30
NFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF
R AMS 30, BUCCANEERS 27
ON THE
MONEY
MATTHEW STAFFORD SHOWED HE WAS
THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE RAMS BY COMING
UP BIG WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE
S
EAN MCVAY was in sweats after the
game in Tampa, ready for the long over-
night f light back to California, and we
were remembering a conversation about
his new quarterback from back in the
summer. Just then, Matthew Stafford
came up the tunnel, and the Rams’ coach smiled and
told his team captain how we were recalling a certain
moniker McVay had given him seven months ago.
Stafford knew the one.
“To me, when you just see that dude, in crunch time,
divisional game, going on the road, they tie it up after
you have a huge lead, no f linch, no blink?” McVay said,
standing on a wall halfway between the locker room
and the team bus. “He was a bad motherf----- in that
situation.”
Over perhaps the greatest playoff weekend in NFL
history, Stafford justified his coach’s words and all the
faith that McVay put in him over the last year.
And when it mattered most? Stafford was a bad
motherf----- indeed, helming a final drive that gave
the Rams a 30–27 win.BY
ALBERT BREER2022 SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSAdapted from SI.com
January 24, 2022Photographs by Simon Bruty