We are a week into the NFL's preparation phase before games will be played. It's been an incredibly long offseason and preseason football is nearly here. With that, comes a veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is going through his first training camp with the Los Angeles Rams. With a new, exciting offense under his command, the anticipation is quite a huge storyline this NFL season. However with that anticipation, undoubtedly comes high expectations.
Leading up to this moment, Stafford's career with the Detroit Lions has left an aura of doubt shrouded around him. The pure incompetence of the Detroit Lions organization has at least given him the title of Underrated Gunslinger. This being said, the 12 year QB has a lot to prove this year playing alongside a talented WR group he has otherwise rarely had (I won't mention previous WR talent he has played with *ahem*, Calvin Johnson); as well as an offensive minded head coach in Sean McVay that quite literally will build this group up around Stafford to cement his success. Though he has lost out on second-year stud running back Cam Akers, Stafford should still be a field general for this offense in 2021. To date, he has 45,109 passing yards- which leaves him standing at 16th in NFL history behind Vinny Testaverde and Carson Palmer. Both of whom will almost certainly be passed up by Stafford this season. Has almost a 2:1 touchdowns to interceptions ratio, 282 to 144, and also a career completion percentage of 62.6%. With numbers like these, it's hard to see anything but success with the path the Rams have laid out for the QB and just the team in totality.
Unfortunately, those outstanding statistics have met Stafford with several injuries over the past decade. Being injury prone does leave a cause for concern on how useful he will be this season, as he has already suffered an injured thumb in camp on August 3rd, by hitting his hand on a helmet. This is exactly how Jared Goff's inconsistent season was stifled this past year in 2020- leaving Rams fans reliving bad memories and fears of an impending surgery. Looming is the Sunday Night Football matchup against the Chicago Bears on September 12th, and the last thing needed is the same fate Goff was met with. Stafford has show his grit his whole career though, and thankfully the X-ray results revealed just mere bruising. If it were more than just bruising, it would still be surprising if Stafford let a thumb injury stop him. It is that very valor and toughness that had him refusing to come out of a game in the fourth quarter after dislocating his shoulder against the Cleveland Browns in 2009, just to toss the game winning pass on the goal line. This is the necessary mindset the Rams will need to stay a force in the NFC.
Needless to say, McVay and Rams have their guy. Stafford looks competent in practice, as can be seen in a clip floating around of him tossing a no look pass to running back Darrell Henderson Jr.but practice is just that: practice. As professionals, you are expected to make plays in practice and always showing improvement; and as a professional in the NFL, you show up on sundays and all of a sudden the speculation does not matter- it is what you leave on tn the field on Sundays that will speak for itself. No one pays mind to the beautiful fade pass thrown to a receiver on a Tuesday- it must be followed up and exemplified on gameday. Although with Stafford at the helm for the Los Angeles Rams, it is hard to be convinced our Sundays will be disappointing.
Comments
Post a Comment