Matthew Stafford does want distractions, especially when he walks into an opponent’s stadium.
So, unlike many athletes, the Rams’ veteran quarterback forsakes headphones upon arrival, and embraces a hostile environment when he jogs onto the field for pregame warmups.
“I want to hear all of it,” Stafford said Wednesday before practice in Woodland Hills. “I want to smell it. I want it to feel like it’s football. That’s part of football, especially going to an away game.
“That stuff just motivates me.”
On Sunday night, for the second time in eight months, Stafford is expected to get an earful when he returns to Ford Field in Detroit, where he starred for 12 seasons before he was traded to the Rams in 2021 in a deal that sent quarterback Jared Goff to the Lions.
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Last January, before the Lions’ 24-23 victory over the Rams in an NFC wild-card game, fans booed Stafford and chanted “Ja-red Goff!”
Stafford, a 16th-year pro, does not shy from that kind of reception.
“I feel the crowd 100%,” Stafford said. “Motivating factor. Love it.”
The Lions drafted Stafford No. 1 overall in 2009, and the prolific passer became a favored son in a city aching for the Lions to become a consistent winner.
But that never happened during Stafford’s tenure.
After he was traded, Stafford led the Rams to a Super Bowl title.
The playoff defeat was his first game in Detroit since the trade. And the first time he prepared for a game in Ford Field’s visitors’ locker room.
“I’m going to obviously be one more game comfortable being an opponent in that field than I was, I guess, last year,” said Stafford, who completed 25 of 36 passes for 367 yards and two touchdowns in the defeat.
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Is there a benefit to returning to the site of the final game of the previous season?
“Each game we play, no matter where it is or when it is, is its own singular event,” Stafford said. “Just because something happened a year ago doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again — good, bad or indifferent.”
Etc.
Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein and cornerbacks Darious Williams and Cobie Durant were going to be limited during practice, McVay said. … With temperatures expected to exceed 105 degrees in the next few days, McVay said the Rams would adjust how many consecutive plays players perform and continue to monitor hydration. There is a small tent at the end of one of the two grass practice fields, and a large tent has been constructed over a turf field. “You can’t ignore that this heat is real and the guys feel it,” McVay said, “but I think we got a good plan in place so that it won’t be any reason why we won’t be ready to roll Sunday night.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
