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What do Los Angeles Rams see in Matthew Stafford?

Perhaps the handwriting was on the wall. In recent days both head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead were rather open and honest about the status of quarterback Jared Goff on their roster. McVay stated that there would be a “level of competition” to the quarterback position, and the general manager stated that Goff was a Ram “at the moment” before continuing on to state that “anything can be done” with respect to the salary cap.

But looking at both Goff and the newest member of the roster, it is quite clear what the Los Angeles Rams see in Matthew Stafford.

Decisiveness.

Hesitation and indecision has been a staple of Goff’s tenure with the Los Angeles Rams. You can take it back to the run-up to Super Bowl LIII, and the game itself. In this piece from that season I dove into great length about Goff’s hesitation, and that was a factor on the biggest play of the game, when Goff waited to throw a deep route to Brandin Cooks, allowing time for Jason McCourty to recover and break up what could have been a game-changing touchdown.

That hesitation continued into this season, and as this video breakdown highlights, the struggles against some specific coverages, where the middle-of-the-field is open, continued into this year:

In fact, McVay challenged Goff prior to the Rams’ Week 13 game against the Arizona Cardinals, and the young QB responded in one of the team’s biggest wins of the season. But even in what was a bit of a redemptive performance, you still saw that hesitation:

Even when he was playing well, the hesitation was there.

That leads us to Stafford.

Longtime readers of my work know that I often turn to the world of film or television, even books sometimes, to make a point. A few years ago I turned to a fascinating book titled “Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character” to make a point about quarterback development. The work, written by Admiral James Stavridis, a retired admiral in the U.S. Navy and the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, was making the case that newer naval captains are able to communicate so frequently with superiors given the beauty of modern technology, that their own decision-making skills suffer because they can always ask for advice.

It reminded me, oddly enough, of Jared Goff, and how Sean McVay was in his helmet radio as long as possible before each snap.

But now I’ll turn to the silver screen, and the Michael Bay classic “The Rock.” A line from that film from the late Sean Connery often reminds me of quarterback play:

You must never hesitate.

Quarterbacks have to be decisive in the pocket. Hesitation can be a death-knell, as it seems to have been with Goff’s tenure with the Rams.

Stafford? Stafford does not hesitate.

Take this play from Week 17 against the Minnesota Vikings:

There is absolutely no hesitation here from the quarterback. Stafford hits his drop depth, confirms that the Vikings are in a two-deep coverage (one of the looks that has given Goff fits over the years) but he knows that Marvin Jones will have the leverage advantage over safety Anthony Harris. He hitches and pulls the trigger, dropping a perfect throw over Harris for the touchdown.

Then there was this read and throw against the Vikings, where Stafford uses his drop to influence the post-safety between the hashmarks, before hitting his depth and throwing a rocket into a tight window for the touchdown:

And of course, no discussion about Stafford and his 2020 campaign is complete without this throw against the Tennessee Titans:

You simply cannot throw a no-look dart in the end zone – throwing a receiver open along the way – if you hesitate.

(For more of my film work on Stafford this season you will find it all in this article).

The simple fact is this: Goff struggles at times with hesitation. That is not an issue for Stafford. It is a critical trait for excellence at the quarterback position.

And one the Rams were clearly willing to pay for.