Matthew Stafford was a big reason for the Rams’ success in the first eight weeks. He was also a major part of their terrible performance against the Titans on Sunday night. In fact, he’s more to blame for the 28-16 loss than anyone else on the team.
He threw two costly interceptions in the second quarter, setting the Titans up at the 2-yard line and handing them a touchdown with a pick-six on his very next pass attempt. It was by far his worst performance as a Ram, making uncharacteristic mistakes that proved costly.
But as a good quarterback always does, he looked in the mirror and recognized the fact that he didn’t play well enough to help his team win this game.
“The first one, guy’s got a hold of me, I’ve just got to do a better job probably just falling on that one or throwing it over Robert’s head earlier,” he said in his press conference. “Was maybe just trying to get back through it. Can’t have that. I mean, I basically spotted them 14 points. Can’t do that in the NFL, especially against a good team like that that wants to get out in front, run the football, mix coverages, do all that kind of stuff. Just wasn’t good enough early in the game. Turnovers really killed us and those are on me, so if I clean those up and I know I will, I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team to go out there and play some really good football.”
The INT that set up the @titans touchdown!
📺: #TENvsLAR on NBC
📱: https://t.co/ZIukbFRRGH pic.twitter.com/0k8TYpNBmz— NFL (@NFL) November 8, 2021
The defense wasn’t perfect, especially when it came to penalties, but Raheem Morris’ group played well enough to win this game. That’s something Stafford admitted himself, too.
“Our defense played good. Good enough to keep us in the game, good enough to really – if we don’t turn the ball over twice, gives us a chance to win that one. Got to play better myself, first and foremost,” he said.
Sean McVay admitted Stafford made some “uncharacteristic mistakes” in this one, which no one will argue against. It’s the first time he threw multiple interceptions with the Rams, and they came on back-to-back offensive plays.
The Rams have full confidence in Stafford and they should, but this was a game they very easily could’ve won had he played better.
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