Why Matthew Stafford's injury could mean bigger problems for the LA Rams

Stafford showing signs of slowing down

Father time catches up to all of us, sooner or later. Right now, LA Rams veteran QB Matthew Stafford is the oldest quarterback to be starting in the NFL today. While Rams fans have a Super Bowl LVI victory courtesy of Matthew Stafford, the tradeoff was that the Rams got much older at the quarterback position sooner rather than later.

As soon as rumors of the availability began for Matthew Stafford, we cautioned that Stafford was simply an older and more seasoned version of Jared Goff. So far this season, Goff has completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 2,174 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. This season, Stafford has completed just 59.7 of his passes for 2,070 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.

I found this to be an interesting perspective on social media:

Matthew Stafford has a completion rate of 59.7 percent this season. He completed passes at a clip of 68.0 percent last season. So here is what my comparison by the numbers revealed after eight games:

• 2022 - W-L 3-5 | 195 of 285 | 2,087 yds | 68.4% comp. | 8 TDs | 8 INTs | 28 sacks (-199 yards)
• 2023 - W-L 3-5 | 166 of 278 | 2,070 yds | 59.7% comp. | 8 TDs | 7 INTs | 19 sacks (-145 yards)

That is not promising, but it is consistent. The LA Rams are not any better than one year ago, and if you are looking for causal relationships, I have to say that there is strong evidence that the LA Rams play at quarterback is one such factor.