McVay: ‘No restrictions’ on QB Matthew Stafford

Woodland Hills, CA (News4usOnline) – The health of Matthew Stafford has been the center of attention throughout the summer. Stafford, entering his fifth season with the Los Angeles Rams, sat out training camp. 

He didn’t participate in the team’s joint practices against the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints.    

The culprit in all of this has been an aggravated disc in Stafford’s back, causing enough discomfort for the veteran quarterback that head coach Sean McVay and the Rams have had to take a day-to-day approach in getting Stafford back on the football field in recent weeks.  

Well, a string of days throwing the football and getting reps in has McVay in pretty good spirits about his starting quarterback. 

“I’ve seen a guy that’s gotten better and better,” McVay said about what he’s seen from Stafford during a post-practice press conference on Thursday, Aug. 20. 

“He looks like the stud that we know. I think the first day was getting comfortable, getting his feet wet a little bit. Then I think each of the last couple days he’s played really fast. He’s activated all parts of the field, like I mentioned to you guys the other day. I thought our rush on defense did a great job and you could feel that pocket collapsing. He’s getting through progressions quickly. He looked outstanding today,” he added. 

The value of having Stafford back cannot be understated. In his first four seasons with the ballclub, Stafford took the Rams to the postseason three times and guided LA to its second ever Super Bowl win when they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. 

After the team’s showing in last season’s playoff run, this year’s version of the Rams could very well be in the mix of potential Super Bowl contenders, if Stafford, entering his 17th season, is upright and making plays with his arm. 

McVay said there are no limits on Stafford and what he is able to do, which is good news. 

“Yeah, there’s nothing,” McVay said. “He’s going to be the one that should be able to tell you guys that, but from what I see, there are no restrictions and he’s playing at a really high level.”

Stafford said he’s done just about everything he can do to get himself right and be an active participant in team drills and practices. 

“I’m not going to talk too much in specifics or anything like that, but as far as what I’ve done, everything under the sun,” Stafford said. “I feel like obviously our guys here have a great program, doing everything we can to try and get to feeling as good as I can. I’ve done everything I can possibly do. I’ve done a ton of research just trying to help myself out. The good thing is, I’ve felt pretty good the last couple days out there practicing.”

He also feels good mentally, he said,

“I’m in a good place,” Stafford remarked. “Mentally, the first day, I wasn’t expecting to do as much as I did and I felt pretty good, so I just kind of kept going. Coach [Sean McVay] was cool enough to let me push myself and he knows that I know myself and how I feel so he let me kind of go.” 

“It felt like I hadn’t been out there in a while and [I felt] physically fine, but just seeing the defense operating and doing all of this stuff. This is my third day, call it in a row or third practice day, and definitely felt a whole lot more like myself out there today,” he continued. 

With no physical limitations put him, Stafford has been able to make all the throws required of him. That makes McVay a happy coach.   

“The thing I was pleased with is there was a lot of quick reactionary throws where the rush collapses on him where you don’t necessarily have a base to be able to maneuver and it’s a lot of shoulder turn and I saw that,” McVay said. “He activated all different types of throws. Certainly, it looks like… needs a lot of torque in your upper half to be able to get through it, but it looked pretty good today.”