The Stafford thread…update 12/31: huge S.I. article

Sterling Bennett@49ers_Access
Matthew Stafford is playing out of his mind right now:

– PFF’s highest graded passer (min 60 db)
– Most Big Time Throws (12)
– Highest BTT% (8.3%)*

BTT = Big-Time Throw percentage

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Matthew Stafford through 7 games:

1,866 yards (3rd in NFL)
17 TDs (1st)
2 INTs (t-3rd)
92 first downs (1st)
109.3 rating (4th)
7.7 yards/attempt (t-7th)
39.9 EPA (6th)

Matthew Stafford’s Top Plays From First Half Of The 2025 Season

PARAM

On the year [Stafford’s] QB rating is 109.4 when he has 2.5 or more seconds to throw and 109.2 when he has less…..so I’m pretty sure, #9 says “bring it”.

***

2025 marks the second most td passes stafford has ever thrown through the first 7 games of a season – he threw the most, also as a ram, in the rams 2021 super bowl season: pic.twitter.com/irIPtIS5rH

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) October 29, 2025

Matthew Stafford passing among QBs this season:

268.4 YPG (2nd)
21 TDs (1st)
2 INTs (t-33rd)
113.2 passer rating (6th)

Rams have the 2nd-best point differential (+82).pic.twitter.com/AAAag5QCuU

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) November 3, 2025

Rams QB Matthew Stafford isn’t just having a great season. He’s having an MVP one

Nate Atkins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6772158/2025/11/03/rams-matthew-stafford-mvp-season/?source=athletic_user_shared_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford dropped back from under center, saw a New Orleans Saints defense sitting in zone and knew he needed to do something about the linebacker staring him down.

So Stafford locked his eyes on the checkdown option of Kyren Williams to his short right. And then his arm did something else. The ball moved independent of his eyes, as if controlled by two of its own, flying just over the head of the linebacker staring at Williams and into the arms of Davante Adams for a 29-yard gain.

This is Stafford at age 37. The game is so easy for him, he doesn’t even have to look.

What happened on Sunday, in a 34-10 win over the Saints to move the Rams to 6-2, is not necessarily different than before. After all, Stafford famously hit Cooper Kupp on a no-look pass on a drive to win Super Bowl LVI. His field vision is among the next-level traits the Rams coveted when they traded Jared Goff and two first-round picks to land him.

But this is the best, most comfortable version of Stafford. The one the Rams hoped he’d get back to after his offensive line collapsed in 2022 and the receiving corps limped to the finish line last year. The one they prayed would be healthy enough this season after they sat him for weeks in training camp to manage a degenerative back issue.

Eight games later, the question has shifted from whether Stafford still has it physically to keep playing to whether he can win his first MVP award.

Beyond the highlights of no-look passes, unique arm angles and window-shredding velocity, the case is in the numbers. He leads the NFL with 21 touchdown passes, and his touchdown-to-interception ratio of 21:2 is one of the five best marks of any quarterback in the first half of a season.

With a quarterback rating of 113.2, Stafford is enjoying the best start to a season in his career.

What’s scary for the rest of the league is that he’s getting better by the week.

Through the first month, Stafford was playing at a high level, but he did throw two rough interceptions and missed some passes that could have beaten the Philadelphia Eagles due to what he labeled as “physical issues.”

It was a sharp version of a 17-year veteran, but he saw room for growth. He lamented missing Adams in the end zone and said he was the one to blame, despite what the numbers showed. The Rams were moving the ball at will with that version of Stafford, but they left something to be desired on third downs and in the red zone.

In the past two games, Stafford has nine touchdown passes and zero interceptions, marking the first back-to-back four-touchdown performances of his career. The Rams found the end zone on eight of nine red zone trips and beat the Jacksonville Jaguars and Saints by a combined score of 69-17.

And in those games, coach Sean McVay noticed something happening on offense: an identity forming, a game plan following suit and a confidence building in his own situational decisions.

“It’s been a good example of a lot of our practice preparation, practice performance equaling game reality,” McVay said. “There was a good sense of urgency, a good enjoyment for the appropriate urgency in that balance of enjoying it.”

Three noticeable shifts have taken place within the offense in that time:

The connection with Adams arrived, diversifying the passing game beyond Puka Nacua. Scoring touchdowns is what Adams has always done, and Sunday’s pair tied him with Tony Gonzalez for eighth in NFL history with 111.

It turned out that Nacua’s week off was a blessing in disguise. Left to their own devices for a week in Baltimore, the two poured everything into their connection. And now, they’re communicating at the line of scrimmage, targeting the mismatches they see and chasing places in history together in a joint race against time.

“I have a ton of trust and respect in his aptitude to go out there and play and his mental capabilities,” Stafford said. “It’s a whole lot of fun. When he’s talking to me, he’s giving me great information and we’re just trying to collaborate and make sure that we’re on the same page as much as possible.”

The Rams are playing two- and three-tight end sets more than ever under McVay. That’s fit this year’s shift to more under-center and play-action passing, but now it’s created an element of surprise to the defense that moving Nacua around before the snap never could. Before the past two games, Nacua and Adams were in the top 10 in the NFL in targets. But in each of those games, Stafford completed passes to at least seven different players.

On Sunday, the Rams used three tight ends on 35 of their 77 plays, with a success rate of 51 percent in those looks, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. It’s created an environment where they can hide some of Terrance Ferguson’s rookie deficiencies as a blocker before unleashing his receiving talent, which turned into two catches for 54 yards against the Saints.

The third shift is that Stafford has an offensive line that is finally healthy. From the very first game until now, the unit has seen constant shuffling at three positions as left guard Steve Avila and right tackle Rob Havenstein both missed three games. Sunday represented the first time they’ve had all five out there since Week 1, and it was the first game where all five played the entire time. Stafford took two sacks but just four total hits. His sack rate over the past two games is a minuscule 3 percent. And now, his season-long sack rate of 4.5 percent is his lowest since 2013, or eight years before the Detroit Lions traded him to the Rams.

Much like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in their late 30s, Stafford has reached a point where his experience dwarfs that of younger defenders, making his offense a nightmare to defend. Especially when the individual pieces are as difficult to handle as Adams and Nacua are, and as Ferguson is showing flashes of becoming.

“It’s just great command, great understanding of what he’s seeing, great ability to be able to distribute the ball based on what the coverage dictates,” McVay said. “I think he’s pushing the ball. I think he’s understanding situationally what’s the right way to be able to play it. I just have total confidence where you can call the game through him.”

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Digging into the numbers on Matthew Stafford…

🔥 1st in the NFL in air yards %
🔥 1st in the NFL in average throw depth
🔥 1st in the NFL in TD%
🔥 1st in the NFL in INT%

And a big key to that — 5th in the NFL in sack %.

from NFL Execs Vote on Midseason MVP, Coach of the Year, More Awards

Albert Breer

https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-execs-vote-on-midseason-mvp-coach-of-year-more-awards#:~:text=After%20the%20votes%20were%20tallied,to%20come%20to%20that%20conclusion.

…

…midseason every year, in this space, I poll NFL general managers, VPs, directors of player personnel and directors of pro scouting to try to get their take on who should win what.

This year, we wound up with a panel of 42 voters, and a wide-open race for MVP. An eye-opening 10 different players received votes. After the votes were tallied, Stafford was the winner. He finished five votes clear of Josh Allen, and had more than double the votes of every candidate below that.

…

Most Valuable Player: Matthew Stafford, QB, Rams (13 votes)

Also receiving votes: Bills QB Josh Allen (8), Colts RB Jonathan Taylor (5), Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield (4), Chargers QB Justin Herbert (3), Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (3), Seahawks QB Sam Darnold (2), Colts QB Daniel Jones (2), Patriots QB Drake Maye (1), Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith Njigba (1)

Quietly, Stafford is having an off-the-charts year. He’s on pace for 4,562 yards and a 45–4 TD-INT ratio, and the Rams are tied for first in the NFC West. He has been incredibly efficient (113.2 rating) and consistent (a 98-or-better rating in seven of eight games), while facing a challenging schedule (the Rams faced the Eagles, Colts, 49ers and Ravens in succession) in a rugged division. Now, this can be a storyline award, and Stafford may lack one that’s new or different for voters to latch onto. But if you want a quarterback who runs an offense at an incredibly high level, while rarely missing a throw, Stafford’s your guy.

…

…for those on the inside, it’s how he continues to raise the bar for everyone around him that makes him such a viable candidate for MVP. Puka Nacua is averaging over 100 yards per game. Davante Adams is on pace for 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns. Depth at tight end is being developed, and Kyren Williams, Blake Corumm and a rugged line are giving the team its physical edge. And Stafford, quite simply, is the straw that stirs this drink.

“His value is the endless ability to elevate others and instill a genuine belief that because he is at the switch, we always have a chance,” coach Sean McVay texted late Thursday night when I gave him the MVP vote results. “Plus, his toughness and love for competing are contagious and has become the identity of our team. True coach on the field.”

And one that brings actual value in every sense of the word.

He always has, too. So, finally, this is when it gets recognized.

Kurt Warner@kurt13warner
Gosh Dang, how much fun is it to watch #MatthewStafford & #SeanMcVay together??? Staff is just so talented & has such a great feel for game & McVay is so creative in his answers & maybe mostly with his variety of “naked bootlegs”!!! It’s a joy to watch their tape weekly.. and doesn’t hurt to have #Puka #Davante

After just 9 games, Matthew Stafford has already thrown more touchdown passes against the blitz than all but two quarterbacks in a season in the last decade.

His 20 such touchdown passes are nearly double the 2nd-highest total in 2025 (Jalen Hurts, 11).@RamsNFL | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/99btntt16F

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 10, 2025

Stafford9@LAR9MS
Rams All-Time Passing TD leaders:

1. Roman Gabriel: 154
2. Jim Everett: 142
3. Matthew Stafford/Marc Bulger: 122

33 more and Matthew Stafford will be the Rams All-Time leader!!!

Games played:

Roman Gabriel: 130
Jim Everett: 107
Marc Bulger: 96
Matthew Stafford: 67