The Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills are two teams with championship expectations and who have MVP quarterbacks, yet their seasons have gotten off imperfect starts. In a game that could reshape the narratives for either side, here are the top three storylines heading into this Week 5 Monday night contest.
Contender versus pretender
As mentioned, both teams are looking to win the Super Bowl. The Bills sit at 3-1 on the season, but an awful loss to the New England Patriots at home, which came off a near-disastrous showing against the Los Angeles Chargers a week before, has some calling fraud alert on the team. In Buffalo's three wins, their opponents' current combined record is 2-10. Two of their wins came against teams that are currently 0-4.
The Rams are sitting at
2-2. In their losses, they were outclassed by the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, and surrendered an unacceptable loss to the Denver Broncos, giving up a 16-0 lead. In their wins, they beat a New York Giants team that lost starting quarterback Jaxson Dart on their first drive of the game, and a Philadelphia Eagles team that was down multiple offensive linemen, DeVonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley. Oh, and the Rams should've lost that game, only winning through attrition, Kyren Williams' ridiculous second-half surge, and a speech from Sean McVay that makes him the perfect successor to Al Pacino in a sequel to Any Given Sunday.
Which team shows the NFL they can beat a real contender? Let's see, considering NFL standards, both sides have only defeated teams who will be vacationing in January.
MVP eliminator
Josh Allen versus Matthew Stafford. 2024 MVP versus 2025 MVP, with both being top contenders for the job. Stafford is fifth in passing yards, while Allen has averaged almost 290 total yards per game, scoring 13 total touchdowns. Both have work to do if they wish to leap the frontrunners, but there's a lot of season left.
However, voters are unlikely to forgive a player getting outduelled on prime-time television. For both quarterbacks, this game could be the end of the road for their MVP aspirations.
Is Chris Shula the right man for the job?
The first time Shula took on Allen, it was a nightmare. Buffalo scored 42 points, with Allen contributing to all six touchdowns scored. Three passing, three running, 342 passing yards, 82 rushing yards, and outside of Khalil Shakir, Allen's next two top targets were Amari Cooper and Mack Hollins. The Rams won that game, but Monday could be trouble.
Allen has better weapons and a head coach who knows how to use them. Shula has better weapons too: Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, and Aaron Donald (this time around). This is about X's and O's. Shula has always struggled against dual-threat quarterbacks. Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts. Allen has whooped the Rams, even smoking Raheem Morris to spoil the team's Super Bowl LVI celebration.
So can Shula step up and finally have the answers to shut Allen down? Or will another dual-threat playmaker cause the defense to spiral? Funny enough, Shula went on an NFC West-winning run following the Bills game in 2024. Perhaps a case of Deja Vu is around the corner.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 3 storylines for Rams vs. Bills on Monday night
