Matthew Stafford went from not winning a single playoff game in more than a decade with the Detroit Lions to being known for playing his best ball when the postseason rolls around for the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
In Stafford\u2019s first season in LA, he was amidst a slump over the second half of the year. He took his game to another level into the playoffs and led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory.<\/p>\n
LA\u2019s leading man has earned his reputation as a postseason gamer. However, it\u2019s been a while since we last saw him perform at a high level when the circumstances change to win or go home.<\/p>\n
Stafford\u2019s 2021 run was special<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no better way to win the hearts of fans than to bring home the Lombardi Trophy in the your first year with a new franchise. The Rams won Super Bowl LVI because of Stafford. Sure, they had a star-studded roster. They also had zero production from the running game in the postseason and watched their pass catchers drop like flies week by week, including Cooper Kupp, Odell Beckham, Jr, and Tyler Higbee.<\/p>\n
These were Stafford\u2019s passing metrics according to Pro Football Focus (PFF):<\/p>\n
TWP – turnover-worthy play<\/p>\n
ADOT – average depth of target<\/p>\n
ADJ% – adjusted completion rate (accounts for throwaways, drops, spikes, etc.)<\/p>\n
Wildcard vs Cardinals: 90.6 passing grade; 1 BTT; 1 TWP; 10.5 ADOT; 94.1 ADJ%Divisional at Buccaneers: 71.2 passing grade; 3 BTT; 1 TWP; 8.4 ADOT; 82.4 ADJ%NFC CG vs 49ers: 80.7 passing grade; 3 BTT; 1 TWP; 9.9 ADOT; 80.5 ADJ%SB vs Bengals: 80.9 passing grade; 4 BTT; 1 TWP; 9.2 ADOT; 69.2 ADJ%<\/p>\n
Playoff totals: 89.0 passing grade; 11 BTT; 4 TWP; 9.4 ADOT; 79.4 ADJ%<\/p>\n
It simply doesn\u2019t get much better than this. Not only was Stafford aggressive by throwing the ball on average longer than nine yards, but he was also extremely accurate with an ADJ% over 80 in three of four games. Stafford threw receivers open far more often than he put the ball in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
2023 – good, not good enough<\/p>\n
Wildcard at Lions: 86.1 passing grade; 4 BTT; 0 TWP; 9.5 ADOT; 78.8 ADJ%<\/p>\n
For context, this was the first year of the Rams defensive overhaul. They drafted in volume on defense and gave run to rookies despite being infamous for not usually giving run to young players. Byron Young and Kobie Turner led the youth movement in Aaron Donald\u2019s final season.<\/p>\n
But for as good as this defense was, all things considered, Jared Goff and the Lions got the best of them in the playoffs. Goff converted a high leverage fourth down to ensure Stafford didn\u2019t have a chance to win the game.<\/p>\n
2024 – the first signs of trouble<\/p>\n
The Rams opened the 2024 playoffs with a blowout of Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings. It took a total team effort to lead to this result. The defense totally rattled Darnold and set the tone for the postseason. Stafford was OK in this game although he didn\u2019t need to do much.<\/p>\n
Wildcard vs Vikings: 76.9 passing grade; 2 BTT; 0 TWP; 8.0 ADOT; 76.9 ADJ%Divisional at Eagles: 63.3 passing grade; 1 BTT; 4 TWP; 11.0 ADOT; 72.5 ADJ%<\/p>\n
Playoff totals: 70.4 passing grade; 3 BTT; 4 TWP; 9.8 ADOT; 74.2 ADJ%<\/p>\n
Rams fans have more fond memories of the snowy Eagles can than the tape reflects, because Stafford was heroic in bringing his team back and giving them a chance to win late. Still, he was also one of the reasons why LA trailed. He often put the ball in harm\u2019s way with four potential turnovers and posted the lowest accuracy rate of his Rams playoff career to date (Super Bowl aside).<\/p>\n
2025 – where is \u201cPlayoff Stafford\u201d?<\/p>\n
Wildcard at Panthers: 61.0 passing grade; 3 BTT; 3 TWP; 11.7 ADOT; 67.5 ADJ%<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been three playoff games since we\u2019ve seen Stafford perform at a high level. This flies in the face of his reputation as someone who rises to the occasion in the postseason.<\/p>\n
If the Rams are going to beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday\u2014and make good on their Super Bowl aspirations\u2014they need him to dig deeper and play like we\u2019ve grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford went from not winning a single playoff game in more than a decade with the Detroit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,83993,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-681222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams-playoffs","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115903522741920983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681222","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=681222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}