{"id":93528,"date":"2025-12-13T18:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/93528\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T18:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:27:13","slug":"matthew-stafford-jared-goff-trade-still-a-win-win-for-rams-and-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/93528\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade still a win-win for Rams and Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jared Goff<\/a> doesn\u2019t think about it much anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a long time ago,\u201d he told Detroit reporters this week.<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford<\/a> hinted at the same during his weekly availability with Los Angeles reporters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly five years since the Rams sent Goff<\/a>, two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick to the Detroit Lions in a blockbuster trade for Stafford<\/a>. But as much as the two star quarterbacks \u2014 and former No. 1 picks in the draft \u2014 would like to politely leave it be, they forever will be linked in the greater football consciousness.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

Gary Klein breaks down what to watch for when the Rams take on the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy transition for anybody,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cYou\u2019re moving across the country. Your families are moving across the country, all those kind of things. You\u2019re going to a new team, doing all of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019ve got a ton of respect for him. And hopefully he feels the same way towards me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday at SoFi Stadium, Stafford and Goff will duel for the fourth time. The Rams beat the Lions at SoFi Stadium in 2021, but the Lions defeated the Rams<\/a> in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs two seasons later at Ford Field and then beat them again in the same stadium in the 2024 season opener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who got the best end of the deal?<\/p>\n

Stafford, 37, led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI in his first season and is on the verge of helping them clinch a playoff berth for the fourth time in five seasons with a performance that has made him a front-runner to win his first most valuable player award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Goff, 31, has led the Lions to two playoff appearances, including the NFC championship game in 2023, and twice has been voted to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n

So both have thrived. And this season they are statistically close.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has completed 288 of 432 passes for 3,354 yards and a league-best 35 touchdowns with four interceptions.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Stafford has completed 288 of 432 passes for 3,354 yards and a league-best 35 touchdowns with four interceptions. Goff has completed 289 of 412 passes for 3,334 yards and 26 touchdowns with five interceptions.<\/p>\n

The Rams (10-3) hold the No. 1 seed in the NFC and can clinch a playoff spot with a victory Sunday. The Lions (8-5) are battling for a playoff spot in the NFC North, chasing the No. 2-seeded Green Bay Packers (9-3-1) and the No. 7 Chicago Bears (9-4).<\/p>\n

\u201cJared\u2019s played really great,\u201d Rams coach Sean McVay<\/a> said. \u201cI\u2019ve been truly happy to see what he\u2019s done and how he\u2019s really put that team on his back and done such a great job of being able to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goff, of course, is in Detroit because McVay grew frustrated with him near the conclusion of the 2020 season \u2014 which ended with a divisional-round loss to the Packers \u2014 and Stafford became available after 12 seasons with the Lions.<\/p>\n

Nearly half a decade has passed. But when asked about Goff, McVay does not miss an opportunity to remorsefully reference the clunky, impersonal way he handled the quarterback\u2019s exit<\/a> from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very open and very clear about [how] I had a lot of growing up to do back when that thing went down,\u201d McVay said. \u201cThere were a lot of great memories and a lot of really good ball that he did here that I\u2019ll always cherish. I\u2019m truly happy for him. He\u2019s married and has a beautiful little girl now. It\u2019s awesome to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m reminded of those things and then you\u2019re also reminded of when you need to be able to grow up and handle things a little bit better. I\u2019ll never run away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goff said he no longer feels an emotional charge when he plays against the Rams, citing the playoff game and last season\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo now it\u2019s even further removed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit <\/p>\n

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has completed 289 of 412 passes for 3,334 yards and 26 touchdowns with five interceptions.<\/p>\n

(Ryan Sun \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Stafford apparently feels the same about the Lions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I flip the tape on, I don\u2019t think about all the guys that I used to play with,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause hardly any of them are still playing on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford said he follows many quarterbacks in the NFL, Goff among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve had a ton of success since he\u2019s been there,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a great part of that. I think he does as good a job as anybody getting the ball to his playmakers and letting those guys work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goff also has monitored Stafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing a good job,\u201d Goff said. \u201cAnd we do get some crossover tape here and there, and he\u2019s one of those guys you like to watch on tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game, as per custom in the NFL, the quarterbacks will seek out each other. The exchanges between Stafford and Goff have included \u201ca ton of mutual respect,\u201d Stafford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple times we played him, it\u2019s been great battles all the way down to the end,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cHe\u2019s made some plays to help him win the game and shoot, I tip my cap to him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jared Goff doesn\u2019t think about it much anymore. \u201cIt feels like a long time ago,\u201d he told Detroit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[51439,51438,48,52,51,42340,47,50,49,63,11396,4606,51440,39416,11491,11706,10947,278,29443,4610,14476],"class_list":["post-93528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-former-no","tag-goff-trade","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lion","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-matthew","tag-mcvay","tag-new-team","tag-playoff-game","tag-quarterback","tag-ram","tag-rams","tag-season","tag-stafford","tag-thing","tag-ton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}