Matthew Stafford, the NFL’s most underrated QB, is out to prove himself every day

The year was 2011, and Matthew Stafford was closing out his third season as quarterback for the Detroit Lions. He was attending a college bowl game at Ford Field when his phone rang. Team president Tom Lewand was on the other end.

Pro Bowl rosters were about to be announced, and Lewand wanted to give his young star advance notice that he wasn’t making the NFC team.

At first, Stafford thought he was being pranked. After all, he was well on his way to finishing the year as one of only two players to pass for more than 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns that season, and the Lions were headed to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.

But Lewand was serious.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

It was at that moment that Stafford realized that his best might never be good enough in the eyes of some. Thirteen years later, I would argue that nothing has changed, which is why I see Stafford as the most underrated and underrated quarterback of the past two decades.

When people talk about the best active signal callers, they rightfully place Patrick Mahomes on a perch by himself. The platform below typically includes Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Stafford often feels like an afterthought if he makes the cut at all, which is as crazy as it is central to his career narrative.

Despite ranking in the top 10 all-time in passing yards, touchdown passes and fourth-quarter comebacks, and despite winning a Super Bowl several years ago in his first season with the Los Angeles Rams, Stafford has , the first pick in the 2009 draft, has never been named an All-Pro and has appeared in only two Pro Bowls.

I bring this up now because I’m not sure people realize how big of an impact he’s had on the Rams this season, especially during their current three-game winning streak. It’s not so much about what he does, but when he does it often comes late in games after the offense has sputtered for two-plus quarters.

Against the Vikings two weeks ago, he threw two second-half touchdown passes to Demarcus Robinson, one late in the third quarter, the other with 6:17 left in regulation, to keep Minnesota at bay. And last week in Seattle, his 39-yard score to Robinson was the game-winner in overtime.

MATTHEW STAFFORD TO DEMARCUS ROBINSON ONE-HANDED TD TO WIN THE GAME FOR IT @RAMSNFL! pic.twitter.com/xqFG6xQ4eS

— NFL (@NFL) November 4, 2024

His relentless pursuit of improvement is infectious, as is his fearlessness in subsequent moments. He has the rare ability to make others believe in situations where they might otherwise have doubts.

Admittedly, I was a skeptic when the Rams traded for him in 2021. Is he really that much of an upgrade over Jared Goff, I wondered. Goff is six years younger and had helped Los Angeles reach the Super Bowl several years earlier. Stafford had three playoff appearances in 12 seasons with Detroit, each ending in a first-round loss.

My skepticism was perhaps unjustified, but it could be explained. Like many, I didn’t watch many Lions games when Stafford was there. There was nothing compelling about the franchise after Barry Sanders’ retirement. The only memorable moment was in 2008 when they became the first team to finish a season 0-16.

Stafford’s arrival in Detroit the following year did little to move the needle. The Lions went 8-24 in his first two seasons, leaving them well beyond relevance. That partly explains why he was marginalized in the 2011 Pro Bowl voting despite throwing for more touchdowns than Tom Brady and passing for more yards than Aaron Rodgers.

“I wrapped my head around it and said, ‘If I didn’t make it, that’s just the way it is, and that’s OK. I’m just not going to do a lot of these things,'” Stafford reflected Friday ​​afternoon. “At certain times I feel (undervalued), at other times I don’t. But I certainly don’t sit here week in and week out. My wife and family probably think about it more than I do do. I’m out here every day just trying to prove myself. In this league, you have to keep trying. It doesn’t matter what success you’ve had in the past, if you don’t try to improve yourself every time step on the grass, you’re probably not in the right place.”

Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris spent the previous three years as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, where he got an up-close look at Stafford. He thought the former Georgia star was an elite talent before that, but he knew that after observing him daily.

“When we got him in the building in LA, I found out how smart he was, how intelligent he was, how much he took to the game, how much he studied the game and how well he communicated with everyone from coaches to players. to the staff,” Morris told me last week. “I got to see how special he was with his guys. It was just different. He brings a certain kind of relaxation to the players he plays with, and he can play with pretty much anyone, whether you’re a rookie or a veteran. It’s unique because there are quarterbacks that need their guys, they need their people. With Matthew, it doesn’t matter. Whoever you put him out there with, he’s going to make them a better football player.”

The ability to lift the performance of others is the essence of athletic greatness, but the meaning can be lost in translation if not accompanied by victories. That’s why it was so easy to underestimate Stafford in Detroit. But ask yourself this: What did those Lions teams want have looked without him?

According to Pro Football Reference, 32 of Stafford’s 74 wins with Detroit required a comeback in the fourth quarter or overtime. On two occasions, he led the league in that category, including in 2016, when his eight late-game tackles set a league record that was unmatched until two years ago, when Kirk Cousins ​​and the Vikings tied it.

The crazy thing is that the specialness of Stafford hasn’t been lost solely on casual fans or uneducated media (show of hands). The Lions also needed a reality check in 2014 after his fifth season.

They had just hired Jim Caldwell as head coach, and not long after, a senior team official asked if it was time to trade Stafford. The proposal did not sit well with Caldwell, said a source familiar with the discussion. Caldwell had accepted the job in part because of Stafford, in whom he saw the traits necessary for success at the position: intelligence, toughness, fearlessness, arm strength, touch, ability to make every throw from multiple platforms, and perhaps most importantly, unselfishness .

Caldwell reasoned the team could do more if Stafford did less — the Lions had made just one postseason appearance in the previous 14 years — so the veteran coach preached offensive balance.

The result: After attempting 634 or more passes in each of the three seasons before Caldwell, Stafford landed below that mark in each of the next four years, finishing under 600 in three of them. He also went from averaging 17 interceptions in the three seasons before Caldwell to 11 in the next four.

The changes helped the Lions post three winning seasons and two playoff appearances in four years. The last time they had managed consecutive winning seasons was 1993-95. When outsiders used to criticize Stafford in Detroit, Caldwell would caution that Stafford wasn’t the problem. He just needed a little help from his friends that he has made in Los Angeles.

“When you watch him play the game — and you have to defend him when you think back to the Detroit days — you were always afraid of the Lions because of him,” Morris said. “Every game he played in, he gave his team a chance to win. He can make every throw, he’s mobile enough to get away from people, he keeps the game alive, he has a unique toughness that separates him from everybody. In my opinion, he was closer to Aaron Rodgers than we gave him credit for every single year because he made all the off-platform throws, all the no-look throws, all the things Aaron did. He was exactly the same, except he did it in Detroit and didn’t get as many wins.”

The Rams (4-4) appear primed for a run with their next four games against Miami, New England, Philadelphia and New Orleans. More wins will bring more eyes, which means more opportunities to see Stafford’s special character. Not that he is concerned about the opinions of outsiders. He wants the respect of those he plays with and against, as well as those who have gone before him and will follow him.

Stafford turns 37 in a few months, which means he’s closer to the finish line than the starting line. Whether he will finish his career in Los Angeles is a matter of conjecture, as our Jourdan Rodrigue recently outlined. I asked him how long he wanted to play.

“I don’t know,” he said kindly. “It depends on how long they want me here. But I’m enjoying playing and trying to lead this young group. It’s a lot of fun.”

I can’t imagine Stafford playing for anyone else. Then again, I never imagined him being left off the 2011 Pro Bowl roster.

(Top photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)