LA Rams QB Matthew Stafford is good at fourth quarter heroics

Stafford gives his all until regulation time expires

The LA Rams have won five consecutive games so far. But if you take a look at the games, you’ll find that the heroes during the winning streak were a wide-ranging group of players who have not necessarily been in that spotlight before. But in each victory, particularly in the past two games, there was a wizard who stood behind the curtain.

That wizard is LA Rams starting quarterback Matthew Stafford. While he has certainly been the player whose decisions have contributed to the adversity, he didn’t curl up into a fetal position and surrender. On the contrary, he has shown that he has remarkable resistance. He keeps fighting. And yet, the LA Rams have done a masterful job of helping Stafford out.  Just check out these statistics.

Statistical Stafford at his all-time best

After 16 games, Matthew Stafford has thrown for 4,648 yards (fourth-highest in his career), 38 touchdowns (second-highest in his career), and 15 interceptions (fifth-highest in his career). But Stafford has only attempted 569 passes (seventh-highest in his career) and completed 383 passes (fifth-highest in his career) for a completion rate of 67.3 percent (the highest ever in his career).  And he has led the LA Rams to a 12-4 record, the most wins in his career.

The Rams are simply not a ‘play it safe.,’ type of football team. They just aren’t. Taking risks is a part of the organization’s DNA, and will be for the foreseeable future. This is a team that trades away first-round picks from future drafts to acquire game-changing veteran talent today. While that strategy has not helped the LA Rams win a Super Bowl yet, they’ve remained successful, relevant, and in the hunt each year. Now that this team has infused that same gambler mentality at the helm of the offense, we’ll see how effective it all is.