Matthew Stafford — Week 2: Four Touchdowns, Three Twenty-Seven
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Tuesday, Sep 22
Stafford completed 22 of 31 throws for 327 yards and four touchdowns with one interception and one sack, and the Rams' passing game produced plus 18.6 expected points on 32 pass plays, second-best of the 32 teams in Week 2. Four touchdown passes tied Dak Prescott and Jared Goff for the most in the week, in a 28–6 win over the Giants.
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Nothing to nothing, 19 seconds left in the first quarter, second and 14 at the New York 31. Matthew Stafford threw short middle to Davante Adams, who took it the rest of the way for the touchdown and the first points of the night. +3.8 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 8.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The Rams led from there to the end.
The line: 22 completions on 31 throws, 327 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, one sack, +18.6 expected points on 32 pass plays. 11 of 15 for a hundred 84 before halftime; 11 of 16 for a hundred 43 after. The touchdowns were 31 yards to Adams, 10 to Kyren Williams on third and six with 11 13 left in the half, 11 to Adams with six 25 left in the third, and five to Terrance Ferguson on second and five with nine oh two left in the game — one to a receiver, one to a back, one to a receiver, one to a tight end, and all four thrown from the New York 31 or closer. The interception was second and five at the Los Angeles 26 with five 37 left in the half, deep left for Adams, 45 yards in the air, taken by Jevon Holland at the New York 29. The sack was first and 10 at the Los Angeles 35 with eight 53 left in the third, −9 yards, by Abdul Carter. Seven third-down pass plays produced four conversions, and the Rams converted five of eight third downs on the night. Five throws traveled 20 or more yards in the air and three were caught, for a hundred 14 yards. He also scrambled once for two yards and took three kneel-downs.
The distribution was narrow. 10 throws to Adams, nine to Ferguson, two each to Williams, Colby Parkinson, Konata Mumpfield and Tutu Atwell, one each to Xavier Smith, Blake Corum and Davis Allen, and one with no receiver named. +18.6 expected points was the second-best passing game of Week Two behind San Francisco's, with all 32 teams having played.
Back in June the preview called Stafford too cheap at the twelfth quarterback: 46 touchdown passes and the league's most valuable player award at 37, the second-best adjusted net yards per attempt in football, and two honest cautions — no rushing floor, and a touchdown total that almost certainly regresses. Week One in Melbourne was the caution arriving early: 15 of 25 for a hundred 55, no touchdowns, one interception, and a fourth-and-one keeper stopped at the goal line in a 27 to seven loss. Week Two was the other end of the same player. Two starts, one of each, and the preview's actual claim — that the efficiency is real even if 46 scores are not — has one data point on each side. Los Angeles is at the Broncos on Sunday night the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
When Matthew Stafford's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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