Tag: Matthew Stafford

Would the Rams consider trading Matthew Stafford at the deadline if they keep losing?

One NFL insider says Matthew Stafford’s future with the Rams is “a situation to watch closely” as the trade deadline approaches

The Los Angeles Rams could find themselves at a crossroads in a few weeks. They have three games left before the NFL trade deadline, which is 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 5.

At best, the Rams will be 4-4 at the deadline if they can beat the Raiders, Vikings and Seahawks. There’s also a chance they’re 1-7 or 2-6. The Rams made the playoffs last season after starting 3-6, so losing two of their next three won’t mean they’re eliminated from playoff contention.

However, they also shouldn’t be big buyers at the deadline if they’re sitting at 2-6. Might they be big sellers instead? Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN mentioned a hypothetical scenario where the Rams don’t turn things around and consider trading Matthew Stafford.

It seems outrageous on the surface for Los Angeles to move on from Stafford now with no succession plan in place, but it’s not the craziest idea if they find themselves with very little chance of making the playoffs. Stafford reworked his contract this year to give him more guaranteed money up front, while simultaneously making it easier for the Rams to move on financially if they want to in 2025.

Here’s what Fowler wrote when asked about the possibility of Los Angeles trading Stafford at the deadline next month.

Definitely. The Rams have looked at Stafford’s future as a year-to-year proposition. His reworked contract last offseason reflects that, pushing his 2024 pay into the $40 million range but lessening his guarantees in 2025, essentially allowing both sides to decide whether they want to remain married at that point. This is a situation to watch closely, because neither player nor team seems to know how or when it will end. Stafford is 36 and has dealt with injuries recently. Does he want to play after this season?

The Rams and their quarterback have several questions to answer, which are easier to put off if the team is winning. And maybe L.A. can regain its winning ways once Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua and others return. It’s also worth noting the Jimmy Garoppolo signing got the attention of some around the league, because Garoppolo could be an insurance option down the road. While interested teams are unclear, the Raiders have a glaring need at the position.

Fowler isn’t saying the Rams will trade Stafford if they keep losing or that they have any plans to move on from him now. He’s not even reporting any inside information about Los Angeles’ plans at quarterback this season.

But Les Snead is always more willing to cut or trade someone a year early rather than a year late (see: Gurley, Todd and Goff, Jared). It still won’t be easy for the Rams to trade Stafford before the deadline or in the offseason because of his $49.67 million cap hit in 2025, but they took on $22.1 million in dead money when they traded Goff so it’s not impossible.

In a scenario where the Rams lose their next three games and fall to 1-7, they could see it as an opportunity to organically tank for a higher draft pick by starting either Jimmy Garoppolo or Stetson Bennett for the rest of the year. Plus, they’d recoup assets by trading Stafford for draft picks.

Obviously, they won’t even consider it if they get back to .500 before the deadline and are sitting at 4-4 through eight games. But if they keep losing, it’s something to watch, as Fowler said.

Matthew Stafford dealing with back soreness but expected to be fine for Week 7

Matthew Stafford is dealing with some back soreness from the hits he’s taken this season but it won’t affect his availability

Matthew Stafford has taken a beating this season, getting sacked 16 times in only five games. Against the Packers alone on Sunday afternoon, Stafford was hit 10 times in the loss.

Given those facts, it’s understandable that he’d be a little bit banged up at this point in the season. On Monday, Sean McVay told reporters that Stafford has “a little bit of back soreness” but downplayed the injury by saying it won’t affect his status for the Rams’ next game.

As for what’s led to the soreness, it’s just a matter of the hits Stafford’s taken over the course of the season and throughout his career, McVay says.

“I think there were a couple more than one hit, so I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “This guy’s been playing for a long time. He’s as tough as it gets. He took some shots yesterday. He’s taken some shots this year and throughout the course of his career. I think he just had a little bit of back soreness and it’s something that we want to monitor is all I was really getting at. I didn’t want to make it too big of a deal because we don’t expect it to be something that does limit his ability to participate in practice when we do get back either.”

Stafford is one of the toughest guys in the NFL, always playing through any type of bump and bruise. He’s fully expected to be on the field when the Rams play their next game against the Raiders in Week 7, a game they must win in order to keep their already slim playoff hopes alive.

Rams’ first-quarter offense has been astonishingly bad this season

The Rams are one of two teams without a first-quarter touchdown this season

Sean McVay is typically a terrific coach when it comes to scripting the early part of a game. He usually knows how to take advantage of a team’s weaknesses on defense after a week of preparation, dialing up plays to get the ball moving down the field early.

That hasn’t been the case this season.

The Rams’ first-quarter offense is arguably the worst in the NFL right now. The 33rd Team pointed out that the Rams and Eagles are the only teams in the league that have yet to score a first-quarter touchdown this season. The kicker? The Eagles had a bye in Week 5, so they’ve only played four games.

That makes the Rams the only team in football without a first-quarter touchdown in five games played. The futility on offense in the first 15 minutes goes beyond just a lack of touchdowns.

The Rams are averaging 1.2 points per game in the first quarter, second-worst in the league. They’ve had a total of nine drives in the first frame and only two of them have yielded points, both field goals by Joshua Karty.

They also had another drive that went 66 yards but ended in a failed fourth-down attempt, which came against the Packers on Sunday. The other six drives? They’ve totaled 25 yards combined.

They’ve had five punts, two turnovers on downs and two field goals made, with five of those drives failing to even cross midfield. As a result, the Rams are being outscored by an average of 5.8 points per game in the first quarter, a big reason they’ve had to play from behind in all five of their games so far – with only one halftime lead this season.

When you’re leading, the offensive playbook opens up. The Rams haven’t had that luxury very much this season and it’s something that must improve after the bye.

Giants legend Eli Manning falls out of top-10 for all-time passing yards

New York Giants legend Eli Manning fell out of the top 10 for all-time passing yards after being leapfrogged by Matthew Stafford.

New York Giants legend Eli Manning put together quite a resume over the course of his career and now, the two-time Super Bowl MVP is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On Sunday, Manning’s all-time rank for passing yards took a hit as former Detroit Lions and current Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matt Stafford surpassed him.

Stafford moved into 10th all-time in passing yards this past week, bumping Manning back to 11th overall. Manning congratulated Stafford on his accomplishment in typical Eli fashion.

As mentioned in Manning’s video, Stafford is also just seven touchdowns away from leapfrogging him for 10th all-time in passing touchdowns. Eli sarcastically said there would be no kudos video when that happens.

Two years ago, Aaron Rodgers moved ahead of Manning in total passing yards, dropping Eli to the last spot in the top 10, where he remained until Stafford took over.

Luckily for Manning, after Stafford, there are not many active players who are close to climbing the ranks to surpass Manning any time soon.

Manning’s career accolades are highlighted by his two brilliant playoff runs which led to two Super Bowl victories against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

However, Manning is also near the top in every statistical quarterback category and will likely soon lead him to a Hall of Fame induction.

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Matthew Stafford not feeling added motivation to win because of Rams’ record

“There better not be any more motivation in one week or the other.”

Matthew Stafford isn’t ready to sound the alarm after the Los Angeles Rams’ 1-3 start. As disappointing as their record is, he’s treating each game the same and approaching it like he would any other matchup.

That’s the case this weekend with the Rams hosting the 2-2 Green Bay Packers, who are also coming off a loss in Week 4. Stafford was asked if he feels any added motivation to win because of the Rams’ poor record and he said definitively that no one should be extra motivated to win any game over another.

“There better not be any more motivation in one week or the other,” he said. “I feel like for the most part, people understand that in this business. It’s time to go no matter what your record is. If we were sitting here at 4-0, I surely wouldn’t be going, ‘Well, it doesn’t really matter this week.’ We’re professional athletes. We’re guys that understand the importance of each game. We do everything we possibly can Monday to Saturday to get ourselves ready to go win those games. I know it’s frustrating for us when it doesn’t happen because there is a whole lot of work and effort that goes into it.”

Stafford may not feel extra motivation to win this week but he certainly knows the implications of the Rams losing four of their first five games. If the Rams lost to the Packers on Sunday, they’ll be 1-4 and in danger of suffering a season similar to the one they endured in 2022.

That doesn’t mean the team is going to prepare extra hard or focus more closely the details, but there needs to be a heightened sense of urgency before it gets too late.

What’s the reason behind the Rams’ red zone struggles?

The Rams have the 6th-worst red zone offense in the NFL, which is a big reason for their 1-3 record.

There isn’t one single reason the Los Angeles Rams are 1-3 at this point. The defense has a tackling issue, the offense is missing its top two receivers and the O-line has been banged up through four games.

But if there’s one glaring problem for Sean McVay’s team, it’s the red zone struggles – something that’s never been a strength for the Rams under McVay.

This season, the Rams rank 27th in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage. They’ve found the end zone only 41.2% of the time when reaching the opponent’s 20-yard line, far worse than last year when they scored on 60% of their trips inside the 20, which was eighth-best.

It was a massive problem for the Rams on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, putting together their worst red zone performance of the season. Despite moving the ball almost at will throughout the game, the Rams were only 1-for-4 in the red zone. They settled for two short field goals from 25 and 37 yards out, came away with no points after an offensive pass interference penalty and missed 43-yard field goal and finally scored a touchdown when Kyren Williams ran it in from 3 yards.

A red zone touchdown rate of 25%, as the Rams had in Week 4, would rank 32nd in the NFL on the season by a wide margin, which just goes to show how poorly the offense performed on Sunday.

The question now is what’s caused these struggles. Is it Matthew Stafford? Is it Sean McVay’s play calling? Is it the lack of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua at wide receiver?

The answer is D, all of the above.

It’s never one single factor causing problems in the red zone and for the Rams, it’s a combination of several things. For starters, McVay’s play calling hasn’t been great. He’s known for getting a little bit pass-happy in the red zone, which can lead to stalled drives and disappointing results.

Against the Bears, the Rams were hurt by an offensive pass interference penalty on Tutu Atwell, which took it from second-and-5 to second-and-15. The following two plays were incompletions, leading to the missed 43-yard field goal.

When they did finally score a red zone touchdown, it was Kyren Williams rushed for 7 yards, 14 yards, 5 yards and 3 yards on four consecutive plays after Atwell’s 25-yard reception to get Los Angeles to the 29.

It’s easier than just saying “run the ball every time!” because football doesn’t work like that. Defenses load up to stop the run and the field is condensed in the red zone, which is what makes converting so difficult in that area. And for those complaining about Williams not getting enough red zone touches, he ranks second in the NFL with 20 carries inside the 20-yard line and is tied for first with 12 carries inside the 10.

That being said, McVay needs to get more creative in the red zone. End zone fades typically don’t work, especially with receivers like Demarcus Robinson, Jordan Whittington and Tutu Atwell. Screen passes, which McVay loves, are also tough in the red zone because of how close all the defenders are to the line of scrimmage.

McVay knows he needs to be better in the red zone, but he also acknowledged that the execution must improve, too.

“There was some sequence and things like that where you want to put guys in better spots,” McVay said after the game. “I’ll always look at myself first and foremost on that. For us to be able to move the football as well as we did to get into those situations, they tightened up. Some of it was definitely where I’ve got to do a better job of it, and then there’s times where we can execute collectively better in terms of just our overall techniques, fundamentals, and ability to fight through the down based on what the defense presents.”

Beyond the play calling, Stafford simply has to clean up his red zone passes. According to Pro Football Reference, his completion rate of 36.4% in the red zone is the second-worst of any starting quarterback with at least 10 attempts this season. Only Joe Burrow has been worse. Inside the 10-yard line, he’s been even worse, completing only 3 of 11 passes for 10 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Stafford is 0-for-7 with one interception and no touchdowns on passes thrown into the end zone this season.

Missing Nacua and his favorite red zone target, Cooper Kupp, has certainly impacted Stafford’s numbers in the red area. He was awesome inside the 10-yard line last season, throwing 15 touchdown passes and no picks on 45 attempts.

Sadly for him, Kupp will most likely miss the Rams’ next game and Nacua may not be back until Week 8, so he has at least another one or two games without both receivers on the field. In the meantime, he’ll have to manage with Robinson, Atwell and Whittington as his primary red zone targets, along with 6-foot-7 Colby Parkinson – a player with a huge catch radius but also someone who hasn’t been on the same page as Stafford in the tight areas of the field.

The Rams aren’t going to go very far if they can’t turn yards into touchdowns because even with scoring down across the NFL, field goals don’t win games.

Matthew Stafford has been blown away by some of Caleb Williams’ plays

Caleb Williams has gone through some rookie struggles but Matthew Stafford has still been impressed by his tape

Caleb Williams came into the NFL with a great deal of hype as the No. 1 overall pick but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the former USC Trojan. He’s had his share of rookie growing pains, throwing only two touchdown passes and four interceptions in his first three games.

After being the heavy favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, he’s since been overtaken by Jayden Daniels in Washington.

Despite some slightly underwhelming play thus far, Williams has still impressed Matthew Stafford with the plays he’s put on tape. Stafford said he’s been blown away by some of the plays made by Williams, calling him an “immensely talented” quarterback.

“He’s obviously immensely talented. He makes plays every single week that you see on TV that blow you away as a quarterback,” Stafford said Wednesday. “I sit there and go, ‘Man, that is some incredible stuff.’ I’m sure there are plays he wants back, like all of us. He seems like a sharp kid. Obviously, really talented. I’m sure he’ll figure it out more and more as he continues to play. I’m sure he is going to have a great career.”

Williams is coming off the best game of his career thus far, throwing for 363 yards against the Colts in the Bears’ Week 3 loss. In his previous two games combined, he had just 267 yards passing with no touchdowns and two picks.

He’s obviously gaining confidence and comfort with each week and he could take advantage of a Rams secondary that’s allowed the fourth-most passing yards and higher net yards per pass attempt this season.

Plus, with his running ability, he could be in for a similar performance to the ones Kyler Murray and Brock Purdy just had against the Rams in the last two weeks.

Sean McVay talks Matthew Stafford’s mindset during Rams’ big comeback

Matthew Stafford has had a plethora of game-winning drives throughout his career. Sean McVay details his QBs approach to critical situations

Matthew Stafford has been one of the premier passers in the NFL for quite some time and while most of his career doesn’t get the credit he deserves due to a lack of team success, Stafford has 45 career game-winning drives, ranking seventh all-time and first among active quarterbacks.

When asked about the mindset of his quarterback in these high-pressure situations, Sean McVay broke down Stafford’s poise and control.

“The best thing that I could say about yesterday, I never felt like he pressed,” McVay said Monday. “We were down 14 early. We were down 10 late. I thought he let the game come to him. I thought he made really good decisions throughout. I don’t know exactly what his numbers ended up, but he was very much in control, had great command, [and] he made great decisions throughout the course of the game based on what they presented defensively. I think that patience and ability to just play one play at a time was key and critical for the poise that was reflected, being able to score on the last four offensive series, two touchdowns [and] two field goals. He was great. He let it come to him. I didn’t think he pressed. There can sometimes be a tendency, not him, but just in general as a player [or] even as a coach when you feel like you have to get it all back in one play. He took what they gave him and then there were some opportunities to push the ball and it was what the coverage dictated and he made great throws and he had a chance to be able to let his back foot hit and let things go in rhythm. Guys made plays for him and he had the protection. I thought he was outstanding. He was so vital for us to have a chance to be in the position that we were in based on just how the game unfolded.”

Since joining the Rams, Stafford has led Los Angeles on multiple game-winning drives, including three straight in the 2021 playoffs to win Super Bowl LVI.

Last Sunday, Stafford engineered 20 second-half points, including multiple scores in the last three minutes of the game to give the Rams a 27-24 victory over the 49ers.

Matthew Stafford leads amazing comeback win over 49ers

Former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback delivered a huge comeback win in NFL Week 3

Former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Matthew Stafford has been up-and-down this year, losing both his top two receivers and his tight end to injury. As a result, the Los Angeles Rams started the season 0-2 and were going against a San Francisco 49ers team that represented the NFC in the last Super Bowl.

However, despite facing a 24-14 deficit in the fourth quarter, Stafford led the Rams on an amazing 27-24 comeback victory over the 49ers. With under five minutes remaining, the 49ers had a 95.5% chance to win according to ESPN.

Stafford finished the day with 221 passing yards on 25 attempts, along with a touchdown. He finished with a 105.6 passer rating and he could’ve had even more touchdowns if the Rams didn’t run the ball on the one yard line to score. His touchdown pass was to Kyren Williams, who also scored two rushing touchdowns on the day.

This season, Stafford has 754 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. He currently ranks third in the league in passing yards.

Stafford helped the Rams to win against the 49ers for just the second time in 10 regular season games. It’s a win both Rams fans and Bulldogs fans can be proud of. The Rams’ win over San Francisco may have saved Los Angeles’ season.

Watch: Fired-up Sean McVay hands out 5 game balls after Rams’ win vs. 49ers

Sean McVay was fired up in the locker room after the Rams’ comeback win and he handed out 5 game balls to key contributors

Victory speeches are back for Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, which is a wonderful thing. McVay’s speeches in the locker room after wins are always a fan favorite and now that the Rams are finally back in the win column, the always-entertaining videos are back.

The Rams shared Sunday’s locker room speech after the Rams’ dramatic comeback against the 49ers and McVay was as fired up as he’s ever been. It’s easy to see why, given the desperation for a win after starting 0-2 and losing several key starters to injuries.

“I’ll tell you what, some (expletive) fight in this group, man! I love it! I love it! There are so many guys I want to be able to recognize, and there are a couple of guys that come to mind immediately,” he said before handing out game balls.

He singled out Xavier Smith for his punt return in the fourth quarter, Kyren Williams for his three touchdowns, the defense as a whole for stepping up late and Tutu Atwell for his 93 yards receiving as a starter at receiver.

He also gave a game ball to Matthew Stafford, who then passed it off to rookie kicker Joshua Karty – the guy who hit the game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left.