Angeles. It helped that
Stafford and Kupp prioritized the same things (faith,
family, football) and had young children. It also helped
that McVay actively sought their input.
Early into practices with his new quarterback, Kupp
noticed a few errant throws. Nothing dramatic or con-
cerning. Stafford wasn’t even attempting that many
passes. But one afternoon, the quarterback started
uncorking his attempts, and Kupp heard him say, “Man,
I’m finally throwing the ball. It’s better today.” Kupp
laughed and thought, “If those were bad days, we’re
going to be pretty good.”
Kupp and Stafford pushed McVay to continue his
evolution, too. They knew he planned to marry Khomyn
this summer and start a family. They also knew how
invested—a favorite McVay term—he was in football. In
some ways, he could seem caught between his grand-
father, John, the celebrated football coach and execu-
tive, and his father, Tim, who “could have been an
unbelievable coach” but chose to spend more time with
his family instead. McVay loved both of them for dif-
ferent reasons. But he could never be both of them,
not at the same time, joking that he’d aged “40 years”
since that Super Bowl LIII loss to the Patriots in 2019.LOS ANGELES RAMSSUPER BOWL LVIECSTASY AND AGONY
Super Bowl MVP Kupp (eight catches,
92 yards, two TDs) helped make up for the
loss of Beckham (right) to a knee injury.