A familiar face will be taking the field against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Seattle will conclude their 2024 season at SoFi Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams, who have already clinched being NFC West champions. The Rams have punched their ticket to the playoffs, but their seeding has yet to be determined. They could be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, depending on who wins the NFC South and how they fare against Seattle.
Well, it seems LA is not all that interested in who they play during Wild Card Weekend, as the Rams will be resting their starters – including quarterback Matthew Stafford. This means backup Jimmy Garoppolo will get his first action of the season.
Matthew Stafford will rest Sunday and the Rams will start Jimmy Garoppolo pic.twitter.com/69eWXm8y0p
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) January 1, 2025
After several years as the long time starter with the San Francisco 49ers, Garoppolo has been relegated to the bench for the last two seasons. After being benched and released by the Las Vegas Raiders, “Jimmy G” found his way to the Rams, where he became Matt Stafford’s backup.
In his career, Garoppolo is only 2-5 against the Seahawks all time, throwing six touchdowns against five interceptions. His last start, and victory, against Seattle came in Week 2 of the 2022 season when he played in relief of the injured Trey Lance and helped guide San Francisco to a 27-7 win.
Unfortunately, this means the Seahawks will not get a chance to end Matt Stafford’s perfect record against them. Ever since joining the LA Rams, Stafford annoyingly has a 5-0 mark versus Seattle. However, without Stafford at the helm, the Rams are 0-2 since 2022 when playing the Seahawks with a backup.
While LA clearly does not care much about where they are seeded, there is still plenty for Seattle to play for, especially quarterback Geno Smith.
