DETROIT — Matthew Stafford was raised in Texas, starred in college at Georgia, but from the day in 2009 he became the Lions' No. 1 overall draft pick, he was committed to making Detroit home.
His connection with the region was more than philanthropic, although there was plenty of that. Much of it was about attitude. He was present. He gave everything he had to lift a franchise that felt immovable. He was appreciated, even if he couldn’t manage the task. He, his wife Kelly, and their four daughters became about as much a part of the community as a pro athlete can.
Then rather than being a part of a fourth “rebuild” under a fourth regime, he requested a trade and got shipped to Los Angeles. He remained popular enough that they actually sold “Detroit Rams” T-shirts when he led his new team to a Super Bowl victory.
So, yeah, his return Sunday, leading the Los Angeles Rams into the first home Lions playoff game since the 1993 season and possibly wreck a dream Detroit season is a delicious NFL storyline.
"I know it's going to be rocking there," Stafford said Sunday. "Haven't had a playoff game there in about 30 years or whatever it is."
It’s just not as delicious as the situation for Jared Goff, the man the Rams threw into the deal to get Stafford.
The fact that the early focus of this NFC wild-card game has already morphed into a Stafford-fest sort of says it all. Goff is forever the background player here, just with a far more personal part to play.
It is Goff, not Stafford, who was deemed expendable by his old team. It is Goff, not Stafford, who had to watch his old franchise go win it all without him. It is Goff, not Stafford, who got dumped in the NFL hinterlands to the worst franchise in the sport. It is Stafford who got freed into the SoCal sunshine, per his own request.
Stafford is a made man, playing with house money. He has his Lombardi. He has potential Hall of Fame credentials. He has the respect of two fan bases, let alone the league as a whole.
If he wins, he builds his legend. If he loses, he carries on. It took a Herculean effort just to get the Rams from a 3-6 start into these playoffs. Little is expected.
He’s the dashing millionaire returning to the high school reunion.
“Fun for me on a personal level,” Stafford said.
It is Goff who is still trying to prove himself, at least beyond Metro Detroit where Lions fans have come to embrace Stafford’s replacement as much as Stafford himself. It is Goff who carries the weight of expectations from long-suffering Lions fans who see this as the season they finally win a postseason game.
On the basis of an 8-2 finish to the 2022 season, this was the most anticipated Lions campaign in a generation. Detroit delivered, going 12-5 and winning its first NFC North title. It now seeks its first playoff victory since the 1991 season and just its second since 1957. (Stafford went 0-3 in road wild-card appearances during his time.)
To flame out in the wild-card weekend in what promises to be a raucous scene would be a massive disappointment.
Football isn’t a QB vs. QB sport, of course, which is why much of this is expected to be understandably downplayed by the participants.
“I mean, I understand it’s one of these stories,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Monday. “But Goff knows … we win as a team. Man, this is about the Lions versus the Rams, and we win with three phases here and he’s a huge part of that. All he’s got to do is his part and he knows that.”
Still, a big reason for Detroit’s success is Goff. He arrived in Detroit facing plenty of doubts and an uncertain future. A lifelong Californian, there were no guarantees.
In 2021, his first in Detroit, the team limped to a 3-13-1 record. In 2022, it started 1-6, and it was reasonable to assume the Lions were headed to another high draft pick that could replace him.
Goff never rattled though, just as he never took the reassignment to the Lions as a demotion or a trip to purgatory. He poured himself into improvement and leadership. And even amid the losses, he embraced Detroit, starting his own JG16 Foundation to aid local education initiatives, scholarships and food drives. In 2022, he became a nominee for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.
And then the victories came. He’s 20-7 since Week 9 of the 2022 season. He doesn’t have the natural ability of Stafford — few do — but the record speaks for itself. He’s forever seemed unfazed by his career path. When asked last season if he wanted to lash out at his now silent critics, he just shrugged.
“What would I lash out about?” he asked.
It’s a great story. The Lions are a great story. But the story isn’t just getting to the playoffs or just hosting a game. It’s about winning one. And then proceed from there.
For Jared Goff to do that, to do what Stafford never could in Detroit, requires him to go through his old team and beat the man they thought could do for them what he couldn’t.
