Matthew Stafford has strung together back-to-back productive outings for the Los Angeles Rams after throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns versus the Cleveland Browns in Week 13. Stafford dealt with a clean pocket for the majority of the game, which led to the veteran quarterback making it a priority to credit his offensive line for their performance in Sunday’s win.
“Thank you. I was going to say something if nobody asked me,” Stafford said of the O-line. “My guys were balling today so I was so fired up. That’s a hell of a rush. They were bringing pressures, they were rushing four, they were doing all sorts of stuff to us and our guys to step up there and protect the way they did today was amazing. And then be able to really lean on them in the fourth quarter too and run the rock when we needed to. A couple times, Kyren (Williams) got downhill and we were able to ice the game that way. So proud of those guys. It shows up the way they work, the way they go about their business every single day. I thought we had a great plan but shoot, we threw the rock. We weren’t sitting there just protecting those guys up front. We were just saying let’s go play our game and have a lot of confidence in those guys and proud of the way they played.”
The Browns entered Week 13 as one of the best defenses in the NFL, with Jim Schwartz dialing up exotic blitzes to generate pressure on quarterbacks. While Myles Garrett wasn’t fully healthy on Sunday, the Rams didn’t allow Stafford to be sacked and the Browns totaled 14 pressures.
Those numbers are mighty impressive considering the Browns have four players who have tallied 24 or more pressures this season. The five starting offensive linemen for the Rams were credited with only nine pressures allowed as rookie Steve Avila didn’t surrender a single pressure in pass protection.
The current starting group of Alaric Jackson, Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, and Rob Havenstein has become a cohesive unit in the last month or so. Following two straight dominant performances in the trenches, the offensive line will look to carry their success into Week 14 versus the Baltimore Ravens.