INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- IT MADE SENSE that Matthew Stafford's first party as a Super Bowl champion was at a private airport, considering that 13 months ago he left for a family vacation in Cabo as a Detroit Lion and flew on a private jet to L.A. a few days later as a Los Angeles Ram. It also made sense that he took a detour on his way there. After he left SoFi Stadium on Sunday night, Stafford and his family stopped first for dinner with Cooper Kupp and his family.
That's him: He will always pick a small private room at a restaurant with his wife and some friends for some beers and laughs over a big celebration, and this one filled not only an entire airplane hangar but also part of a runway, planes sometimes landing a little too close to the assembled crowd.
It served as a decent metaphor for the Rams' season, actually: At times they flirted with disaster, but again and again found ways to avert it -- and Stafford, calm the entire time, seemed always to know where he was going, and where he belonged.