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.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
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)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González, who the United States recognized as the winner of last year's presidential election, kicked off a tour of Latin America on Saturday, just days before President Nicolás Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term in defiance of international pressure.
A crowd of a few hundred Venezuelan migrants broke into shouts of “Edmundo, Presidente” as González emerged from a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei to wave to supporters from the balcony of the iconic Casa Rosada, or Pink House, in Buenos Aires.
“We are doing whatever the cause of freedom requires,” Milei, an effusive far-right supporter of the Venezuelan opposition, said as he welcomed González to the presidential palace with honors normally reserved for a head of state.
González, a retired diplomat, fled into exile in Spain in September after a judge issued an arrest warrant following the July 28 presidential election, in which Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with governing party loyalists.
In recent weeks, he has been vowing to travel to Venezuela to be sworn in for the presidential term, which according to law must begin on Jan. 10. But he hasn't said how he plans to return or wrest power from Maduro, whose party controls all institutions and the military.
On Thursday, Maduro’s government raised the stakes even further, announcing a $100,000 reward for information on González’s whereabouts and plastering the wanted-like bulletin with the retired diplomat's photo on social media and the arrivals board at the country's main airport.
Upon arrival to the Argentine capital, where he twice served as Venezuela’s ambassador more than two decades ago, González posted on social media a short video message expressing solidarity with those imprisoned in Venezuela as part of a crackdown by Maduro.
He said that he would raise with Milei concerns about the well-being of five Maduro opponents who have been sheltering in the Argentine ambassador’s residence in Caracas for nearly 10 months — a diplomatic standoff that has embittered relations between Venezuela and Argentina.
The Biden administration and most European governments have rejected the election's official results, pointing out that authorities didn't provide detailed results as they have in past elections. Meanwhile, copies of tally sheets collected by the opposition from 85% of the nation’s electronic voting machines show that González prevailed by a more than two-to-one margin.
González, 75, was a previously unknown career diplomat when he was thrust into rallying the anti-Maduro coalition as a last-minute stand-in for opposition stalwart María Corina Machado, whom the government banned from running for office.
After speaking with Milei on Saturday, González is scheduled to cross the Rio de la Plata for a meeting with Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.
A wanted sign of Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez is displayed on the list of departure flights at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, near Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
