Stafford speaks out about OTAs

Rams QB Matthew Stafford’s first dispatch from OTAs: New teammates, offensive collaboration, health and more

By Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/2610600/2021/05/24/rams-qb-matthew-staffords-first-dispatch-from-otas-new-teammates-offensive-collaboration-health-and-more/

For the first time in his 12-year career, quarterback Matthew Stafford has begun organized team activities (OTAs) with a new franchise as the Rams began their programming Monday morning in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

There is newness all around Stafford, even at age 33 — from the drive to the facilities, to the uniforms, to the names of his teammates, to the language and philosophy of the offense itself, a system that a handful of coaches across the league run but within which he has never played.

“The physical part of it is great right now, getting to be able to throw and catch and work with the guys,” Stafford said Monday via video conference from the Rams facilities. “But for me, probably the biggest thing is being able to get some of these mental reps. Getting in and out of the huddle. Learning the new terminology and seeing our plays develop versus different defenses — that’s a whole other aspect to it as well.

“I’m just trying to learn as much as I can about our playbook and the way we want to operate as an offense, but also my teammates as well.”

Stafford touched on a variety of topics, including his health, getting adjusted to the timing elements of Sean McVay’s offense and a new offensive line, collaborating with his new head coach and how he’ll approach the preseason in a couple of months:

His health post-surgery

Stafford had a minor thumb procedure in March after playing through an injury last season, The Athletic first reported on April 1. At the time, sources said that Stafford would be fully cleared from the surgery and rehab by the time OTAs began — which Stafford confirmed Monday.

“It’s not impacting me at all,” he said. “Just a little quick fix and I feel way better. I haven’t really been limited at all since we’ve been together, so I feel good.”

His offensive line

Stafford will play behind a new line (with some players who have switched positions as they enter the 2021 season, including Austin Corbett, who moved from guard to center and appears to be taking first-team reps), with new blocking concepts and communication patterns. These next few weeks will be his first opportunity to work with these players and develop everything from timing to rapport with Corbett, to an intrinsic feel for how his pocket can and will move in the passing game, to how the Rams execute their running game and communicate amongst themselves.

“As far as an adjustment goes, I definitely have a big one (to) the offense, just trying to adjust and make sure that I’m able to articulate what we want to do as fast as I possibly can, and let those guys operate and go play,” Stafford said. “All the guys across the front have been great to me so far, just trying to help me along and communicate.

“That’s a huge part of the game, is the quarterback-to-center and then obviously the center relaying that information down the line right and left — it’s a huge part of the success on offense, is having that communication there. That’s something that, this time of year, is huge for things for us to work on going forward.”

Collaborating with McVay

McVay emphasized this offseason that he wanted the work done with his new quarterback to be collaborative and that it would be important not only to tweak his own system but also to introduce concepts with which Stafford is comfortable and has had previous success. Two-way collaborative communication had notably deteriorated between coach and quarterback through the last months and weeks of the 2020 season, so opening that line and nurturing it will be key in this new era.

“I think it’s been a great process so far,” Stafford said. “Obviously, we’re a little bit limited in certain points during the offseason in our ability to communicate when it comes to football and all of that. But I think he understands that I’ve been in four different offenses with a bunch of different coordinators and seen a lot of football. And he’s been around awhile, too. It’s been nice being able to talk ball — it can be the simplest things, an individual route on a play, or a full play concept or a half-field read, whatever it is, there are things I’ve done in the past that make sense to him and make sense for our offense.

“There are also things that I’ve never been exposed to that are in this offense that I’m trying to learn and make second nature to myself, as well. It’s been fun, we’ve been able to learn and kind of bounce ideas back and forth off each other. We’ll figure out what this thing looks like come August, September.”

One area of great interest is how Stafford and McVay will scheme and execute the explosive air-yards game. In 2020, the Rams became more dependent on catch-and-run explosive plays off shorter to midrange passes, and defenses countered them accordingly. McVay said at the end of the season that it was “not the world” he wanted to live in and not only made a change at quarterback but also added complementary layers to the offense with receivers such as DeSean Jackson and Tutu Atwell for vertical and horizontal speed. McVay’s offense has historically used play action as the starting point of some of those downfield explosive plays, and this is an area in which Stafford is also experienced. In 2017, he had the best play-action passer rating in the league (137.5) and in 2020 averaged 9.1 yards per pass attempt on play-action passes, with five touchdowns and no interceptions, and a 108.7 passer rating on those throws, according to NextGen Stats.

Timing is everything

The passing concepts in McVay’s offense are predicated on timing between quarterback and receiver, but developing an innate sensibility of each other isn’t as simple as running through throw-and-catch drills (which are largely what OTAs consist of now). So how is Stafford broadening his feel for the timing of each play and each receiver?

“The only way a guy in my position can correlate ‘on time’ and ‘in rhythm’ is understanding exactly what’s going on around him at all times and feeling comfortable with it,” Stafford said. “To get that, in my opinion, you can definitely look at it on a screen, look at it on a piece of paper and take your notes, but until you get out there and watch Cooper Kupp run this route, or Robert Woods run that route, that’s something that takes time and repetition.

“And then, obviously, you go back and rewatch the practice — and find a way to be better, for sure.”