Turf Show Times on Matthew Stafford
From the article
Stafford's been weird to me this year... The Eagles ran just a bunch of cover-2 and cover-6, and it wasn't like the Rams were like, 'Here come the digs, here come the in-breakers' like I've seen him do against those coverages before. Everything was outside and vertical... but now Stafford's just not really throwing over the middle.
STACKED’s take
Stafford's passer rating down to 80.5; throwing intermediate middle at 6.5%, lowest in years.
Stafford's 2026 season has been markedly different from his 2025 MVP campaign; his passer rating has dropped from 109.2 to 80.5 through four games, and he's thrown six interceptions and six touchdowns. According to Nate Tice, the core issue is a significant shift in offensive attack: Stafford is throwing to the intermediate middle (10–22 yards downfield between the numbers) at only 6.5% of attempts this season, one of the lowest marks in the NFL, compared to 11.5% last year and 14% in 2021. Additionally, he's targeting receivers just 48% of the time versus 61.5% last season and 73% in 2024. Tice attributes this to a more vertical and outside-focused scheme that doesn't effectively attack cover-2 and cover-6 looks, limiting the Rams' ability to generate yards after the catch and explosive plays.
Matthew StaffordQB · LARPlayer page — value, ADP, projections, and every insight