LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jimmy Garoppolo will take his first snaps for the Rams when he starts in place of Matthew Stafford in playoff-bound Los Angeles' regular-season finale against Seattle on Sunday.
Coach Sean McVay announced the decision Wednesday to rest Stafford, the 16-year veteran starter. The Rams haven't decided which additional starters will rest.
Los Angeles (10-6) has clinched the NFC West title over the Seahawks (9-7) based on strength of schedule. The Rams are currently the third seed in the NFC playoff bracket, but they will fall to fourth if they lose to Seattle and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7) beat Atlanta to win the South division.
The wild-card seeding is still in flux among Minnesota, Washington and Green Bay, so McVay clearly doesn't care whether the Rams enter the postseason as the third or fourth seed.
Garoppolo has yet to play for the Rams since signing to be Stafford's backup last spring. The 33-year-old veteran who led San Francisco to Super Bowl 54, missed the first two games of his first season in Los Angeles under suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
Stafford has taken every snap this season for the Rams, who have won nine of 11 to surge into the postseason for the third time in his four years with Los Angeles. His 3,762 yards passing and 20 touchdown passes are his fewest in a season in which he played at least 15 games, but Stafford's eight interceptions are also his fewest in a nearly-full season, while his completion rate (65.8 percent) is above his career average.
Stafford improved to 13-1 as a starter in Rams games played in December when Los Angeles held off Arizona 13-9 last Saturday, but his offense has been in a slump. The Rams have scored more than 21 points just once during their current five-game winning streak, and they've managed just three touchdowns in their past three games combined.
Los Angeles' third-string quarterback is Stetson Bennett. The two-time national championship winner at Georgia and fourth-round draft pick in 2023 also has yet to play for the Rams, missing all of last season while away from the team for undisclosed personal reasons.
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FILE - Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo warms up during an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Dec. 12, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Scot Tucker, File)
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford warms up before an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throw a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
FILE - Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo warms up during an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Dec. 12, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Scot Tucker, File)
Violent storms cut through a wide swath of the South and Midwest, spawning tornadoes and killing at least three people, knocking down power lines and trees and ripping roofs off homes.
Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued Wednesday in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi as storms hit those and other states in the evening. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation’s midsection from the Gulf.
Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri Highway Patrol said at least one person was killed in southeast Missouri, KFVS-TV reported, while part of a warehouse collapsed in a suburb of Indianapolis, temporarily trapping at least one person inside. In northeast Arkansas a rare tornado emergency was issued as debris flew thousands of feet in the air.
The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed two weather-related fatalities, one in McNairy County and the other in Obion County, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency announced early Thursday.
The coming days were also forecast to bring the risk of potentially deadly flash flooding to the South and Midwest as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.
With more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain possible over the next four days, the prolonged deluge “is an event that happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the weather service said. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”
More than 90 million people were at some risk of severe weather in a huge part of the nation stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.
A tornado emergency — the weather service's highest alert — was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, on Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to Chelly Amin, a meteorologist with the service.
“It's definitely going to be a really horrible situation here come sunrise in the morning in those areas,” Amin said.
A tornado was also reported on the ground near Harrisburg, Arkansas, in the evening.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported that there was damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding. At least four people were injured, but there were no reports of fatalities as of Wednesday evening.
In Kentucky, a tornado touched down Wednesday night around Jeffersontown, a suburb of Louisville, passing the Interstate 64 and Interstate 265 interchange, according to the weather service.
Four people were injured in Kentucky when a church was hit by debris from a suspected tornado, according to Ballard County Emergency Management. One person was in critical condition, while the others have non-life-threatening injuries.
In Brownsburg, Indiana, where part of a warehouse collapsed, the police department told people to not travel through the city. Five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana, state police reported.
Indianapolis Public Schools announced a remote learning day Thursday due to power outages at multiple buildings. At least 10 districts in Indiana have canceled or delayed in-person classes Thursday.
The town of Delta, in southern Missouri, which has under 400 people, had downed powerlines and trees, and damaged buildings. Road entrances to the town were blocked off. School was canceled for the rest of the week as the Red Cross and an electric utility took over a parking lot at the high school.
“There is too much damage in town,” Superintendent David Heeb posted online. “We need to give our families a chance to regroup and take care of the things they need to focus on right now.”
In Pilot Grove, Missouri, several structures were damaged, cars flipped over and power poles were snapped, the state emergency management agency said. Minor injuries were reported, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Authorities in eastern Missouri were trying to determine whether it was a tornado that damaged buildings, overturned vehicles and tore down utility poles, tree limbs and business signs in the morning in and around the city of Nevada.
Another tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso on Wednesday, according to the weather service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.
Power was knocked out to more than 330,000 customers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
A line of thunderstorms dropped heavy rain through parts of Indiana on Wednesday night. At least one street was flooded in Indianapolis, with water nearly reaching the windows of several cars, according to the city's metropolitan police department. No one was in the vehicles.
Additional rounds of heavy rain were expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek through Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could track over the same areas repeatedly, producing dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.
Middle Tennessee was looking at severe storms followed by four days of heavy rains as the front stalls out and sticks around through the weekend, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Rose.
“I don’t recall ever seeing one like this, and I’ve been here 30 years,” Rose said. “It’s not moving.”
Rain totaling up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) was forecast over the next seven days in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned, with some areas in Kentucky and Indiana at an especially high risk for flooding.
Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit.
Storm damage from severe weather on Sunday at a farm along 84th Street near Hanna Lake Avenue in Gaines Twp., Mich. on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
A barn that collapsed from Sunday's severe storm along 92nd Street SE in Gaines Twp., Mich., on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Gary Deripaska, left, cleans up storm damage at his home off 96th Street North just west of Garnett Road, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
A toppled tree with its roots showing on Woodworth Street in Linden, Mich., on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
An aerial image of a barn that collapsed after a severe storm hit Sunday along 92nd Street SE in Gaines Twp., Mich., on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
An early morning severe storm damaged homes, destroying the roofs and knocked down power lines, trees, and fences off 96th Street North near Garnett Road, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
A tree fell and knocked down power lines and blocked a street in a residential neighborhood during storms on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Lightning strikes as storms move through the area Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Ashland City, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Severe storm damage is shown off 96th Street North between Garnett Road and Mingo Road Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
Ryland Mosley, 18, who was on the 2nd story of his home when the storm passed, stands outside of it observing the damage, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
