The Rams agreed to trade for quarterback Matthew Stafford on January 30, 2021 because they thought he could take them further than Jared Goff did and Stafford came through a year later.
Stafford went 31-of-45 for 337 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Rams came back from 17-7 in the third quarter for a 20-17 win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. The quarterback arrived in Los Angeles without a postseason win on his record, but he’s now rattled off three in a row and head coach Sean McVay said in his postgame press conference that Stafford has fulfilled the expectations the team had when they moved to acquire him last year.
“We went out and got him because we thought it was a chance to be able to get a great player of his magnitude,” McVay said. “Those things don’t come around often. What he’s done, he’s elevated everybody around him. He’s made me a better coach. He’s made his teammates better. He’s such a great person. I think you guys know from getting a chance to interact with him. If you don’t root for this guy, something’s wrong with you. He’s a great competitor. We’ve seen that, really, throughout the season. But I think it’s really been on display these last couple weeks. We talk about competitive greatness all the time. Being your best when your best was required. He embodied competitive greatness today. Love Matthew Stafford.”
McVay has plenty of company in Los Angeles on that front and one more win in a couple of weeks will leave the Stafford trade looking like one of the most significant offseason acquisitions in the history of the game.
