Georgia Bulldogs in the NFL: Matthew Stafford Reaches Impressive Milestone
Matthew Stafford joined the Georgia Bulldogs as a five-star recruit out of Dallas, Texas in 2006. He was a very heralded recruit, ranking as the number one pro-style quarterback in the nation. Matthew Stafford was so highly touted that ESPN NFL Draft analyst. Mel Kiper Jr. predicted that he would be a future number one overall pick in the NFL Draft before he ever set foot on a college campus.
Matthew Stafford did not lead Georgia Bulldogs to the promised land of an NCAA Championship, but he was one of the best quarterbacks in the program's history. He currently sits fourth on the UGA career passing yards list, despite only playing three years at Georgia. Stafford also ranks fifth among Georgia quarterbacks in touchdown passes with 51. His 2008 yardage total of 3,459 is the third highest in Bulldogs' history for a single season. He was named as an All American and Second Team All-SEC quarterback for his stellar work during his junior year on campus.
Matthew Stafford decided to parlay his success into an NFL career as he left UGA early and entered the draft after the 2008 season. He made Mel Kiper appear to be a genius as he was indeed selected as the number one overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Matthew Stafford is now in season 11 of a successful NFL career. He was named as the 2011 NFL Comeback Player of the Year after injuries limited him to just three games in 2010. Stafford was also selected to the Pro Bowl in 2014.
Former UGA great, Matthew Stafford broke an NFL record this past weekend
This week Matthew Stafford had a great performance against the Minnesota Vikings, en route to making history. He completed 30/45 passes for 364 yards with four touchdowns and just one interception. The interesting thing was all four touchdowns were thrown to wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. The big day yardage wise put Stafford's career total at 40,277 yards. That means he broke the record for the fastest to reach the 40K milestones, a record previously held by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
Matt Stafford now sits at 20 on the All-Time NFL passing yardage list. That is one spot behind Joe Montana, a man some consider to be the greatest quarterback of all time. In addition to throwing for over 40,000 yards, Matthew has thrown 251 career touchdowns to rank number 22 All-Time. His career passer rating of 89.0 also ranks number 22 in NFL history.
Matthew Stafford has won 68 games in an outstanding NFL career. He has played himself into the conversation with Fran Tarkenton as the Georgia Bulldogs quarterback that has had the most NFL success. The only thing missing for Stafford is a supporting cast good enough for him to lead to a Super Bowl victory. From this point on every time that Stafford steps on the field, he will make more history and move further up the list of great NFL quarterbacks. So enjoy watching him Dawgs fans, every opportunity to watch Matthew Stafford play an NFL game, is an opportunity to watch a Georgia Bulldogs legend at work.
