Matthew Stafford's Rams 'Homecoming'? 'Revenge'-Minded Detroit Lions Have Another Plan for QB Jared Goff
There are an assortment of conflicting motivations for the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in an NFC Wild Card matchup at Ford Field.
Eminem thinks Matthew Stafford thinks he's owed something. Matthew Stafford's wife wants a piece of the emotional action. Darius Slay, checking in from Philly, is asking for a kindness as well.
But for the Lions in their first home playoff game in three decades? Maybe this isn't about Stafford at all.
Maybe this is supposed to be quarterback Jared Goff's revenge.
"If you asked me personally, I definitely want to win it for him," Lions star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. "I know he might not tell the media or what. But I think it's within every player.''
Within every player, that is, who was dumped by his former team ... and now faces that former team - in this case for the first time since the 2021 offseason and in this case, in an all-important playoff game.
The Rams traded Goff to Lions for Stafford, who wanted out of Detroit after a long run short on success. That happened while the relationship between Goff and Rams head coach Sean McVay was rough.
McVay has since tried to smooth that out; after all, Goff did QB the Rams in a Super Bowl before Stafford did the same in a win.
Said St. Brown: "You come from a team that – first-round pick, went to the Super Bowl and then gets traded, if you ask anyone, they're going to feel some type of way.''
The Lions and the Rams are scheduled to kick off at 7:20 p.m. CT on Sunday night, and yes, Kelly Stafford hopes for a warm return and Slay hopes Stafford is allowed that and Eminem just wants his old pal Matthew to lose. (See below)
But in the Lions locker room? It's not the wives or the fans or the music acts that matter.
"For me, I want to go win it for him,'' St. Brown said. "It fires me up that he's playing his old team. I'm excited for him. And, shoot, I want to do it for him as much as I do for the whole team.''
