The story of Matthew Stafford’s career with the Lions was that he never had a defense to support him. During Stafford’s entire tenure in Detroit from 2009-2020, the Lions only finished in the top 10 in points allowed once.
However, what gets lost in that is the fact that he also never really had a running game to complement him as a passer. The Lions had nine different players finish the season as the team’s leading rusher during a 12-year span when Stafford was there.
From 2009-2020, the Lions ranked last in the NFL in rushing yards, only gaining 18,253 yards in that span – 910 fewer yards than any other team in football. No matter who Detroit lined up behind Stafford in the backfield, the running game never had consistent success.
That put a lot on Stafford’s shoulders to carry the offense, knowing he couldn’t simply turn around and hand the ball off and expect his running back to move the chains. Well, he can certainly do that this year with Kyren Williams
For the first time in his career, Stafford finally has a consistently productive running back behind him. Sure, some of the Lions’ runners had talent (see: Bush, Reggie), but none of them put together a season like the one Williams is having for the Rams.
It’s a big reason Stafford’s recent five-game stretch of 14 touchdowns and one interception is among the best of his career. He finally has a running back who can take pressure off of him and complement the rest of the offense.
Consider this: In his 12-year career with the Lions, Stafford never had a single running back rush for 100 yards in back-to-back games. Not once. That little tidbit was uncovered by a fan on Reddit and confirmed using Stathead’s stats finder. In fact, the Lions only had 13 total 100-yard rushers in those 12 years, and Stafford missed two of those games due to injury.
Stafford never had a running back rush for 100 yards in back-to-back games in his first two seasons with the Rams, either. That’s 14 years in a row without a 100-yard rusher in consecutive games.
That changed in the last three weeks when Williams went over 100 yards in all three games. So after 14 years without a back-to-back 100-yard rusher, Stafford has now had a 100-yard rusher in three games in a row, with a chance to make it four in a row against the Giants next weekend.
Additionally, Williams is just the second player who has rushed for at least 1,000 yards in a season as Stafford’s teammate. The other was Reggie Bush, who had 1,006 yards in 2013.
Williams has already eclipsed that number in 11 games, rushing for 1,057 yards and nine touchdowns so far this year.
Kyren Williams becomes only the second 1,000-yard rusher Matthew Stafford has played with in his 15 NFL seasons, joining Reggie Bush in Detroit.
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) December 22, 2023
Needless to say, Stafford has never had a running back like Williams, and he couldn’t be happier.
“Everything, right?” Stafford said Thursday night when asked what Williams is doing for the offense. “He’s doing a great job in the pass game and the run game. In the last five games, he’s caught screens for touchdowns, he’s made big plays in the pass game, he’s ran it great, protects really well. So he’s doing all of it and our guys up front are doing a great job of creating holes. Our guys on the second level, our receivers and tight ends are doing a great job blocking down the field and then he’s getting extra yards, right? We’re getting him to the corner. I think of the first run he had last week that went for 25 or whatever it was. We get him to the corner and he does the rest, right? That could be 6 yards, but it ends up being 27 and a big play for us. So he brings great energy to our offense, great energy to our team and obviously a guy that can kind of do all of it which is rare these days.”
In the past, it’s often been Stafford doing it all for his offense. Teams haven’t had to account for the running game very much because the backs Stafford’s handed it to haven’t been very good. With Williams, he can confidently hand it off and let the shifty back from Notre Dame do his thing.
If not for a four-game absence due to an ankle injury, it’s very possible Williams would be leading the NFL in rushing right now. He might even be in the conversation for Offensive Player of the Year. For starters, he leads the NFL in rushing yards per game (96.1) and has 1,249 yards from scrimmage with 12 total touchdowns.
He’s doing it all for the Rams and Stafford is reaping the benefits as a passer.