Matthew Stafford’s back held up fine.

Meaning: the Rams stay on the short list of Super Bowl contenders.

A back ailment caused the 37-year-old quarterback to sit out more summer practices than he normally does, but old dude was neither creaky nor rusty Sunday.

Stafford and a pushy Rams defense drove the 14-9 season-opening victory against the Texans in a duel between 2024 division winners at the Kroenke Dome.

Winning openers isn’t a new thing under coach Sean McVay — he’s 7-2 — but maybe this season the Rams won’t make things so hard on themselves.

In the past two years, they fell three games under .500 before rallying to get a wild-card playoff spot. If Stafford’s much-battered body can allow him to move as he did Sunday and late last season, when he nearly authored a road upset of

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