Matthew Stafford is here to win rings and take souls.
The Rams quarterback came in the clutch on Sunday, hitting Cooper Kupp with a late bomb to put the Rams in position to score the game-winning field goal. The pass came shortly after the Buccaneers tied the game late and rallied from a 27-3 deficit.
In his postgame news conference, the usually cool-headed Stafford turned cold-blooded, saying that after the spike, his teammates told him he went to a “dark place” on his way back to the line. band, and that he was glad the officials didn’t single him out for putting a bit of enthusiasm on the spot.
Stafford’s postgame chat was pretty confusing, as you’d expect from the winning sideline. Well, bland except for one quote that was pretty telling of how good it felt for the quarterback, who is advancing to his first NFC championship game.
Man, was I enjoying the moment. In my mind, I live for those moments. I would have loved to be kneeling three twenty. But it’s so much more fun when you have to make a play like that to win the game and just steal someone’s soul. That’s what it feels like sometimes, when they’re sitting there like, “Man, we just made this big comeback.” And you can reach in there and take it off. This is very funny.
Stafford was never offered opportunities with the Lions like he was on Sunday. In fact, with the win, Stafford now has more playoff wins in 2022 than the Lions have since 1960 — he played in just three playoff games with the Lions, all losses, in 2012, 2015 and 2017.
Now, Stafford is playing in his third playoff game with the Rams next weekend, and he has a chance to snatch more souls.