Rich Eisen Show<\/a>, Andrew Whitworth began by explaining why he believes Matthew Stafford\u2019s latest campaign should be viewed among the strongest of his career.<\/p>\nWhitworth then addressed Stafford\u2019s perspective as the season came to an end. He also referenced the physical challenges Stafford dealt with earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had an unbelievable year. I thought it\u2019s been a really cool year to watch a guy who I think is going to be our MVP in a week\u2019s time. I just believe it.\u201c<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe season Matthew Stafford had, he without question played as an MVP and even showed it more in these playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s the reality. For him, there are a lot of things in his life that are really important. Those girls and Kelly, most importantly, their family. Right now, he\u2019s still in that stage of disappointment from everything he put into this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not forget, Rich, it wasn\u2019t just last August that he was sitting around with a back where he couldn\u2019t even get out there and practice with his team. He was disappointed and frustrated. Then he turns the corner and has an MVP season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitworth compares Stafford mindset to Wolverine<\/p>\n
Andrew Whitworth compared the emotional recovery process of elite NFL players to a well-known fictional character.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI always say this, Rich, if you were a fan of the X-Men, these guys are like Wolverine. They get injured, there\u2019s some lash out and frustration, but they heal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitworth explained how perspective often changes once the immediate disappointment fades. He added that reflection can shape offseason decisions for veteran players.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they heal and feel like that superhero again, everything\u2019s fine. Right now, they\u2019ve got some wounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of internal screaming and frustration. Then two weeks from now they\u2019ll sit on the couch and say, \u2018We were one play, fourth and four, from being in the Super Bowl. I want to do that again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t know what Matthew will decide. I think every year it\u2019s different as you get older. But I\u2019m excited to see what he does. Based on how he played this year, I think he should go back out there and give it another try.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had success in a Super Bowl already. If he gets that opportunity again, next year could be a special one for the Rams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitworth pointed to Stafford\u2019s previous championship experience as a reason for optimism. Hopefully, Stafford makes the decision that is best for his health and his family, but this is a story that is likely to have many twists and turns.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Los Angeles Rams offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth believes Matthew Stafford should return for another NFL season after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[10426,7,1014,58,2444,2611,32,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-716773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-andrew-whitworth","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-matthew-stafford","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115984691485066034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716773","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=716773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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