Rams Legend Likes L.A.’s Chances of Reclaiming the NFC West Title

Getty Isaac Bruce is a strong believer in this year's Los Angeles Rams team, now telling "The Jim Rome Show" on Tuesday morning that he believes the Rams will come out of the NFC West as the division champ.

Twelve days ago, Issac Bruce walked inside SoFi Stadium captivated by the surroundings his former team the Los Angeles Rams now have, leading to the legendary wide receiver to send this message to Rams fans through Twitter: “There’s going to be a whole lot of winning going on in this stadium.”

Now, on “The Jim Rome Show” released Tuesday morning, Bruce is sticking with his prediction of watching lots of Rams victories in 2021, calling his former team the favorite to win the rugged NFC West.

“I just think we’re that team that’s going to come out of the NFC West and I’m excited about what we brought in,” Bruce said.

Bruce was referring to the additions of Matthew Stafford at quarterback and pinpointed the defensive play as the chief catalysts toward the division run for 2021. Bruce is the latest to believe in Stafford flourishing under McVay, joining another former wide receiver in that belief in Stafford’s ex-Detroit Lions teammate Calvin “Megatron” Johnson. Here’s what Bruce said:

“I feel like he’s never had a coach that’s on the caliber of Coach McVay, a guy that can really mix it up as far as pre-snap reads are concerned, can really keep a defense on its heels. Just to be in a connection with Coach McVay, I think he’s really going to blossom this year. Adding that mix to what we did defensively last year, I think we can really, really win this NFC West once again, which I believe is the best division in football considering the quarterback play, the head coaches that are calling the offensive plays.”

Bruce Also Likes the WR Unit

During his “Greatest Show on Turf” days with the St. Louis Rams, Bruce starred on a wide receiving unit that wasn’t tall or big across the board, but blew away defenses with their speed and swift route running. Bruce thrashed secondaries alongside names like Torry Holt, Ricky Proehl and Az-Zahir Hakim, all of whom stood under 6-foot-2.

Bruce, who caught 942 passes for 14,109 yards and scored 84 touchdowns in his 14 seasons with the Rams, showered this 2021 Rams receiving unit with praise. He’s an ardent believer that two newcomers to L.A. will open up the deep game once again for McVay and company.

“Tutu Atwell, I think he’ll add a lot to what we do offensively. DeSean Jackson being able to take the top off that defense (too),” Bruce told Rome. “I just think it opens up everything Sean McVay wants to do that he was kind of handcuffed in doing a couple years later when (Jared) Goff started to stray to the left, so just having Matthew Stafford in and that combination, I’m expecting big games this year.”

Bruce Raved About Stafford Addition Before

Turns out Jim Rome wasn’t the only talk show host who heard Bruce beam about the Stafford acquisition.

On June 10, Bruce appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show” and answered the question on how the longtime Lion will fit in with McVay’s scheme:

“It’s like a breath of fresh air. I think not only for Stafford, but for the Rams’ offensive unit as a whole. I think with his addition, that offense is ready to kind of see what we saw in 2018 and the early parts of 2019. I mean, throwing the ball down the field, taking the top off the defense and a lot less passes behind the line of scrimmage and dinking and dunking. With his addition, he’ll have that mentality along with Sean McVay to throw it down the field.”

The NFC West is expected to be a brutal division once again, as the last three seasons has seen two playoff representatives come out of that realm. But the legendary Rams wideout Bruce is a believer that there will be lots of wins at SoFi, plus the division title returning to L.A.