Just over a year ago, then-Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was doing what many NFL players and their families do in the off-season. He was vacationing in Mexico, recovering after another tough football season. Stafford was just one of a few different NFL personalities enjoying some rest and relaxation in Cabo San Lucas. Others who were in town included New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, and one more NFL head coach.
Sean McVay.
McVay and Stafford had a run-in early in the trip, spurred on by another member of the Rams who was in town, left tackle Andrew Whitworth:
Over drinks, they chatted for more than an hour. McVay asked Stafford about one of the memorable clutch moments of his career, in October of 2016, when he threw a touchdown pass in the final seconds to beat Washington, for whom McVay was the offensive coordinator. Stafford instantly recalled the sequence. Down 17-13, 1:05 left, 75 yards to go, three timeouts. First play, Stafford dropped back, moved left and winged it sidearm, off the wrong foot and over the middle — a throw exclusive to the great arms — to Marvin Jones crossing the opposite way for 23 yards. Next play: Stafford ran up the middle for 14. Then he hit Andre Roberts over the middle for 20. Two plays later, 22 seconds left, Stafford found the soft spot against Washington’s single-high buzz coverage — where the defense shows Cover 2 and brings one of the safeties down to cover short routes — and hit Anquan Boldin on a seam route for six.
“Broke my heart,” McVay says now. But that day, at the pool, it also impressed him. Not only that Stafford had pulled off the drive — but also that he remembered it perfectly five years later, and after a few cocktails. It was a glimpse of a vast “inventory,” McVay says, knowledge earned from reps and scars and most of all, from surviving more than a decade in a ruthless league.
The trade came together quickly. McVay spent some of his precious hours of vacation studying film of Stafford, and in just two days the deal was done.
Why did McVay feel the need to make the move? There were a few factors. “McVay realized that Stafford had in abundance what he needed at quarterback: the ability to fix plays, to correct problems in split seconds — maybe a function of witnessing disasters in Detroit, maybe part of his natural skill set — with pocket movement, with eyes, with arm angles.”
In football, seconds, even split seconds, matter a great deal. Perhaps no coach knew that better than McVay. After a few seasons with Jared Goff at the helm, McVay had learned the limits of his offense in Goff’s hands, and how hesitation can be a deathblow for Super Bowl dreams. Recall perhaps the most critical play of Super Bowl LIII, when Goff had an opportunity to hit Brandin Cooks in the back of the end zone.
Goff hesitated, backside cornerback Jason McCourty did not, and the rest is football history.
Armed with a chance to acquire a quarterback who, in a critical moment, would not hesitate, McVay jumped at the chance. Sure, the price would be steep, but the payoff could be huge.
As in, Super Bowl Champions huge.
It was not perfect, and there were mistakes along the way that perhaps are reflective of his career. But for the rest of his life the words Super Bowl champion will be attached to Stafford’s name.
Here is a look at how Stafford delivered for McVay and the Rams, highlighting how those traits that McVay traded for proved huge during the final game of the season.