Matthew Stafford has enjoyed some incredible playoff success with the Los Angeles Rams, currently holding a 7-3 record in the postseason since being traded away from the Detroit Lions. However, he didn’t always have that kind of postseason moxie. In Detroit, he went winless, 0-3, in playoff appearances.
In a recent podcast appearance with Chris Long of the “Green Light Podcast,” Stafford talked about how he puts some of those losses on himself and has used them as learning experiences to move his career forward.
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He talked specifically about his first playoff game against the New Orleans Saints in 2011. The Lions actually took a 14-10 lead into halftime of that game. But once Drew Brees got going in the second half, Stafford said he felt the pressure to go toe-to-toe with the future Hall of Famer and threw two critical second-half interceptions
“That was all learning experiences, things that I’ve taken from,” Stafford said. “We started that game great. And I felt like at a certain point, I probably had to keep up with Drew and I think I threw one or two second-half picks trying to get us back in the game. If I just don’t do those, maybe—trust the other side of the ball, trust the defense, whatever it is—maybe we keep ourselves in the game longer and I can do something really great late.
Stafford credits those learning experiences for the success he’s found now in the playoffs. But one moment he did not find success was when he faced his former team in the 2023 playoffs. Unprompted, he felt the need to talk about the environment at Ford Field that night.
“When I went back to Detroit and they hosted their first playoff game in however many years, that was electric,” Stafford said. “I mean, we ran out for pre-pre-warmups and there wasn’t a seat in the house. People were just booin’ the hell out of me and screaming, but it was a fun place to play.”
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It’s a long-ranging conversation, including Stafford talking about how he’s believes NFL -rule changes have helped elongate his career. The most satisfying moment of the podcast was when Stafford revealed his best throw ever, which also happens to be my favorite throw of his Lions career.
So if you’re still a Stafford fan, it’s definitely worth your time:
