Simms talks LA Rams QB: “This will be the year of Matthew Stafford”

“Incredible, incredible talent.”? “Still one of the most game-changing arms in football”? Is this a Tom Brady Article? Maybe it’s a Patrick Mahomes wish-he-was-my-quarterback article? No. This is the LA Rams website Ramblin Fan. And the quarterback in question is Matthew Stafford. These are direct quotes from NBC Sports NFL Analyst Chris Simms.

You see, the promotion of LA Rams’ new quarterback Matthew Stafford is on full throttle right now. It’s not just to sell Matthew Stafford merchandise, but also to sell tickets at stadiums across the NFL by fans hoping to see him fall when he travels to their town. He’ll lose a game or two, that’s almost a certainty.

The latest to board the Stafford will do well express is NBC Sports NFL Analyst Chris Simms. Will do well rather than hype because Simms has Stafford listed as the eighth-best quarterback in the NFL. He has him behind Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray. Yes, that’s right. I’m not certain how the quarterback ranking came about, nor what the criteria. But we did get a video to clear things ups.

Chris Simms’ Top 40 QB list

It began with Chris Simms annual Top-40 quarterback list

The NFL has a few good quarterbacks poised to take over.  Matthew Stafford is a waning pocket-passer presence, a player who has been very good at making things happen, but incredibly ineffective at pulling together a winning team. He’s a throw-back to cannon-armed throwers. A quarterback who was taught early how to win games on the strength of his arm, the accuracy of his pass, and his ability to see the field and process everything instantly. They don’t make them like that anymore.

Simms’s video is a testimonial about a far better quarter than his current ranking.  After watching the video, they tout the fact that Matthew Stafford is 16th on the NFL All-Time passing list, and could approach 11th on the list with a ho-hum average season performance of 4200 yards.

He is better than expected

Coaches who finally had reason to check out Matthew Stafford were more than impressed during the period of his presence on the NFL trading block. Simms believes that the LA Rams trade for Stafford was far more beneficial than the trade of the San Francisco 49ers for Trey Lance.

Of course, don’t believe any walk-on-water projections for Stafford. But the guy has put up some dandy seasons in the past, and the LA Rams have a more complete team than any he has played on before. One critical component of improvement for the LA Rams runs across two simple components. First, Stafford has to cut down on the LA Rams turnovers. Former quarterback Jared Goff averaged 15 interceptions and 9 fumbles per season over the past two years. In stark contrast, Stafford has averaged 8 interceptions and four fumbles per season. That’s half.

The Rams’ second criteria is to benefit from a quarterback who can process the field quickly and get the ball to the open receiver, no matter how far downfield that receiver may be. In recent years, the offense has watched in horror as the field shrank as the Rams pulled receivers in closer to the quarterback to ensure a completion. Unfortunately, the strategy was only modestly successful.

This is a pretty good video to watch. It does a good job of portraying a realistic representation of what Matthew Stafford will mean to the LA Rams.