The hype around Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is real. And while he is still looking up in the MVP race, he is also drawing strong endorsements due to his performance so far this season.
Stafford has received praise from teammates like Quentin Lake and Rams head coach Sean McVay.
In another strong endorsement, legendary head coach Bill Belichick has weighed in.
Bill Belichick Impressed With Rams QB Matthew Stafford
GettyMatthew Stafford #9 of the Los Angeles Rams avoids a tackle against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Belichick, now the head coach at North Carolina, spent nearly 40 years in the NFL, 20 of those with Tom Brady at least on his New England Patriots, if not helming the team. Belichick sees a lot of similarities between late-stage Brady with the Patriots and the current version of Stafford.
The iconic head coach and six-time Super Bowl champion said what Stafford has done this season is “really impressive” and that the Rams QB is “reminiscent” of Brady.
According to Belichick, Stafford “just keeps getting better, and better, and better.”
“I remember when we practiced against him and played him several years ago. And you could kind of tell, he knows he’s getting up there a little bit and maybe not quite the same athletically, and so forth, as he was when he was in his early 20s. But he’s gotten smarter. He understands more. He knows how to use his weapons, maybe just a split second quicker, and he’s a little harder to fool,” Belichick told Gray on “Let’s Go!” on November 3.
“Something you might have got him with a couple of years ago, you’re not going to get in with now, and which is true of a lot of players, you know, as players decline a little bit in the NFL in their physical skills. Their anticipation, their intelligence, their experience offsets a little bit of that, maybe physical decline.”
Stafford enters Week 10 leading the NFL in passing touchdowns with 21, and his 2,147 yards rank sixth. Stafford also has the third-best interception rate, and has at least 59 more pass attempts than the two players ahead of him, Justin Fields and Jalen Hurts.
Former Teammate Praises Matthew Stafford
GettyMatthew Stafford #9 of the Los Angeles Rams reacts against the New Orleans Saints.
Stafford is in his fifth season with the Rams, who acquired him in a trade from the Detroit Lions in 2021. He led them to a Super Bowl that season, debunking years of talking points that he could not lead a team to such a win.
However, former teammate and Lions QB Dan Orlovsky, now an analyst for ESPN, says Stafford had the tools then.
He just needed to mature into them, and he has.
“What he’s doing right now is absolutely fantastic. I remember the offseason, people were saying the Rams should trade him and start anew. What a crazy thing to say. Oh my gosh, we should be concerned about the back. What a crazy thing to say. I think this is clearly one of the best teams in football. It’s one of the best pass games in football. I think the thing that stands out to me – and, obviously, I have a little bit of a past with him – I have such a great appreciation for Matthew,” Orlovsky said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on November 3.
“When I was with Matthew 10, 12 years ago, he was still such a talented thrower of the football, but mechanically a little bit inconsistent. He has worked so hard to become repetitive, and repetitive, and repetitive. And so, he’s merged this really natural talent, throwing a football, with this maniacal obsession with being mechanically sound.”
Orlovsky praised the Rams’ passing game as a whole, which is schemed up by McVay, as well as their plethora of pass catchers, headlined by Davante Adams and Puka Nacua.
Stafford brings it all together, though.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why they’re such a dangerous play-action passing offense,” Orlovsky said. “Matthew is just so consistent with his mechanics nowadays. Man, it’s a joy to watch.”
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