Matthew Stafford

[stl4life07]

I was truly thinking about this but Im a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. There was a reason the game played out the way that it did against the Bucs. Lets just hypothetically say the Rams go on to cruise to a victory and win by 3tds then as great as Stafford played there would be people still saying he hasnt felt any pressure in these playoffs. The Rams blown out the Cards and the game was over at halftime. The Rams wouldve blown out the Bucs and the game wouldve been over at halftime. Its not like Stafford was the reason the Rams was literally fumbling the game away. Everyone knows that but they pointed out that when everything was melting down for the Rams and the GOAT Brady was on the other side doing what he do best and thats leading his team in an epic comeback, it was Stafford who said he wont allow the Rams to lose. He made what Jason Mckintyre said was the best pass of the playoffs to Kupp on that 44yd to setup the game-winning field goal. 

The crazy thing too that people arent talking enough about, what defense that Goff struggled with constantly? He struggled with the cover zero defense. Remember that Dolphins game two years ago? Flores kept throwing cover zero at Goff and he couldnt handle it. Goff struggled badly. Even in the Superbowl it was cover zero that Belichick threw at Goff as the Rams were marching to try to tie the game up that Gilmore intercepted. So the beautiful thing is Stafford hit the big play against the one defense that Goff had big time trouble with. Stafford is lethal against the blitz and against the Bucs who loves to do it they couldnt and the one time they did they got caught naked and Stafford made them pay. As he said, he snatched their souls. Even have Brady legit contemplating retirement. It would be fitting that he would retire after getting outdone by Stafford when Im sure Brady truly thought he would pull of the epic comeback and win.

Now the journey still isnt over and Stafford has to be at his best if the Rams want to beat the Niners. I think about 1999 when the Rams won the Superbowl with Warner. The Rams had to break through that season and finally beat the Niners and they did which sparked them the rest of the season to get to and win the Superbowl. As I said after the Rams lost to the Niners in Week 18 that it might be a blessing in disguise. I know some of yall didnt like what I said. The Niners took care of the Packers and the Rams still ended up getting HFA in the NFCCG. Now the Rams just have to go take this game against the Niners. I trust Stafford. This is his time to shine in the same way the Giannis did with the Bucks last season in the NBA when everyone doubted that he could get the job done in the postseason. Im super pumped and if the Rams can get this win on Sunday it will be a better feeling to me than when they beat the Saints in 2018 in the NFCCG to go to the Superbowl.

[BStanRamFan]

Save this discussion for after the season when we know the end result. The Goff/Stafford debate will keep us busy from February through Day 2 of the NFL draft.

 

[LeotheLion]

14 hours ago, stl4life07 said:

The crazy thing too that people arent talking enough about, what defense that Goff struggled with constantly? He struggled with the cover zero defense. Remember that Dolphins game two years ago? Flores kept throwing cover zero at Goff and he couldnt handle it. Goff struggled badly. Even in the Superbowl it was cover zero that Belichick threw at Goff as the Rams were marching to try to tie the game up that Gilmore intercepted. So the beautiful thing is Stafford hit the big play against the one defense that Goff had big time trouble with. Stafford is lethal against the blitz and against the Bucs who loves to do it they couldnt and the one time they did they got caught naked and Stafford made them pay. As he said, he snatched their souls. Even have Brady legit contemplating retirement. It would be fitting that he would retire after getting outdone by Stafford when Im sure Brady truly thought he would pull of the epic comeback and win.

It's been talked about a lot this year how good Stafford is against the blitz. Maybe not in relation to Goff (though it was also talked a lot about his struggles under pressure) but that has been a big talking point especially leading up to the Bucs game that does blitz quite a bit.

I think what isn't talked enough about on that play is how smart it was by McVay/Stafford to go quick. That is what made the cover zero blitz be such a disaster. There were defensive linemen standing up/slow on the snap and linebackers way off the ball. Had the defense been ready, I don't think Kupp's route is going to be viable. But if Corbett just doesn't get beat on this play by Suh, it is likely a TD.

[stl4life07]

55 minutes ago, LeotheLion said:

It's been talked about a lot this year how good Stafford is against the blitz. Maybe not in relation to Goff (though it was also talked a lot about his struggles under pressure) but that has been a big talking point especially leading up to the Bucs game that does blitz quite a bit.

I think what isn't talked enough about on that play is how smart it was by McVay/Stafford to go quick. That is what made the cover zero blitz be such a disaster. There were defensive linemen standing up/slow on the snap and linebackers way off the ball. Had the defense been ready, I don't think Kupp's route is going to be viable. But if Corbett just doesn't get beat on this play by Suh, it is likely a TD.

I agree on why the play worked against cover zero blitz. McVay has the tendency to go fast to catch the defense off guard. The Bucs were not completely prepared. It takes execution and I didn’t see how badly Corbett got beat by Suh until after the game was over and I kept seeing the breakdown of the play. Stafford had to throw that ball off his back foot and dropped it in the bucket to Kupp hitting him in stride. Those are the big time plays that McVay wanted from his QB and that’s why Stafford is here. 
 

Can anyone explain to me what can the Rams do differently in the Niners game to finally get them the win? Like Stafford played sensational in the 1st half, had a stinker in the 3rd quarter but was clutch late in the 4th that gave the Rams a chance to win. In OT he threw the int where it looked like OBJ had a step and if Stafford didn’t under throw it OBJ could’ve caught it for the game-winning td. So is it about Stafford being hot now and he will continue to play well enough to beat the Niners or something different must happen bc these last 6 games the Niners literally has beaten the Rams the exact same way. 

[BStanRamFan]

24 minutes ago, stl4life07 said:

 

Can anyone explain to me what can the Rams do differently in the Niners game to finally get them the win? Like Stafford played sensational in the 1st half, had a stinker in the 3rd quarter but was clutch late in the 4th that gave the Rams a chance to win. In OT he threw the int where it looked like OBJ had a step and if Stafford didn’t under throw it OBJ could’ve caught it for the game-winning td. So is it about Stafford being hot now and he will continue to play well enough to beat the Niners or something different must happen bc these last 6 games the Niners literally has beaten the Rams the exact same way. 

Protect Stafford vs SF front 4, establish the run with Akers. Get them to commit a safety to the box or extra LB to stopping Akers to prevent clogging the middle of the field passing lanes so that Stafford can feast. If we can build another lead, I'm confident that Akers can churn out the first downs that Michel couldn't in Week 18 and prevented us from closing out that game.

Oh and win the turnover battle. 

[LeotheLion]

51 minutes ago, stl4life07 said:

I agree on why the play worked against cover zero blitz. McVay has the tendency to go fast to catch the defense off guard. The Bucs were not completely prepared. It takes execution and I didn’t see how badly Corbett got beat by Suh until after the game was over and I kept seeing the breakdown of the play. Stafford had to throw that ball off his back foot and dropped it in the bucket to Kupp hitting him in stride. Those are the big time plays that McVay wanted from his QB and that’s why Stafford is here. 
 

Can anyone explain to me what can the Rams do differently in the Niners game to finally get them the win? Like Stafford played sensational in the 1st half, had a stinker in the 3rd quarter but was clutch late in the 4th that gave the Rams a chance to win. In OT he threw the int where it looked like OBJ had a step and if Stafford didn’t under throw it OBJ could’ve caught it for the game-winning td. So is it about Stafford being hot now and he will continue to play well enough to beat the Niners or something different must happen bc these last 6 games the Niners literally has beaten the Rams the exact same way. 

I don't think we need to do a ton differently to win than what we did in week 18. We win that game 9 times out of 10. The key is to protect Stafford a bit better and tackle better.  Let's not forget how poor of a tackling effort that wasI'm hoping Akers can get going more than we did in week 18 but if Stafford can play well I think that is all that will matter.

[JonStark]

The fact that Stafford is living up to the trade in his first season shocks me (because of the amount it took to get him). I was always going to judge it based off what he did in the postseason, but he's looked great the last two weeks and you can't ask for more at this point than a home NFCCG. Still a lot of football to go, but as of right now, it's looking like he was worth every penny. 

I'll always call a spade a spade and while I still think Goff could develop into what Stafford is with the extra years of experience, Matthew's first season was a success so there isn't really much of a debate at this point IMO. It's not a slight on Goff or saying we couldn't have won with him at all. We may have been better off long term with him, but Stafford is proving that can win us a championship now, which is all that matters and something that I didn't anticipate so early in his career with us. He won last week despite, in my opinion, a poor performance from Mcvay and the fact that he can pull that off means everything. I don't think Mcvay ever would've given Goff the freedom to develop so bringing a guy like Stafford in who was already past that point and demanded freedom really may have made the difference.

 

[stl4life07]

5 hours ago, JonStark said:

The fact that Stafford is living up to the trade in his first season shocks me (because of the amount it took to get him). I was always going to judge it based off what he did in the postseason, but he's looked great the last two weeks and you can't ask for more at this point than a home NFCCG. Still a lot of football to go, but as of right now, it's looking like he was worth every penny. 

I'll always call a spade a spade and while I still think Goff could develop into what Stafford is with the extra years of experience, Matthew's first season was a success so there isn't really much of a debate at this point IMO. It's not a slight on Goff or saying we couldn't have won with him at all. We may have been better off long term with him, but Stafford is proving that can win us a championship now, which is all that matters and something that I didn't anticipate so early in his career with us. He won last week despite, in my opinion, a poor performance from Mcvay and the fact that he can pull that off means everything. I don't think Mcvay ever would've given Goff the freedom to develop so bringing a guy like Stafford in who was already past that point and demanded freedom really may have made the difference.

 

I knew the Stafford trade would work immediately. The Rams already had at minimum a team that could win 11-12 games and get to the division round of the playoffs. They just needed a guy who could get them back to the NFCCG and then see if they could get back to the Superbowl with a chance to win it. Stafford in terms of every metric is elite. He has the arm talent and the QB make-up of being so competitive that he truly hate losing. Now he lost alot in Detroit and Im not saying some of it wasnt his fault. I think the majority of it was the organization fault for not structurally being solid. Stafford had to deal with coach after coach after coach. Thats never a good thing. The Rams have McVay and will have McVay for an extremely long time. The Rams organization is currently one of the best in the league so Stafford comes to a more than solid structurally situation. Its the perfect place and the missing piece for this team so I knew it would work immediately. I dont care what the Rams gave up either. If the Rams can win the Superbowl they could give the Lions another 1st round pick and it wont bother me lol. The Rams will be even better next season bc they will be getting Woods back, they have potential to sign back OBJ and Von. I think both guys will take pay cuts just to stick in LA. Von doesnt strike me as a guy who wants to be a third team. He took it hard leaving Denver and he loves being able to play next to Donald, Floyd, and Ramsey on defense. I think Morris comes back as DC so thats going to factor into him coming back too bc I can assume he loves playing for Morris. Not to mention Von knows he doesnt have to do much throughout the regular season. Just stay healthy and get ready to be your Superbowl MVP best in the playoffs. OBJ loves LA so he definitely is not going to want to leave. Now the dynamic of having Kupp, Woods, OBJ, and Jefferson all healthy and out there is going to be an interesting experiment to figure out how to use all those guys game by game but Im hear to see that. Then the Rams will get a full healthy season from Akers and we will see what happens with Michel and if Whit retires or not. If he does I trust Noteboom to step right in as the starting LT and be great.

I think Goff could develop more into Matt Ryan than Stafford. I think Stafford is on a different level than Ryan. Yes Ryan was great when he had Kyle as his OC in Atlanta. He won MVP and went to the Superbowl and shouldve won that game. The non years with Kyle, Ryan still has been really good and even had team success with winning records and making the playoffs but he has 2 playoff wins without Kyle despite having guys like Julio, White, and Gonzalez back in the day. So if Goff gets weapons for Detroit or where ever he goes I think Goff could be fine but again Stafford is on a different level. The one thing people constantly said about Goff was he couldnt do things off script. Everything had to be perfect for it to work with Goff. Now I didnt buy into that notion but there were more times than not when the pocket collapsed Goff would go down rather than trying to avoid it and try to make a play still. And I know Lions fans got frustrated all season long when on 4th down Goff would throw the ball away rather than trying to make a play. But the main thing like you said McVay has the freedom that he give to Stafford that he didnt give to Goff. Heck even Burrow said he called his own plays in the Titans game. Thats a ton of freedom he had even in his 2nd season in a big road playoff game. So there is something to be said about Stafford having that freedom and McVay no longer have to worry about "managing" his QB every step of the way.