Matthew Stafford came into the 2023 season with 79 career fumbles. He fumbled it at least twice in each of his first 14 seasons in the NFL, with career-highs of 12 in 2013 and 2017.
Fumbles don’t get as much attention as interceptions do for quarterbacks, but they can be just as costly as picks.
Incredibly, Stafford went the entire 2023 regular season without fumbling a single time. Of the 32 quarterbacks who started at least eight games, Stafford was the only one who didn’t fumble.
And we’re not talking about lost fumbles. This is just fumbling it at all, even if they were recovered by the offense. Stafford didn’t fumble it once all season.
The other 31 quarterbacks with at least eight starts fumbled it multiple times each. Josh Dobbs led the NFL with 14 fumbles, to put Stafford’s accomplishment into perspective.
Historically, this was a rare feat by the veteran quarterback. Going back to 1950, only six other quarterbacks with at least 10 starts have gone the entire season without a fumble. Only two of those players started at least 12 games: Stafford and Daryle Lamonica in 1970.
| Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Fmb | Att | GS | Season | Age | Team | G | GS | Cmp | Att | Inc | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int |
| 1 | Matthew Stafford | 0 | 521 | 15 | 2023 | 35 | LAR | 15 | 15 | 326 | 521 | 195 | 62.6 | 3965 | 24 | 11 |
| 2 | Drew Brees | 0 | 378 | 11 | 2019 | 40 | NOR | 11 | 11 | 281 | 378 | 97 | 74.3 | 2979 | 27 | 4 |
| 3 | Joey Harrington | 0 | 348 | 10 | 2007 | 29 | ATL | 12 | 10 | 215 | 348 | 133 | 61.8 | 2215 | 7 | 8 |
| 4 | Daryle Lamonica | 0 | 356 | 14 | 1970 | 29 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 179 | 356 | 177 | 50.3 | 2516 | 22 | 15 |
| 5 | Tom Flores | 0 | 269 | 11 | 1965 | 28 | OAK | 14 | 11 | 122 | 269 | 147 | 45.4 | 1593 | 14 | 11 |
| 6 | Y.A. Tittle | 0 | 285 | 10 | 1961 | 35 | NYG | 13 | 10 | 163 | 285 | 122 | 57.2 | 2272 | 17 | 12 |
| 7 | Y.A. Tittle | 0 | 279 | 11 | 1957 | 31 | SFO | 12 | 11 | 176 | 279 | 103 | 63.1 | 2157 | 13 | 15 |
The last player to start at least 10 games and have no fumbles was Drew Brees in 2019. Before that, it was Joey Harrington in 2007. From 1971-2006, not a single quarterback started at least 10 games and had zero fumbles.
The only quarterback to accomplish this twice was Y.A. Tittle in 1957 and 1961, however, Stafford’s 15 starts are the most of any quarterback to go the entire season without fumbling it, so that puts him in a class of his own.
Stafford took great care of the football all year and hopefully that’ll continue into the playoffs when ball security will be essential.
