Matthew Stafford has always had a gunslinger mentality as a quarterback. He’s never afraid to push the ball down the field, which at times can lead to costly turnovers.
It’s part of the reason he led the NFL with 17 interceptions last season and he’s already thrown five in two games this year. He tossed two picks against the Falcons on Sunday, the second of which was costly and helped Atlanta mount a furious comeback in the second half.
Stafford broke down what happened on each of those throws, calling the first one “a greedy play by me.”
1st interception
Just before halftime, Stafford tried to hit Tyler Higbee on a deep shot down the field to put the Rams up 21-3. Unfortunately, he didn’t lead Higbee enough and cornerback Casey Hayward was in perfect position to pick off the pass, preventing a potential touchdown.
Stafford said he expected Hayward to come off of Higbee and break on Cooper Kupp’s route from the slot, which didn’t happen like he planned.
“A greedy play from me on the first pick, no question about it. Casey Hayward to the field, veteran corner, tight end on him, Cooper Kupp in the slot. How he didn’t come off on the out cut, I don’t know. I thought he was coming off, kind of lost vision, put it in a bad spot to be honest with you.”
2nd interception
Stafford’s second pick proved to be much more costly, even with the Rams leading 28-3 at the time. He tried to hit Kupp on an in-breaking route after a play-action fake, drawing the linebackers up.
Mykal Walker bit on the fake, but he was able to get deep enough in his zone drop to disrupt Stafford’s throwing lane. Stafford said it’s a throw he’s making every time, simply chalking it up to a good play by Walker.
Looking at the replay, had Stafford held the ball for another second, Kupp would’ve cleared the underneath linebacker and had plenty of space in front of him.
“The second one, I’m cutting that loose every time. That guy made a really nice play in man coverage, uncovering from the stack,” he said. “I’ll take a look at it, but that was kind of my first inclination of that play. I hate that that happened because I felt like I was in a great rhythm, getting the ball to our guys, getting us in and out of the right plays. I felt like we were playing at a high clip and it’s just frustrating to have those two plays. But as a unit, I thought we operated really well.”
Mykal Walker working to flip the script.
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