Matthew Stafford came away with the highest offensive player grade for PFF in week three. In a win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, Stafford looked better than in recent weeks. Even without finding the endzone he looked much better than weeks prior. The most important stat was throwing no interceptions. The assessment comes after a performance where he targeted eight different receivers, and completed a pass to six of them. Five receivers saw three or more targets and four of the five caught at least three passes.
Stafford’s Week Three Grade:
With a grade of 82.7, Stafford was the highest-graded offensive player of the week for the first time this season. In a game in which he completed 18 of 25 passes for 249 yards, Stafford posted his best passer rating of the season with 103.6. On the year Stafford has thrown four touchdowns to five interceptions and just 761 yards. While he’s not off to the stellar start he had last season; he’s completing 72% of his passes which is the highest of his career.
Overall PFF Season Assessment:
PFF has Stafford graded at a 72.6 through three weeks. After the way the season started for Stafford and company, I don’t believe many thought through three weeks he’d be in the 70’s. Some people point the struggles for him to the offensive line. However Stafford last season was one of the best under pressure. This season Stafford does most of his damage with less than 2.5 seconds in the pocket. In that situation Stafford has thrown four touchdowns and four interceptions with 399 yards. More than 2.5 seconds is where he takes most of his sacks. That may be attributed to two things. One being that he could be holding the ball to long. Or two, is something I hope to see isn’t true. That is receivers not named Cooper Kupp aren’t getting open.
In Sunday’s win, Stafford faced a 15% pressure rate on drop backs. While he was only sacked just once, we saw him be fleet of foot dodging a few pressures. One of those dodging maneuvers came on a spin-a-roonie followed by a dart thrown to Kupp for a first down. We’ve seen improvements for Stafford and the Rams over the last two weeks. Those improvements coming after a season start I’d like to soon forget.
Stafford is looking to keep form this week when the Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers under the bright lights of Monday Night Football. Stafford is 2-5 all-time against the 49ers including the playoffs.
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