INGLEWOOD — Back in August, Matthew Stafford wasn’t thinking about how many touchdown passes he wanted to throw, or how many yards. After missing multiple weeks of training camp with an aggravated disc in his back, stats were the furthest thing from his mind.
“Make it to Week 1,” Stafford said Sunday evening as his regular season officially came to a close. “I was just hoping I did that, so we got there and we just held on for dear life.”
After all that uncertainty, Stafford’s four-touchdown, 259-yard performance in the Rams’ 37-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon put the finishing touches on one of the finest seasons in his 17-year career.
His 46 touchdown passes mark a career high and lead the NFL this season. His 4,707 passing yards are also a career high. He did it while completing 65% of passes and throwing eight interceptions, matching his career low for a season in which he did not get injured.
Through it all, he continued to rise through the NFL record books. On Sunday alone, he surpassed Dan Marino for the sixth-most career passing TDs with 423 and passed Matt Ryan for sixth-most career completions (5,562). He also passed Tom Brady for the second-most passing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback age 37 or older. He also became the third player in NFL history with multiple touchdown passes in 15 games in a single season, joining Marino and Peyton Manning.
Whether or not that will be enough to sway MVP voters as the Rams (12-5) finished the season with two losses in three games remains to be seen. But Stafford stands by what he put on tape this year, however the vote goes.
“I don’t know if it was today or the whole year, I’m just trying to do as best I can, man. I’m trying to play the game the way I know how to play it,” Stafford said. “I felt like I had a nice season and really just proud of our team. This is an award that is earned by everybody. You can’t just go out there and have a great statistical year and not win any games or do any of that kind of stuff.”
All year, Rams players and coaches have talked about how Stafford has elevated the team when it needed him most, and Sunday was another example.
With the Rams trailing by three with 3:51 to play in the third quarter, Stafford led the Rams on three consecutive touchdown drives. On those drives, Stafford went 10 for 12 for 122 yards while completing three passes for 20 yards or longer. And each drive ended with a passing touchdown, once to Tyler Higbee and twice to Colby Parkinson.
“I think Matthew is the MVP of the league; he played that way,” head coach Sean McVay said. “Got a lot of respect for a bunch of people in this league, but there’s nobody I’d rather have being the quarterback for the L.A. Rams than Matthew Stafford. His play speaks for itself.”