THOUSAND OAKS — It used to be that when Matthew Stafford played a game in Dallas, the city paused to take notice. As he led Highland Park High to a state championship as a senior, he drew crowds atypical for even Texas high school football, and columnists who usually spent their weekends in Arlington with the Cowboys instead made their way to the suburbs to watch the five-star quarterback with the arm.
The quarterback with the arm is back in his hometown this weekend, now the Rams’ captain as they prepare to take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Even now, 18 years after he left Dallas-Fort Worth, first for Georgia and then the NFL, Stafford continues to evolve.
But when he first arrived in Detroit as the No. 1 overall pick taken by the Lions in 2009, it was that arm that everyone was talking about.
“My first impression was the way the ball spun off his hand. Just the velocity he was able to throw,” said Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who at the time led the Lions’ divisional rivals, the Green Bay Packers. “You see a quarterback throw in a dome, it’s always the best environment for those guys to throw the ball. But then you watch him throw the ball in Lambeau Field in December, you have a different opinion of him.”
Through Stafford’s first two seasons, it wasn’t clear if that arm was going to translate to the league. Stafford played a total of only 13 games those years due to injuries, but he threw 19 touchdowns to 21 interceptions.
Finally healthy in 2011, Stafford was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year after he became the fourth quarterback in history to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season.
That was also the first year that Stafford played the Cowboys in Dallas-Fort Worth. After growing up a fan of the 1990s dynasty, watching Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin light the city up alongside his childhood friends, Stafford was back in his hometown.
“I think a lot of nerves at that point probably in my career,” Stafford recalled. “It was fun to be back home for the first time playing in front of people, really for the first time in a long time. I left when I was 17 and went to college and never really made it back to the state to play. I was in the league for a few years and was able to go back and play there.”
With the help of two interceptions returned for touchdowns by the Detroit defense, Stafford turned a 27-3 third-quarter deficit into a 34-30 win with two touchdown throws to Calvin Johnson. (This reporter happened to be in attendance in that day, and the speed with which the sound was sucked out of AT&T Stadium was remarkable.)
Since then, Stafford has gone to a Pro Bowl, set a couple of NFL records and, most notably, won a Super Bowl after being traded to the Rams in 2021. Now in his 15th season, Stafford has continued to push himself, using his knowledge of the league’s coordinators, schemes and players to streamline his process.
“I think the best are always evolving and no matter how long your experience is, just figuring out ways to be able to add to your arsenal and elevate those around you,” head coach Sean McVay said of Stafford. “He’s bringing guys with him. He’s helping pick up the acceleration in the learning process for some of these skill players that he’s playing with.”
And the Rams defense, too, as coordinator Raheem Morris has credited the unit’s surprisingly stalwart play to working against a healthy Stafford in training camp after he was limited the year prior.
“You gotta have a lot of credit to Matthew Stafford for bouncing back from injury and really taking this team to another level by leading from an example of execution from both sides,” Morris said. “Because there were some days in training camp where we couldn’t cover Matthew Stafford. And then there were other days where I felt really confident that we had a good day.”
Now as Stafford returns to Dallas once more, some of the novelty has worn off. He calls it just another game, even as his family and friends gather to see him once more against the Cowboys.
But even half a lifetime removed from when left the city, it still holds significance.
“When people ask me where I’m from, I was born in Florida, but I tell them I’m from Dallas, Texas,” Stafford said. “It’s always fun going back there, but once the ball’s snapped and we’re playing ball, it’s go out there and try to beat the Cowboys and have fun playing in that environment.”
RAMS (3-4) at COWBOYS (4-2)
When: 10 a.m. Sunday
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 387, 228