Stafford embraces being ‘bad guy’ vs. former team
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Matthew Stafford arrived in Detroit as a hotshot 21-year-old quarterback. He left three years ago as a grown man with a wife and four daughters all born in Michigan.
During the 12 years in between, he desperately tried to end the Lions’ decades-long playoff victory drought. The Lions failed, but he formed a bond with Detroit that remains a foundational part of his character. Although Stafford grew up in Texas and has now made a comfortable home in Southern California, he came of age in the Motor City.
“It’s an amazing city,” Stafford said on a 60-degree Wednesday in January. “It’s an amazing group of fans. The organization does a heck of a job, and I know they’re going to be excited. It’s going to be a heck of an atmosphere. Probably one of the best we’ve played in in a long time. It’s a group of people that from my experience love the Lions, want what’s best for them. And now they’re playing good football.”
On Sunday night, Stafford will finally get to play in his first postseason game in Detroit. He’ll do it in the horned helmet of the Los Angeles Rams, the team he led to a Super Bowl championship in his first season after leaving the Lions.
Stafford is now in position to play a major role in extending the Lions’ postseason misery when Detroit hosts a playoff game for the first time in 30 years. While Stafford still holds Detroit dear, he’ll understand if the city doesn’t feel the same way this weekend.
“I’m not a stranger to the situation, and understanding that I’m the bad guy coming to town,” Stafford said. “I’m on the other team, and they don’t want success from me. So whatever happens, happens. I’m going to go experience it.”
Stafford played in three road playoff losses during his time with the Lions, and he hasn’t forgotten his frustration at being unable to end the Lions’ decades of disappointment.
“I had a lot of experiences there over 12 years,” Stafford said. “All my daughters were born there. My wife and I went through things there that the team and the city, the town, everybody supported. So I have nothing but great memories there. Obviously didn’t get it done on the field as much as I wish we could have, but the people that I was lucky enough to know and grow with are people that I’m still close with today and mean a lot to me.”
Stafford asked for a trade in early 2021 after the Lions embarked on yet another rebuild following three straight losing seasons.
Rams coach Sean McVay was dissatisfied with Jared Goff, his quarterback for the previous four seasons, and the teams reached a blockbuster deal.
Incredibly, this is the first playoff matchup in NFL history between two starting quarterbacks facing their former teams.
Stafford already faced the Lions in 2021, leading the Rams to a narrow victory over Goff’s then-winless Lions at SoFi Stadium.
Stafford is still the leading passer in Lions franchise history with 45,109 yards and 282 TDs, but he is about to play at Ford Field for the first time since he left.
“I hope I don’t end up in the wrong (locker room),” Stafford said. “I do know it’s the same tunnel. … There’s a lot leading up to it, I understand all that, but once the ball’s snapped, man, let’s go play football.”
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Now the Harbaugh family goes for the sweep.
After watching his brother Jim coach Michigan to a national title Monday night, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has his sights on another celebration in the Super Bowl next month. His team is the top seed in the AFC and has this weekend off, but the excitement of Jim Harbaugh’s victory was enough to whet John’s appetite.
“Like any brother, sibling, your brother gets something, you want it too, right?” John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “You become a part of the celebration and the confetti and the jubilation and the tears. And (it) just kind of sinks in. It’s like, ‘Man, I really want to experience this for our team, I want our team to experience this.’
“That’s the big picture. That’s the ultimate goal for the season. And then with that, back to one day at a time, one play at a time.”
The Ravens don’t want to think too far ahead. Even their postseason opener is still a week and a half away, and they could face any of four possible opponents in that game. With no game to prepare for this weekend, John Harbaugh was able to travel to Houston to watch his brother’s team beat Washington for college football’s championship.
The Baltimore coach was shown on TV greeting his brother on the sideline during the game.
“I’d been down there for about five or 10 minutes of the game, and they were going, he was working,” John Harbaugh said. “Then the ball came that way and there was a timeout, and he was just like 10 feet away from me. So I’m like, that’s my opportunity.”
John Harbaugh already has one Super Bowl victory on his resume – he defeated Jim in that game at the end of the 2012 season when the latter was coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Since then, the Ravens are 2-5 in playoff games, but the current team finished the regular season with the NFL’s best record.
Harbaugh said the Ravens will have a practice at the stadium this Saturday.
“We thought that would kind of put us in more of a rhythm in terms of the pace as if you were playing a game this weekend,” he said.
The Ravens made one interesting move recently, signing running back Dalvin Cook to their practice squad. The 28-year-old Cook rushed for just 214 yards in 15 games for the New York Jets this season before being waived. He signed a one-year deal with the Jets during the summer after four straight seasons of more than 1,100 yards rushing for the Minnesota Vikings.
“We view him as a very valuable, or potentially very valuable weapon on our offense,” Harbaugh said. “Dalvin Cook is a high-pedigree player, highly decorated player. He’s still got talent and ability and is smart. He’s in great shape, he’s in football shape. He’s been playing football. He looked very good in practice out here today.”
The Ravens lost running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending injury in their first game, and rookie Keaton Mitchell later went down with a knee injury. Cook could add another big-play threat to the offense.
“Just being a dynamic player (that) he is, the sky’s the limit,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “There’s no limit for that. I don’t know. I believe when he gets his opportunity and his number’s called, he’s going to do what he does.”