OT: Stafford Makes The Play Needed When Needed (Rams Headed to NFC Championship)
Man, so impressed. Brady doing his thingbas usual and then, when Stafford had to make a big play, he delivered a strike to Cooper Kupp. Rams win by kicking a field goal on the next play to win the game as time expires. Congrats to Matt Stafford and David Long!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:30 PM ^
For all the many things about college football that make it better than the pros, the NCAA dreams that college playoff games were consistently as competitive and exciting as the NFL playoffs (save maybe the Super Bowl itself most years).
EDIT: and the above comment was before the Bills-Chiefs turned into the most ridiculous playoff game I've seen in many, many years. Wow.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:35 PM ^
Absolutely agree.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:45 PM ^
Absolutely. It does help that the NFL basically forces parity across teams so by the time you get to the playoffs basically every team in the top 6-8 are close enough in terms of talent that the games tend to be close.
College football just isn't built to allow that type of competition at the top.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:46 PM ^
If they were serious about parity they would have either cloned Tom Brady or assassinated him. They tried the latter with deflate gate, but like the Wolverine from the movies he doesn’t go down easily.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:06 PM ^
They learned their lesson with Rollerball
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:09 PM ^
and interestingly, no one cares that the Chiefs lost to the Lions in week whatever.
January 23rd, 2022 at 10:51 PM ^
Chiefs and Lions did not play this year.
January 24th, 2022 at 9:11 AM ^
The Lions haven't beaten the Chiefs since 2011.
The Lions did lose a close game to the Chiefs in 2019, the year the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. Stafford put them up by three just before the two minute warning, but Mahomes threw a touchdown pass in the last minute.
They did beat two playoff teams this year, Green Bay (albeit with Jordan Love playing the second half) and Arizona.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:31 PM ^
Don't know what the Bucs were thinking not doubling Kupp. Stafford made the big plays when he had to. Very happy for him.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:36 PM ^
Dude, exactly. That safety shat himself when he saw Kupp running at him at full-speed!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:38 PM ^
That defensive play call was bizarre. The one thing you can’t do is give up something deep. So they call that defense, with no deep safeties?
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
Blitzed the slot corner, left Winfield Jr on an island.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:07 PM ^
Ran the Don Brown special…strange call by the D coordinator
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:17 PM ^
Bizarre defensive calls by both teams at the end of the game. Each team decided to let the other teams best WR go one on one on a go route. Neither time did it go well. Side note - so happy for Stafford.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:51 PM ^
Large difference between leaving a safety against the beat statistical receiver in the NFL and leaving Jalen Ramsey 1 on 1
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:56 PM ^
I don’t disagree, but I don’t feel like either one was overly bright.
January 24th, 2022 at 8:05 AM ^
Stafford had hit Steve Miller several times late in the game and was looking for him on the previous 3 drives. The Bucs gambled that he was still looking for Miller, and left Kupp free. That's a big mistake against pretty much every NFL QB, but against guys like Stafford and Brady it's a death sentence. You know they'll pick it up and deliver the ball without mercy. That throw was a thing a sheer beauty...
After Brady tied up the game, I thought to myself 'not surprised at all, Brady is a man'. Then I remembered that Stafford isn't very shy in the 4th qtr himself, having brought the friggen Lions back for last drive wins so many times... What a game!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:35 PM ^
That ending was outstanding. Brady looked like he was poised to move on to OT and a possible comeback win after trailing 27-3. Stafford said hold my beer and the Rams are moving on.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:40 PM ^
As someone who goes back to the days of Milt Plum and Karl Sweetan as the Lions' quarterbacks, I never understood why the fans in Detroit were so hard on Stafford. He's the best they've ever had, and they wasted him the same as they did Calvin Johnson and Barry Sanders. I'd love to see him win a championship like Justin Verlander did after leaving.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:11 PM ^
same here. I usually pull for Brady but I'd like to see Stafford get his.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:16 PM ^
I was never overly impressed by Stafford when he was in Detroit, but it's true that he became the scapegoat for the team's struggles in many Detroit fans' minds. His head coaches were Schwartz, Caldwell, and Patricia, and that's playing with a handicap that he doesn't have in LA, and that's putting it mildly—McVay is one of the best coaches in the league right now.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:57 PM ^
The day they drafted Stafford #1 overall, I said to myself they finally have a championship caliber QB (Been a Lions fan since the mid 70's....I know its a sickness...)
But to watch this franchise draft, Stafford, Suh, and Calvin Johnson and still unable to accomplish ANYTHING to me is astounding....
Living in the Detroit suburbs for all these years, I was always astounded by idiot Lions fans that tried to claim that Stafford sucked....
So happy for him to finally be on a team that is surrounded with actual talent. I am pulling for him all the way to win the Super Bowl....
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
So surrounding him with Calvin and Suh wasn't enough?
I'm not going to say Stafford sucked, but he had is opportunities when he had some talent around him and he was unable to get it done.
But yes he has more talent around him now then he ever had with the Lions.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:51 PM ^
Football is a 45 man roster.... A poor offensive line, no running game to speak of and a sieve of a back 7 defense has a way of under cutting some great players.
So yay, it takes more that a few playmakers to win a football game.....
January 24th, 2022 at 11:31 AM ^
Right. Can't "surround" a guy with one player.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:56 PM ^
He had exactly one team (2014) with a running game (Bush) and MLB (Levy), and they got hosed by the refs in Dallas.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:27 PM ^
Remember Bobby Layne? Sadly, I do.
January 23rd, 2022 at 9:54 PM ^
Like I said, a fan since mid 70's.....Eric Hipple, Jeff Kolomo, and Gary Danielson were a few of the first QB I got to watch...
January 24th, 2022 at 4:19 AM ^
The first Lions QB I remember when I first got interested in Michigan Football and the Lions was Greg Landry. I liked Danielson but he use to turn the ball over during key points of the game. I was big fan of Bubba Baker. I still remember the wide left FG Murray missed to lose to the 49ers in the playoffs.
January 24th, 2022 at 7:51 AM ^
The lions sucked stafford did not. The lions still will continue to. The ford family needs to get out of the way.
January 24th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
Couldn't be happier for Matthew and am pulling for him to win a Super Bowl. I think it's safe to say that most football fans are fickle and ignorant. This year both Harbaugh and Stafford are proving to many passionate football fans to be careful what you wish for.
January 24th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
No such thing as a "fickle" Lions fan IMO. If you're a fan of the Detroit Lions, you are anything but fickle. Ignorant is definitely on the table, but no Lions fan is fickle. Those ones left a long time ago.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:37 PM ^
As much as I and nearly all of us love Tom Brady, I'm so very happy for Matthew Stafford that he made the clutch plays and is heading back to LA with a potential shot at a Super Bowl.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:24 PM ^
I fear they will rue not knocking out the 9ers when they had the chance.
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:39 PM ^
OMG. I haven't been this excited for a player since Stevie lifted the Cup.
SF has been LA's kryptonite, but you gotta believe at this point.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:07 PM ^
OMG! It all makes sense now!
Hotel Putingrad is Kelly Stafford!!
January 23rd, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
Stafford showing the world how inept the Lions organization is.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:05 PM ^
I think the world knew already and Stafford isn’t needed to be a catalyst to show that.
Also, and I’m in no way defending the Lions, LA has a star-studded roster at almost every position. Not sure a comparison can be made between these two teams. It’s night and day, my friend. I think more than anything it shows how great of a match Stafford and the Rams are. Over the moon happy for they guy. If you’re a Lions fan, you have witnessed those 42 second drives before. Classic of a game!
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:33 PM ^
Not disagreeing that the Lions are inept. How did Stafford prove that they are though? The Rams went to the second round last year and the Super Bowl in 2019. Not like he is the difference maker. The Rams won in spite of their offense today. Donald makes the Lions more inept than Stafford.
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:01 PM ^
Hold on there..... While you can generalize the offense let them down, to be more specific, 3 crucial fumbles (Akers at the 1, Kupp in the 3rd, and Akers again to allow TB to tie it) is what allowed TB to stay and catch up in this game. Absolutely nothing to do with Stafford's performance
January 23rd, 2022 at 8:27 PM ^
Well you ignored that he lost the ball on the snap miscue. Also he was given multiple short fields and had chances to put the game away and didn’t.
January 24th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
The snap miscue was his fault?
January 24th, 2022 at 4:55 PM ^
And the missed 45 yard fg.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:05 PM ^
I guess all he needed was the elite offense, elite defense, and elite coaching staff to do it. Congrats to him!
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:13 PM ^
I bet you're a ball at parties.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:19 PM ^
I really have no rooting interest other than the Lions draft pick. We all knew Stafford was talented, but he also went to arguably the most talent team in the NFL and people acting like he's the best QB ever. Lions should have had 1 playoff win with Stafford against the Cowboys, but they didn't.
I'd give him more credit if he was doing what Burrow is currently doing in Cincy.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:12 PM ^
Every Lions fan knew that once Stafford left, the rest of the NFL world would see just how good he is. Now he will have a decent chance to win a Super Bowl and league MVPs the rest of his career. Too bad Barry and Megatron didn't have the same opportunity. I always root for Brady, but gotta say am glad Stafford pulled it out.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:13 PM ^
“Let’s have a flat footed safety 12 yards deep cover the best WR in the league. That should work well”-Todd Bowles
Stafford played great but that throw wasn’t “otherworldly” like my Facebook timeline is filled with. Most saying “Brady never could make that throw”
January 24th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
Definitely not otherworldly, but considering the moment, that was a big-time throw.
January 23rd, 2022 at 7:14 PM ^
Todd Bowles and his ridiculous blitzing package cost TB. 42 seconds with Stafford, a known choke-artist and they fucked it up.