The criteria for how we view quarterbacks doesn’t apply to Matthew Stafford. There’s a consensus understanding that he’s an all-time great, but he’s rarely been talked about as the best at his position throughout his 17-year career.
Right now, however, Stafford is the MVP of the league. It’s his trophy to lose, and one that he may need for his case to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but more on that later. Stafford continued his historic pace of pushing and protecting the football during the Rams’ dominant 34–7 win over the Buccaneers, which put Los Angeles (9–2) in position for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Stafford is the best quarterback on the best team through 12 weeks. He’s thrown 27 consecutive touchdowns without an interception, the longest streak by any player since at least 1978. Still, Stafford would get picked fourth or fifth on most quarterback rankings, behind Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Maybe some pundits would take Stafford over the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, who has struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons. But others would vouch for Justin Herbert because of his skill set and say it’s not his fault that he’s had poor surroundings with the Chargers. (Sounds similar to how football pundits talked about a young quarterback in Detroit more than a decade ago.)
Stafford doesn’t get the same praise as the quarterbacks above because he’s 37, and it’s become a tradition for draft experts to have the Rams take a quarterback in the first round of their respective mock drafts. When Stafford was a young gunslinger with all the talent in the world, he was often left out of the top five for quarterback rankings because his team was a perennial loser, with the Lions making the playoffs in only three of their 12 seasons with Stafford—going 0-for-3 in the postseason. Stafford often had enough respect to land somewhere in the top 12, but his status dropped lower with each wasted season in Detroit.
Stafford overcomes back injury
It seems like ages ago when Stafford couldn’t practice this summer because of a bad back. The panic alarms went off when Stafford didn’t return to practice as expected and instead went to some fancy, high-tech chamber to help heal his back. It’s now clear the Rams and Stafford just had a unique summer plan to help their veteran quarterback be at his best for when it mattered most. Whatever it was worked because Stafford is having a career year and has a strong chance to capture his first MVP. The offseason plan has been so effective that it has led to Stafford being elite on a weekly basis. Fellow MVP candidates Jonathan Taylor, Drake Maye and Josh Allen had rough outings in Week 12. Stafford had another three touchdown passes against the Buccaneers, the fourth time he’s thrown at least that many in his past five games. He also hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 3 against the Eagles.
Finally, Stafford is getting credit for being the best at his position, even if it’s only for one season. Again, the discussions are always different when Stafford is involved, so it likely won’t hurt his Hall of Fame credentials that he was never talked about in the same light as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Mahomes.
However, it must be sweet having a career season three years away from 40, especially because the discussion of retirement has followed Stafford the past few years and all he’s done is deliver four standout seasons since arriving in Los Angeles in 2021. It got louder when Stafford dealt with an elbow injury the summer after winning the Super Bowl, playing in only nine games in ’22 because of concussions and a spinal cord contusion injury.
The MVP award would be a testament to his longevity despite all the hits he took during his Detroit years. It would also solidify his case for being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. And, yes, this should be about the Rams’ quest to win a second Super Bowl with Stafford, another trophy that would make Stafford a lock to be enshrined into Canton on his first try.
Still, having an MVP to his name will end any potential debate about whether he should be regarded as the best across multiple eras. The prestigious award will make voters forget that Stafford has never been named an All-Pro and that he’s somehow only been selected to the Pro Bowl twice in his decorated career.
Maybe the individual awards won’t matter because of the respect Stafford has created for himself. Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger needed multiple Super Bowls to gain Hall of Fame chatter. Roethlisberger had the stats, but he also never made an All-Pro team. He has a shot of being a first-ballot Hall of Famer because of his hardware. As for Stafford, he could still get in on his first try with only one Super Bowl and no MVP.
But there’s an opportunity for Stafford and the Rams to have it all. Everything is right there for the taking in after he was rarely within reach of top-tier prestige during a dozen years with the Lions.
Stafford has gotten better with age. It’s time for the Rams to crank up the MVP campaign because Stafford deserves it all.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Matthew Stafford’s MVP-Level Play Has Implications Beyond This Season.
