{"id":1024585,"date":"2026-10-11T11:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1024585\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T11:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:18:17","slug":"rams-matthew-stafford-searching-for-improvement-amid-uneven-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1024585\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams’ Matthew Stafford searching for improvement amid uneven start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew Stafford<\/a> knows how to finish.<\/p>\n

The Rams<\/a> quarterback gave another masterclass last Sunday when he led the Rams to victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. It was Stafford\u2019s 40th fourth-quarter comeback victory<\/a>, leaving the 18th-year pro one shy of tying Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> for third on the all-time list behind Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.<\/p>\n

But through four games, this has not otherwise been a prodigious start for the reigning NFL most valuable player and future Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

Gary Klein breaks down what to watch for when the Rams face the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Stafford, 38, has passed for six touchdowns, with six interceptions, for a team that is 2-2 going into its game on Monday night against the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

Stafford is tied with the Chargers\u2019 Justin Herbert for second-most interceptions in the NFL, trailing only the New England Patriots\u2019 Drake Maye, who has seven.<\/p>\n

And while Stafford\u2019s numbers are more middling than fall-off-a-cliff poor, they rank among his slowest statistical starts.<\/p>\n

Only twice in his career has Stafford had six passes intercepted in the first four games.<\/p>\n

As a rookie in 2009, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft had three passes intercepted in his first game, two in the second, none in the third and one in the fourth.<\/p>\n

The same pattern repeated in 2022 during the Rams\u2019 infamous Super Bowl hangover that ended with a 5-12 record, and Stafford on injured reserve.<\/p>\n

Last season, in the Rams\u2019 first four games, Stafford passed for eight touchdowns, with two interceptions, en route to a 3-1 start and what eventually became his run to a first MVP award.<\/p>\n

So Stafford acknowledged that he personally has \u201croom for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome really bright moments, and some stuff I\u2019m really proud of,\u201d Stafford said, \u201cand stuff that I definitely wish I could take back and help us be in a better position to win games. That comes with the position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rams\u2019 \u2014 and Stafford\u2019s \u2014 season began poorly after the team\u2019s misguided decision to arrive in Australia the day before they played the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener. Stafford passed for only 155 yards, with an interception, in a 27-7 defeat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stafford rebounded by passing for four touchdowns, with an interception, in a 28-6 victory<\/a> over the New York Giants at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

In the next game at Denver, Stafford completed 30 of 55 passes for 390 yards and two touchdowns. But Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga intercepted two passes, one he returned for a touchdown and another in the end zone in the final seconds of a 30-26 Rams defeat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against the Eagles, Stafford completed 32 of 51 passes for 317 yards, with two interceptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was at his best in the most important moments,\u201d coach Sean McVay<\/a> said. \u201cThat\u2019s the competitive greatness \u2014 to find a way in spite of some different things that maybe didn\u2019t go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford was asked this week how he managed to stay calm, not feel rattled and still take shots at clutch plays after committing turnovers in a hostile environment.<\/p>\n

His answer: Trust his preparation and live with the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world\u2019s going to have an opinion on how I played every single play of every single day \u2014 that\u2019s something I\u2019m used to,\u201d he said. \u201cAre there areas I want to be better that [reporters] don\u2019t even pick up and talk about? Absolutely. Are there the obvious ones? For sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season, starting in Week 4, Stafford put together a personal-best streak of eight games without an interception. He passed for 25 touchdowns during that stretch. In 17 games, he passed for a career-best 46 touchdowns, with eight interceptions.<\/p>\n

Stafford has endured throughout his career by never getting too high or too low. So that won\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do everything I can to put our team in the best position to succeed,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve done that sometimes this year and other times I have not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure that I do that at a more consistent clip moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford knows how to finish. The Rams quarterback gave another masterclass last Sunday when he led the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1024586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[21,7,853,10506,5820,1014,58,2444,2611,32,6,4042,29207,424,34574,189,26290,185,1287,2758,1285],"class_list":["post-1024585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-day","tag-football","tag-game","tag-improvement","tag-interception","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nfl","tag-pass","tag-ram","tag-rams","tag-rams-quarterback","tag-season","tag-sofi-stadium","tag-team","tag-touchdown","tag-way","tag-yard"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117422004928126246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}