Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw 41 passes on Thursday night against the Bills. It may have seemed as if he took the same number of hits. He didn’t.
His elbow emerged from the experience no worse for the wear, according to coach Sean McVay.
“I spoke to him,” McVay told reporters regarding Stafford. “It felt OK. There was a lot of things that didn’t go our way yesterday for a lot of different reasons, like I mentioned to you guys after the game. But he came out of that thing feeling good. He took obviously some shots, but the elbow felt OK.”
Stafford had a bloody left hand, and he made a perfect form tackle after an interception. He also was sacked seven times by the Bills.
McVay also said that, in his estimation, the elbow wasn’t an issue during the game.
“Matthew’s got such high standards, as we do for him and as he does of himself, that there was some plays that I’m sure he’ll want back.” McVay said. “But I think that’s how it’ll be for any quarterback when you’re at the level that he is or Josh Allen. So there’s things that I expect us to be able to play better collectively, starting with me and then overall execution-wise. But I thought as far as just the overall [throwing] motion, I didn’t necessarily think that was affected. I thought maybe just some of the spots where he is getting moved or getting hit, not being able to finish his motion as a result of just some of the pressure, or different things that are pushing him off his spot, might have affected some of the overall accuracy snap in and snap out. But as far as just the mechanics from an elbow perspective, I didn’t sense that was any sort of issue.”
That’s good news for the Rams. But it’s hard to imagine him holding it together if he keeps getting battered as he did on Thursday night. The next text arrives in eight days, when the Falcons come to town.