Matthew Stafford has been aggressive all season for the Rams, taking frequent shots deep down the field. He has the eighth-highest intended air yards (8.5) in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats, also ranking fourth in air yards to the sticks (0.1) – a stat that measures how far beyond the first-down marker a quarterback throws on average.
Against the Ravens, though, Stafford took what the defense gave him for most of the afternoon and targeted one area of the field in particular: short right. According to Next Gen Stats, he finished with the eighth-lowest intended air yards (6.6) in the NFL for Week 17, and his -2.9 AYTS ranked fifth-lowest.
He did take a couple of shots down the field, one of which went for a 35-yard gain and the other being intercepted, but he threw a ton of passes short and to his right. Here’s a visual look at his passing chart, which shows exactly that.
Only two of Cooper Kupp’s six receptions came on the right side of the field, so it wasn’t Kupp who Stafford was targeting often in that direction. Tyler Higbee was actually a frequent target in that area, catching six passes for 69 yards on nine targets. He typically lines up on the right side of the formation, making putting him in Stafford’s sightlines rather quickly.
Stafford still averaged 2.95 seconds from snap to throw, which was the 10th-highest average in the NFL this week, so it’s not like he was getting rid of it immediately after the snap. The Rams’ route combinations just led him to throwing a lot of short passes near the line of scrimmage with the Ravens playing top-down and taking away deep passes.
Obviously, it wasn’t a very good day for Stafford with two interceptions and a lost fumble, but he came through when the Rams needed him by going a perfect 14-for-14 with 162 yards and one touchdown in the second half.
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