Emotions to run high for Matthew Stafford if recent Wild Card matchup projections prove true

Sometimes life is better than a movie. For the Los Angeles Rams, making the NFL playoffs after a horrendous start is one thing, but giving Matthew Stafford a chance to play his former team, the Detroit Lions, is another.  A Rams and Lions Wild Card matchup is the third-most likely game to take place in the […]

Ian Kayanja
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Dec 31, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) warms up before the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Image via Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes life is better than a movie. 

For the Los Angeles Rams, making the NFL playoffs after a horrendous start is one thing, but giving Matthew Stafford a chance to play his former team, the Detroit Lions, is another. 

A Rams and Lions Wild Card matchup is the third-most likely game to take place in the first round of the NFL playoffs, Seth Walder of ESPN reported Thursday. 

It is a matchup Stafford and the Rams have downplayed, but it is sure to be chalked full of emotion if it takes place. 

Stafford spent 12 seasons with the Lions. He passed for more than 45,000 yards and 280 touchdowns. 

Though the Lions were never Super Bowl favorites during Stafford's tenure, he did get the team to the playoffs three times, losing in the NFC Wild Card round in 2012, 2015 and 2017. 

Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford ran out of the grasp of New York Giants Mathias Kiwanuka in the second quarter of their in Detroit, Sunday, December 22, 2013.
Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford ran out of the grasp of New York Giants Mathias Kiwanuka in the second quarter of their in Detroit, Sunday, December 22, 2013.Image via Julian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free Press via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Stafford's best playoff game with the Lions came in 2012 when he took on the New Orleans Saints. He threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns in a game that ended 45-28 in New Orleans' favor. 

A potential Stafford return to Detroit isn't the only storyline that would come from a Rams and Lions playoff matchup. It would also be a game in which Jared Goff is playing against the team that gave up on him for Stafford less than five years ago. 

Dec 24, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) celebrates after running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) runs for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Dec 24, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) celebrates after running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) runs for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium.Image via Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

If Goff beats Stafford, it would be doing something the former Lions standout never could: Deliver Lions fans their first playoff win since 1991. 

Currently, the odds for a Rams and Lions playoff game sit at 61 percent, merely a hair under a Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers playoff game, which is 63 percent likely. 

The most likely matchup is the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars, which sits at 69 percent, according to Walder's report.

Nothing is set in stone until Week 18 is over. However, Stafford playing his old team and Goff taking on the coach who didn't believe in him feels like a moment the football gods ought to give NFL fans everywhere. 

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