Matthew Stafford must improve in key area if Rams offense is going to be among NFL's best
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Matthew Stafford has just 44 touchdown passes in the last two seasons, which is only one more than Joe Burrow had in 2024 alone. Stafford is still playing some excellent football but his lack of scores has been somewhat surprising.
A big reason for his underwhelming touchdown numbers is the offense’s struggles in the red zone. Last season, Stafford completed only 16 of his 39 pass attempts (41%) from inside the 10-yard line. There were only three quarterbacks with at least 20 pass attempts inside the 20 who had a lower completion rate than Stafford.
It wasn’t much better in 2023, either. That year, he completed just 23 of 45 (51.1%) of his passes inside the 20.
In goal-to-go situations, Stafford ranks among the league’s worst in completion rate, according to Warren Sharp. He has a completion rate of 47%, eighth-worst among all quarterbacks with at least 30 dropbacks.
completion rate on goal-to-go passes:
69% - Lamar Jackson
68% - Jordan Love
65% - Bo Nix
65% - Baker Mayfield
63% - Jalen Hurts
63% - Patrick Mahomes
59% - Jared Goff
58% - Dak Prescott
57% - Aaron Rodgers
56% - C.J. Stroud
55% - Sam Darnold
55% - Brock Purdy
54% - Joe Burrow…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 25, 2025
It didn’t help that Stafford was missing Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee all for parts of the last two years. They were his top red zone targets and being without them certainly played a factor in his lower completion rate.
And it’s not completely Stafford’s fault. Play design could be better, as could the routes being run by receivers. But there were undoubtedly some errant throws made by the veteran quarterback, ones that could’ve been touchdowns had the accuracy been better.
Last season, the Rams were 25th red zone touchdown rate, scoring on just 51% of their trips inside the 20. Kyren Williams scored a bunch of those touchdowns, which played into Stafford only having 16 touchdown passes from inside the 20.
If the Rams are going to improve on offense after ranking 20th in total points last year, Stafford must be better in the red zone.
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This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams' Matthew Stafford must improve red zone passing numbers
