He’s 36 and doing commercials with his wife for Sleep Number smart beds. It does not mean Matt Stafford, a borderline Hall of Famer, is still not a threat to snap the Eagles’ six-game winning streak at SoFi Stadium before a national TV audience Sunday night.
The Los Angeles Rams’ record may say 5-5. That does not seem to be Stafford’s fault. He is No. 7 in the NFL in passing, throwing for 2,557 yards in completing 232 of 349 (66.5%) and averaging 255.7 yards passing a game, which is No. 6 in the NFL. As a team, the Rams are a middling No. 17 in the NFL, ranking No. 29 in rushing offense (954/ 95.4 yds per game), which makes them highly reliant on Stafford.
Eagles’ offensive coordinator Kellen Moore played with Stafford from 2012-14 in Detroit. Moore was Stafford’s understudy, working with him closely in game preparation and watching the 2009 No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia develop into one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks.
Moore has a great appreciation for what the Eagles will face this Sunday.
“Matthew is one of the premier quarterbacks in this league,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to be around him for a few years in Detroit. I think what I always learned so much from him when I was in the room with him was just how much work went into it during the week. Matthew’s preparation is very rare. The work he puts into it. The amount of film he watches.
“I think he’s got an excellent, excellent feel for the game. His ability to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage and kind of control the whole operation is very rare and so certainly I learned a lot being around him for those first couple of years.”
Presently, the Eagles’ defense is No. 1 in the NFL, giving up a league-low 273.1 yards a game, and a league-low for the season (2,731). During the Eagles’ six-game winning streak, they are giving up a league-low 13.8 points a game, which is why they are ranked No. 6 in the NFL in points-allowed per game (17.9). The Eagles have also faced a depleted Deshaun Watson, the benched Daniel Jones, and backup Cooper Rush. None of them comes close to Stafford. The Eagles have beaten the Rams, who have been outscored by 50 points in the first quarter this season (63-13), three of the last four times they have met. But both teams have had monumental struggles in the first quarter. The Eagles were the last NFL team to score in the first quarter this season, taking them seven games. The Eagles have been outscored 40-14 in the opening quarter. The Rams have been shutout in seven of their 10 games in the first quarter, and the Eagles have been shutout in an NFL-high eight games in the opening quarter. The Rams, however, have given up 14 points three times in the first quarter this season.
Last week, the Eagles were able to disguise their looks against Washington rookie sensation Jayden Daniels, laying back and forcing him to throw. This week, it may be about coming after Stafford, making him uncomfortable by forcing him off the spots he likes to throw in the pocket and where he likes to throw.
