The biggest question mark for the Los Angeles Rams heading into the 2025 season was the health of Matthew Stafford after missing all of training camp with a back injury.
Stafford is one of the toughest quarterbacks in league history though and he remained confident that he would be able to perform in Week 1. That is exactly what happened as Stafford led the Rams to a 14-9 victory over the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium.
The Texans have one of the best defensive fronts in the league so it certainly wasn’t pretty for the Rams offense. Stafford did just enough though, competing 21 of 29 passes for 245 yards and one touchdown.
He made some big throws when the Rams needed it most, including one across the middle of the field to Puka Nacua in the second half. That pass got Stafford to 60,000 passing yards for his career, becoming just the 10th quarterback to reach that milestone.
After the game, Stafford discussed what it means to him to join that club, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“It brings back a lot of memories, you know?” Stafford said postgame. “I’ve been blessed to play this game for a long time with a bunch of great players. The cool thing about quarterback, and my thought about it is, I can’t throw for any of those yards without 10 other guys that are doing their job, and so it’s really cool. I share it with so many people, and so many teammates, and a bunch of coaches, and my family and everybody that’s helped me get there. You get in those longevity-type places where you’re breaking those kind of things, it’s not, ‘Oh, that was a cool year, or a cool two years.’ I mean, it’s been a long time, and a lot of people have sacrificed a lot to help me out along the way, and I appreciate each and every single one of ’em. But it’s cool. It’s an amazing thing. And sure as hell glad that we did it getting a win, too.”
Stafford reached 60,000 passing yards in 223 career games, which is tied with Matt Ryan for the second-fewest games needed to reach the milestone behind only Drew Brees (215 games).
What Matthew Stafford ranks on all-time passing list
At 37 years of age, Matthew Stafford will have a chance to continue moving up the all-time passing list. He is currently in 10th behind Tom Brady (89,214), Drew Brees (80,358), Peyton Manning (71,940), Brett Favre (71,838), Ben Roethlisberger (64,088), Philip Rivers (63,440), Aaron Rodgers (62,952), Matt Ryan (62,792) and Dan Marino (61,361).
