Both rank in the top 10 in NFL career-passing categories. Both have won a Super Bowl title.
On Sunday, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will square off for the 18th time.
“It’s two greats,” Rams coach Sean McVay said Wednesday. “Two guys that I look at as Hall of Famers.”
Most of the matchups between Stafford and Rodgers occurred when they played in the NFC North.
Stafford, 36, played 12 seasons for the Detroit Lions before he was traded to the Rams in 2021. Rodgers, 41, played 18 seasons for the Green Bay Packers before he was traded to the Jets in 2023.
Stafford is 4-13 in games against Rodgers, a four-time NFL most valuable player.
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In 2021, the Packers defeated the Rams, 36-28, at Lambeau Field. Rodgers passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Stafford passed for 302 yards and a touchdown, but an interception was returned for a touchdown.
The next season, Stafford was sidelined because of injury — Baker Mayfield started in his place — when Rodgers led the Packers to a 24-12 victory over the Rams.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Stafford said of Rodgers on Wednesday, adding, “Played fantastic the last couple of weeks and looks to be healthy and moving around and doing his thing.”
Stafford has passed for 3,463 yards and 19 touchdowns, with seven interceptions, for a Rams team that rebounded from a 1-4 start.
The Rams (8-6) have won three games in a row and, as the leader of the NFC West, currently hold the No. 4 seed for the NFC playoffs. The Rams have games remaining against the Jets, the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks.
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Rodgers has passed for 3,255 yards and 23 touchdowns, with eight interceptions, for a Jets team that is 4-10 in a season during which coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas were fired.
Stafford’s and Rodgers’ ability to change arm slots, improvise, understand defenses and manipulate defensive players are among the qualities that make them elite, McVay said.
Rodgers, the 24th pick in the 2005 draft, led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XLV to cap the 2010 season.
Stafford, the No. 1 pick in 2009, led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI to cap the 2021 season.
Stafford is chasing Rodgers on several career-passing lists.
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Rodgers is fifth in touchdown passes with 498, Stafford 10th with 376.
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Rodgers is seventh in completions with 5,306, Stafford ninth with 5,143.
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Rodgers is eighth in passing yards with 62,310, Stafford 10th with 59,510.
Stafford, however, said he does not focus on who is ahead of him.
“At the end of the season, maybe you peek your head up and look,” he said.
But he added that the NFL is a business of “what have you done for me lately?” So a week-to-week approach — “That’s kind of how I’ve lived it for a long time,” he said — works for him.
“It frustrates people that ask me questions,” Stafford said, chuckling. “‘My wife sometimes [asks], ‘What are we going to do three weeks from now?’ I’m like, I don’t know. I’m just worried about today and maybe tomorrow.’
“But it is how you train yourself to play at this position: play to play, week to week, all that kind of stuff.”
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The Rams are coming off a 12-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, a game in which they did not score a touchdown. Stafford passed for 160 yards. Several passes were nearly intercepted, but Stafford emerged without having one picked off for the fifth game in a row.
Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua and Demarcus Robinson are the starting receivers. And McVay on Wednesday all but ended speculation that the Rams might sign free agent Odell Beckham Jr., who played for the Rams’ Super Bowl-championship team.
“I love Odell,” McVay said. “It’s not something that I think is something that we’re looking at right now.”
Last Sunday, Rodgers passed for 289 yards and three touchdowns in a 32-25 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Receiver Davante Adams caught nine passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
It remains to be seen how much longer Rodgers and Stafford will play.
Rodgers is a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer. Stafford could burnish his impressive resumé with another Super Bowl title.
Stafford said he was excited about playing meaningful games in December. That this one will be against Rodgers does not make it any more or less important.
“It’s always a good battle,” Stafford said.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
