Matthew Stafford’s 21st TD pass in Week 8 Q1 bests 2020 season

If you were waiting for LA Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to give tangible evidence that he is truly an upgrade over the previous team’s signal-caller, his Week 8 performance has already checked that box once more.  Early in the first quarter, he stepped back and fired his 20th touchdown pass for the LA Rams to running back Darrell Henderson.

That’s as good as the entire 2020 NFL season for the Rams.

The toss was a quick score for the Rams, a team that typically prefers to open games by kicking off first, and deferring receiving the football for the second half. The Texans won the toss and made the election to defer to the second half.

The LA Rams opened the scoring drive with a couple of impressive runs by running back Darrell Henderson. Then Stafford went to work. He began to find Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee.  The offense drove the ball down the football field with ease, with only one run by Henderson stuffed for no gain and two incompletions to Robert Woods as the only plays that did not produce at least five yards.

Then, Stafford threaded the needle to Robert Woods in the end zone for his 21st touchdown pass.

While scoring is incredibly impressive, perhaps equal to the number of touchdowns thrown by Stafford is the solid accuracy Stafford is showing as well. You see, Stafford has just four interceptions so far.  Even better, he has not fumbled the ball at all this year. That’s just as impressive in my opinion.

Writing an article in the midst of a football game can be quite the challenge, as the score keeps changing. With six minutes remaining, the LA Rams have stretched their lead to 17 points after they had put up a field goal and then scored another touchdown after rookie inside linebacker Ernest Jones’ first career interception.

The Rams defense is putting up a pretty solid game in the first half so far. Of course, this Houston Texans offense is not playing very well right now, so this could be a rather lopsided score by the end of the game. The Rams are on their way to winning their seventh game. Let’s hope they stay on track.