Matthew Stafford’s play for the Los Angeles Rams has become a cause for concern after his display in their loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Matthew Stafford was always something of a mystery when it came to his time with the Detroit Lions. Whilst he put up some big numbers, throwing for 45,109 yards and 282 touchdowns, there wasn’t a lot of success that came their way. Indeed they only made three trips to the playoffs in his time there, and failed to win any games. 

This led to the nickname ‘Stat Padford’ as somebody that was putting up incredible numbers, but most of them didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things on a count of them always losing, with a lot of yards coming in so-called ‘garbage time’ when the game is out of reach but you still have to throw the ball a lot in order to try and make it competitive.

Things all changed though when he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams ahead of last season. The Rams gave up a lot to secure his services, incumbent franchise quarterback Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 first-round pick for his services, and he paid them back instantly as he helped win them their second-ever Super Bowl last season.

However the defence of their title got off to a dreadful start last night as they lost 31-10 to the Buffalo Bills and it was far from his greatest performance.

Matt Stafford falls flat

The 10 shows you how much thery struggled all night, but Stafford’s individual stats make for even worse reading.

He threw for just 240 yards on the night and had three interceptions, including this one that went through the hands of the reliable Cooper Kupp:

Video: Matthew Stafford throws his second interception of the night

This offseason was far from straightforward for Stafford as he underwent surgery on his elbow, so perhaps that played a part in his performance as he tries to get back up to speed, but even so it was concerning to see him give up that many interceptions on opening night, and Ryan Clark believes that he needs to fix his problems as soon as possible.

Ryan Clark questions Matthew Stafford

Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up, Clark explained that this Stafford was a far cry from the one we have come to know and expect over the years, and that if he doesn’t come good soon, then it could put the Rams’ season in jeopardy:

“Anytime we ever talked about Matthew Stafford in Detroit when they weren't winning, all we talked about was the arm talent, the ability to make every throw on the entire football field and push the ball down the field whenever he needed to take the top off of a defence. If Matthew Stafford can't do that, if he can't place the ball exactly where he wants to, if he can't fit the ball into tight windows, into tight spaces in between the numbers, then he's no longer Matthew Stafford. “You didn't go out and trade Jared Goff and you didn't give up these picks to get a quarterback that couldn't do that, that couldn't make those throws. And if Matthew Stafford can no longer be that, I believe that it takes this team from a Super Bowl favourite in the NFC to a team that can't even make the playoffs. And so he has to get healthy or he has to be better in order for this team to succeed at any level throughout this season.”

Luckily this was just one game, there are 16 more for them to play and correct whatever mistakes he was making, but you just have to hope that it doesn’t ultimately impact them in the long run, because in a stacked NFC, this one game could have big implications when the playoffs come to town.