Rams QB Matthew Stafford, on returning to Detroit for wild-card pick: 'It's going to be a tough place to play'

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is trying to keep this week as normal as possible.

Good luck with that.

Stafford will return to Detroit on Sunday night, as the city hosts its first playoff game in three decades, in a 10-7 Rams wild-card matchup against the 12-5 Lions.

Detroit drafted Stafford with the No. 1 pick in 2009, and he was the Lions' starting quarterback for the next 12 seasons before the Rams traded for him in 2021. Stafford played in three road playoff games, all losses, while with the Lions but led Ramez team. To the championship the same year he was traded.

He was asked Wednesday what kind of reception he expects from Detroit's fan base.

“I don't expect anything, to be honest with you,” Stafford said. “I've been asked this question a few times by just friends and family. I think the biggest thing for me is (to) have an experience, whatever that experience is.

“I understand what the people of Detroit mean and what the city of Detroit means to me, my time, my career, and what it means to my family. I hope they feel that again. At the same time, I'm no stranger to the situation and I realize I'm the bad guy coming to the city. I'm on the team The other, they don’t want me to succeed.”

Stafford and his wife, Kelly, have four young daughters, all of whom were born in Detroit while he played for the Lions.

“It's an amazing city. It's an amazing group of fans,” Stafford said. “The organization does a great job. I know they will be excited. It's going to be a great atmosphere, probably one of the best we've played in a long time. It's a group of people who, in my experience, love black. He wanted what was best for them. And now they're playing really good football, and they have a chance to host a playoff game. They earned this opportunity.

“It's going to be a great experience for these people. … It's going to be a tough place to play in. It's going to be loud. It's going to be hard for us to communicate as an offense, and we understand that.”

The Rams practice their silent rhythm all week, even during walkthroughs. The booming sounds of external speakers travel through the walls of their training facilities.

“You know it's going to be a great atmosphere and environment, so that's definitely something we'll be working on all week and we've got to be able to handle that,” Rams coach Sean McVay said Wednesday.

What McVay isn't worried about, he said, is Stafford's ability to manage his emotional state heading into a game that's being set up like a Hollywood script.

“I think it wouldn't be human to not feel a lot of different emotions,” McVay said, “but he put our team in a position to play a meaningful game. He's got a history there. I think it's real to feel those types of things. But once you get in the game, let's just fully immerse ourselves.” “At the moment (and) we have a lot of confidence in him. I want him to be able to cut in and be able to play with his teammates.”

Sunday's game is rich with Rams/Lions connections beyond Stafford and the city where he spent 12 years.

Lions GM Brad Holmes and assistant GM Ray Agnew both worked under Rams GM Les Snead in Los Angeles. Rams defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant briefly coached for Detroit. Receiver Josh Reynolds and long snapper Jake McQuaid are former Rams.

And of course, Jared Goff — who the Rams drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2016 and sent to Detroit via the same trade that brought them Stafford — is the Lions' starting quarterback.

Goff's deteriorating working relationship with McVay and his exit from Los Angeles are now an infamous part of both player and coach history.

Goff helped lead the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance during the 2018 season, in his second year working with McVay.

McVay felt he needed to move in a different direction after a disappointing season in 2020 with a team he believed was ready to return to the Super Bowl, and he pushed hard to trade for Stafford while Goff was unceremoniously included in the deal.

“The thing I'll never escape from is the mistakes I've made in previous cases,” McVay said of the personal aspects of the trade. “When you look back, the gratitude for those four years (with Gauff), and all the good memories we had – and then when you end up making a change, it becomes difficult.”

“Could it have been handled better on my part? Absolutely. I'll never run away from that. But the more you get away from it, the more you try to grow as a man, as a person, as the leader you want to be.”

“He deserved better than the way everything turned out. I'll admit that, and I think he knows that too. I'm not afraid to admit those things. But I think it's better for all of us to look at those things, and I have more appreciation for him as I go on.” the time.

Goff became a team captain and starter over the next three years with the Lions.

In Detroit on Wednesday, Goff was asked about his relationship/feelings toward McVay.

“Yes, Sean and I are good. I think he's a great coach,” Goff said. “Obviously we had our differences there at the end, but he's a great coach. “He's done a lot of great things and he's the guy who taught me a lot.”

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(Photo: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)