When the Los Angeles Rams went out and acquired Matthew Stafford, the hope was that he would take them over the top to get back in Super Bowl contention.
Through the first half of the season, that looked to be the case as the Rams were sitting at 7-1 and Stafford was playing at an MVP level.
That has all come crashing down the last three weeks though with the Rams losing three straight and Stafford’s play, particularly his inability to take care of the ball, being a big reason for that.
Stafford has turned the ball over six times in those three games with three of them being interceptions returned for touchdowns, one in each game.
Before the Rams’ Week 12 loss to the Green Bay Packers, a report came out that Stafford has been dealing with numerous injuries. Despite his recent poor play, Stafford is not using the injuries as an excuse, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN:
“I am feeling fine,” said Stafford, who did not practice before the Week 9 loss to the Titans because of a back issue and then rolled an ankle late in that game. “Back was kind of barking at me a little bit that week, but I haven’t missed any time since then. The rest of my body, is it 100%? No, nor is anybody else’s in this league at this point of the season.”
Stafford then confirmed at Wednesday’s practice, again, that he is not injured, via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic:
Matthew Stafford: "I feel good", expects to be a full participant through practice this week.
Is he hurt? "No, I'm good. I haven't been on the injury report, been able to practice as much as I want to practice. So, not really worried about that."— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) December 1, 2021
Even though turnovers have become a theme for Stafford and the Rams, he added that each of them was a separate mistake and not all were for the same reason:
“You have to take them all individually,” Stafford said about his recent turnovers. “I know that is probably tough for you guys to hear, but that is the truth of the matter. That’s the way I see it.”
While that may be true, Stafford will have to fix the issues if the Rams want to be the Super Bowl contenders that many people pegged them as.
L.A. still sits at 7-4 and their most important football is ahead of them, so there is still plenty of time to turn things around in the back half of the season.
Hopefully Stafford’s ailments are not too serious though as although he’s not willing to make excuses, it’s clear that his play has been compromised in recent weeks.
