SEATTLE — Matthew Stafford could punch his golden ticket to the Hall of Fame in the Super Bowl’s diamond anniversary.
First things first, however: An NFC Championship game before Super Bowl LX.
Stafford, 37, will lead the Rams in a legacy game Sunday against the Seahawks for the right to play two weeks from now in the Bay Area against either the Patriots or Broncos.
A second Super Bowl victory to couple with the one captured in his first season with the Rams would put Stafford in a rarefied group as the 14th multi-time-champion starting quarterback. All but two (Jim Plunkett and Eli Manning) are in the Hall of Fame if eligible.
“I think he’s a Hall of Famer,” ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky, Stafford’s former Lions teammate and close friend, said on “Get Up.” “But, if he wins this game and then wins the Super Bowl, I think he gets into the conversation for one of the top 10-15 quarterbacks of all-time.”
Is it a stretch? Stafford ranks top-seven in career passing yards and touchdowns — granted, those are two 21st Century-dominated lists — and is the favorite to win his first MVP after his first First-Team All-Pro selection.
Given a chance to be a frequent playoff participant in Act II of his career, the former Lions great has delivered. In total, Stafford has a career 98.2 quarterback rating with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 12 playoff games.
“It’s just part of his personality … how cool, calm and poised he is,” said receiver Davante Adams, who also played with fellow Father Time-defier Aaron Rodgers. “And that’s what it takes to win games over time. Any game — let alone over the course of his career and over the course of being in L.A. — it takes that type of poise and just being locked in. And he’s got that.”
A year that began with Stafford gaining permission to seek a trade over a contract dispute — the Giants were all-in — could end up with him having a chance to prove he is invaluable. Standing in the way is the Seahawks’ NFL-best scoring defense.
Stafford had his best game of the season (457 yards, three touchdowns) in a Week 15 loss to the Seahawks and his lowest yardage total (130) in a Week 10 win against the Seahawks. Go figure.
“I think quarterback wins is an interesting stat,” Stafford said. “It takes everybody. There are certain games where I don’t play up to par but we win the game. Or certain games where I feel like I played really well and we don’t win the game. Surely, I’m doing my best to try and play at a high level or lead the guys in the right way.”
Look at Stafford’s contemporaries:
- Drews Brees only won (and appeared in) one Super Bowl.
- Matt Ryan only got one shot — one more than Philip Rivers — and lost.
- Rodgers is 0-4 in the conference championships since his lone Super Bowl ring.
- Russell Wilson went 1-1 in back-to-back trips and hasn’t returned.
Will Stafford be part of that group? Or join two-time winners Manning and Ben Roethlisberger?
“I think excuses are tools of the incompetent,” head coach Sean McVay said. “Matthew is the furthest thing from that. I think people want to follow him because of the way that he stays humble in the great moments, which he sure has had a handful of those. Then in the moments that we can be better, he owns it. He’s a freaking stud.”
No argument there. But will he get to a second Super Bowl?
