Rams QB Matthew Stafford – Media Availability – January 9, 2022
Rams QB Matthew Stafford – Media Availability – January 9, 2022
(On how he processed everything that happened today)
“Go back and look at the tape. Obviously, there’s some plays out there I want back. I thought I made some nice plays too. Had a chance to win it, didn’t finish the game the way like we wanted to. Got to give them a lot of credit for finishing the way that they did. But yeah, got to look at the tape.”
(On what changed for the team in the third quarter after a stall in the second quarter)
“Not really. I think Brandon Powell did a nice job setting us up with a short field on one of the scores. We had a nice drive on the other one. Just did a better job probably on 3rd down in the first half. That was the biggest thing. We were in 3rd down quite a bit but did a nice job of converting those. Didn’t do as good a job in the second half. I can obviously be better there. But again, I’m going to have to go look at it.”
(On if they celebrate the division title after a loss like this)
“Yeah, I guess it’s nice. It means you get a home playoff game, but obviously would have rather won the game for sure.”
(On if the division title was celebrated or discussed at all in the locker room after the game)
“Not really. Just talking about coming back next week and playing better and rallying and making sure that we’re ready to go which I know we will be. We’ve got a bunch of good leaders on this team, guys that are veteran players that have played in a lot of football games, so just got to come back and play better next week.”
(On what he needed to do to get the team back on track in the second half)
“You know, we took the lead late, had a chance. Obviously didn’t end the game with the ball like we could have. We had a chance there at the end of the game. I thought our guys did a great job communicating. It was a tough environment for us to communicate in really the whole second half. Our guys did a nice job, and we got that lead back. Just didn’t finish it the way we can on offense. Had we gotten a first down, that game probably would have been over.”
(On how he diagnosed that last throw to Odell Beckham Jr.)
“Yeah, I just left it short.”
(On if he was surprised by how many 49ers fans showed up)
“They did a nice job showing. That’s for sure.”
(On how important it was for his personal success to advance to the playoffs)
“It’s important for our team, no question. The better I play, the better chance we have. That’s NFL football. When the quarterback plays well you’ve got a good chance. I know that. Looking forward to the opportunity to go and play in the postseason, taking it one game at a time.”
(On if he feels any extra pressure)
“No, just want to go out there and play as good a football as I can and help our team win.”
(On if there was a discussion about throwing the ball on third down in the team’s final offensive possession in regulation)
“Not to my knowledge. I think we’ve got a really good defense. We trust those guys. San Fran(cisco) did a nice job of driving down and scoring, there’s no question. They made the plays there. But we’re a team. We trust our team. I wish we could have gotten the 1st down there and kneeled it out, absolutely. As a competitor, as an offensive player, you want to have that opportunity, and there’s no better play in football than taking a knee with the win. But we didn’t get that opportunity. We didn’t earn that opportunity. We had to go to overtime, and then obviously what happened, happened.”
(On losing the #2 seed in the NFC and what makes him believe the team can win road games to make it to the Super Bowl)
“Yeah, I think the biggest thing is we’re a resilient bunch. We have been all year, whether we’re playing at home, playing on the road, things are going our way, things aren’t going our way, we continue to battle. That’s what it takes to win games in the playoffs, there’s no question. You’ve got to play good football, but you’ve got to be resilient too. Right now, it’s testing us. We lost the football game that we had chances to win and would have felt great winning that game and winning the division the way we wanted to win the division, but we’re a resilient group and we’ll be ready to go.”