LOS ANGELES — Matthew Stafford had no warm greeting when he went into Ford Field in January for the first time as an opposing quarterback. Detroit Lions supporters savagely booed their former quarterback as he led the Rams in an ill-fated bid at a road playoff win.
When the Rams arrive back in Detroit on Sunday for their season opener, Stafford won’t try to drown out the ruckus.
“I’m one of the guys that walks into the opposing stadium, everyone has their headphones on, I don’t,” Stafford said. “I want to hear all of it, I want to smell it, I want to feel like it’s football. That’s part of football, especially going to an away game. So that stuff simply motivates me.”
Stafford, starting his 16th season, doesn’t have much left to prove. Super Bowl winner, knocking on top-10 lists in NFL record books, won up his second Pro Bowl invitation past season.
But he still loves the competition that comes with being an NFL quarterback. Game planning, watching film, commanding a huddle. So he spent the offseason keeping his body strong and his mind clean to prepare for the demands of the season ahead.
“It takes a lot out of me to play this position,” Stafford said. “So just trying to step away, get away, and when I did come back, just to make sure I was all in, ready to go.”
Every season is different, and this one threw Stafford its own curveball two weeks ago when the Rams began to transition free agent signing Jonah Jackson to center and shift Steve Avila back to left guard.
Jackson is a former teammate of Stafford’s, having played his first year alongside the veteran QB with the Lions in 2020. The two worked on snap chemistry that season, so they had a bit of a head start when Jackson returned to practice after a shoulder injury that held him out for a part of August.
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