Fans have been waiting about seven months for Matthew Stafford to make his debut with the Los Angeles Rams after a blockbuster trade that was made early in the offseason. Analysts salivated over the pairing of Stafford and Sean McVay, expecting big things from the veteran who spent 12 years in Detroit, many of which were on bad teams that gave him very little help.
Well, Stafford took the field for the first time with his new team on Sunday night, and he looked as good as the “modern throwback” uniform he was wearing.
His stat line was about as good as it gets, completing 20 of 26 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating was a near-perfect 156.1, just 2.2 shy of the highest possible rating a quarterback can achieve.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, his 156.1 passer rating is the highest ever by a player in his debut with a new team.
Matthew Stafford: 20-26, 321 pass yards, 3 pass TD & 156.1 passer rating tonight for the @RamsNFL
Per @EliasSports that is the highest passer rating (min. 20 pass attempts) by any player in NFL history in his debut with a new team
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) September 13, 2021
He set career-highs in passer rating and yards per attempt (12.3), wasting no time showing what he and the Rams are capable of this year. Here’s a recap of his performance against the Bears, a team he now owns a 12-9 record against in his career.