Pride of Detroit
One month of football remains for the majority of the league, but for those teams good enough—or lucky enough to play in an uncompetitive division—there’s a chance to continue their 2025 season beyond the Gregorian calendar.
This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Evan Craig from Turf Show Times, to give us some insight into what many consider to be the cream of the NFC’s crop. We learned about how Matthew Stafford is playing the best football of his career at age 37, an under-the-radar signing at linebacker that’s propelled the Rams’ defense to new heights, and why Craig thinks the team who has the ball last will win this high-stakes matchup.
Matthew Stafford is having one of his best seasons from a statistical standpoint: 35 passing touchdowns to just four interceptions. Do you feel like Stafford, at age 37, is playing his best football since arriving in Los Angeles, and if so, what about his game is leading him to having such a successful season? Do you think he deserves to be the favorite for the league’s MVP award?
Matthew Stafford is easily playing the best football of his career, and it’s not even remotely close. In his first season with the Rams, he won a Super Bowl and all, and even tied a career-high with 41 touchdown passes, yet he also tied Trevor Lawrence for the most interceptions in the league at 17. He was really good that season, but not as great as he has been this season. In his other three seasons following that title run, he put up solid stats but nothing particularly game-changing. During that span, he did enough to win games for them; he just didn’t take over games as he has been doing this year.
The reason Stafford’s playing the best football of his career is that he and Sean McVay finally seem to be in sync, meaning the offense has a better flow to it than it has ever had during his tenure. McVay finally having a quarterback that he can fully trust (sorry, Jared Goff) means that he can call any play from his playbook and knows his quarterback can execute it. Stafford has simply been playing smarter football as well. Aside from the three-turnover outing in Carolina, he had an eight-game interception-less streak and even set an NFL record by throwing 28 touchdowns between interceptions. Having guys like Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to throw to every week also helps, given that those guys have an excellent nose for the ball and can make adjustments on the fly.
*For a while, I had considered Stafford in a two-man race with Jonathan Taylor. Now that the Colts are free-falling and lost Daniel Jones for the season, he’s out of contention. So, MVP is likely coming down to the Rams QB and Drake Maye. I’d give Stafford the nod here only because, fair or not, the Rams have played a tougher schedule compared to the Patriots. That is not...
