Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday, Sept. 8. The NFL is back! I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

Both of Los Angeles’ NFL teams kick off their seasons Sunday with high hopes.

Last year, the Rams rallied from a 3-6 start by winning seven of their last eight games to reach the postseason. Ultimately, they lost in the wild-card round to Detroit.

The bounce-back season highlighted a return to prominence for an organization that won the Super Bowl in 2021 only to miss the playoffs the following season.

Optimism for an even stronger season revolves around the health, experience and play of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who begins his 16th season.

The Rams open the season in Detroit at 5:30 p.m. on NBC.

Hopes are similarly buoyant for Chargers fans, despite coming off a dismal season.

The team missed the postseason with a 5-12 record last year, the fewest wins for the organization since 2015.

The Charges didn’t mope this off-season, however, and instead asked a key question during this rebuilding phase: “Who’s got it better than us?”

Los Angeles brought in Jim Harbaugh, of the famous Harbaugh football family and fresh off a national title with Michigan, as the new head coach.

The former Chargers quarterback wins wherever he goes and took his last NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers, to the Super Bowl in 2012 while finishing with five postseason victories in four years.

The Chargers have won five playoffs games this century, in comparison.

Los Angeles hosts Las Vegas at 1 p.m. at SoFi Stadium with the game on CBS.

What does Matthew Stafford have left to give?

My colleague Gary Klein spoke with the veteran Stafford prior to the season opener.

Last season, Stafford overcame a right thumb injury in leading the Rams to the playoffs and making the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2014.

When the Rams open the season against the Lions, Stafford, 36, will rank as the second-oldest starting quarterback in the NFL behind the New York Jets’ Aaron Rodgers, 40, and just ahead of the Atlanta Falcons’ Kirk Cousins, also 36 but six months younger.

“Every year for me now is just how I can get myself back to as close to zero as I can physically as quickly as I can,” he told Klein this week. “That takes more time every single year and then also emotionally letting myself refill the tank.”

In a league that is constantly developing young star quarterbacks, room remains for those 35 and older.

Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, a two-time NFL most valuable player, led the St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls, winning one. In the 2008 season, when he was 37, he reached another with the Arizona Cardinals.

“You don’t bounce back nearly as quick as you did before,” Warner said to Klein. “But I think there’s also a positive in that the older you get, the smarter you are, the better you know the game, the better you are at getting the ball out and making good decisions.”

Stafford is under contract through 2026. Before training camp, the Rams gave in to his demand to adjust the deal he signed in 2022 after leading the Rams to their most recent Super Bowl title. This season, he will carry a salary cap number of $46.2 million, according to Overthecap.com.

Stafford is confident he can continue to play at a high level.

“Try to make sure that when my opportunities to make plays come that I can still do that,” he said, “and I feel like I can. Feel like I did it at a decent clip last year and am looking forward to the challenge of trying to do it again this year.”

Can Harbaugh revive the Bolts’ static electricity?

My colleague Thuc Nhi Nguyen has the analysis on Harbaugh’s chances with the Chargers.

Once known as “Captain Comeback” for his dramatic playoff wins with the Indianapolis Colts as a quarterback, Harbaugh will try to orchestrate a reversal for an organization that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2018.

“He wants to win more than anybody, and he’s gonna,” former Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf told Nguyen. “He’s gonna win. I just thought this was the best fit in the world because he’s going to do what’s best for the team to win. … That’s exactly what the Chargers were in need of.”

Harbaugh’s effort to find every advantage has extended to his famous attention to detail. Players are instructed to wear shoes — not slides or flip flops — to meetings if they need to get up and walk through a play. In the weight room, they line up their shoes in precise order.

“If you allow the little things to slide, big things will slide,” offensive lineman Zion Johnson said. “Details are everything.”

When some coaches make such exacting requests or tell eccentric stories like the ones Harbaugh spins, the message can fall on deaf ears, Leaf said. Not when Harbaugh talks. Players laugh when asked about his meandering stories, but they still follow him to the punchline.

“When you look at him and you listen to him, you know there’s a realness to him,” Leaf said.

Offensive lineman Foster Sarell noted that Harbaugh often sits with players during lunch and asks about their families and spouses. He participates in Bible study with players.

“He’s a winning machine,” Sarell said. “He’s a culture setter.”

Harbaugh has proved his mettle at every level and at every stop. He led the University of San Diego to a 29-6 record during three seasons.

He orchestrated what former coach Mike Riley called “one of the best jobs of coaching I’ve ever seen” by turning Stanford, which was 1-11 the season before he arrived, into a force in the Pac-12.

He led the San Francisco 49ers to three NFC championship games in four seasons, then led his alma mater Michigan to its first national championship in 26 years.

He’s now the man tasked with breathing life back into the Chargers.

For more on the start of the NFL season, check out the musings of Sam Farmer, who has covered the league for more than two decades.

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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Cindy Chang, city editor

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