Matthew Stafford’s Week 5 passing chart was his most impressive of the season
Matthew Stafford wasn’t necessarily at his best against the Seahawks last week. He threw for a season-high 365 yards and averaged 9.86 yards per attempt in the 26-17 win, but he also missed a few throws he would normally make.
What matters is that he was sharp down the stretch, making big plays when the Rams needed him to. He was aggressive and pushed the ball down the field, not settling for underneath throws and checkdowns.
It’s why he averaged a healthy 9.86 yards per attempt, his second-highest mark of the season. Robert Woods consistently made plays over the middle, as did Cooper Kupp. And DeSean Jackson’s 68-yard bomb helped, too.
Looking at his passing chart from Next Gen Stats, it’s easy to see how impressive Stafford was. Just note that there should be a red interception dot about 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, which was excluded by Next Gen Stats for some reason.
Here are his numbers on passes that were at least 10 yards downfield.
10-plus yards: 11-for-20
15-plus yards: 6-for-15
20-plus yards: 3-for-8
To put his performance into even more context, consider the advanced stats gathered by Next Gen Stats. He averaged 9.4 completed air yards (4th-best in Week 5), 12.2 intended air yards (2nd), 18.9% aggressiveness (7th) and 3.2 air yards to the sticks – meaning on average, he was throwing the ball 3.2 yards beyond the first-down line.
Compare those numbers to his season average, and they were all higher than his numbers from the first four weeks.
Season averages
CAY: 7.6
IAY: 9.4
AGG%: 13.4
AYTS: 0.8
Stafford did miss some throws, but he was still impressive in the Rams’ win over the Seahawks – and he should’ve had another touchdown pass, if not for a drop by Van Jefferson near the goal line.
Stafford can play better, but he’s been performing at a high level thus far.
