Watch: Stafford Leads Rams to the NFC Championship Game

Originally posted on FanNation Dawgs Daily
By Harrison Reno | Last updated 1/24/22

A crazy two weeks for Georgia fans, after seeing their Georgia Bulldogs win the program’s first national championship in over four decades, attention now turns to the National Football League’s Playoffs.

Matthew Stafford just helped the LA Rams get past the legendary quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Buccaneers in the first of two Divisional Round Playoff games on Sunday.

After seeing their 27-3 lead over the defending champion Buccaneers, Stafford led the Rams on the game-winning drive with the game tied at 27 a piece. Stafford completed a pass to Cooper Krupp for a 20-yard gain on second and eleven after getting sacked to start the drive.

With the Rams on their own 44-yard line, the former Bulldog unloaded the biggest pass of his career to this point as he found Cooper Kupp down field for a 44-yard completion that put the Rams in field goal range to kick the game winner.

Stafford spent three seasons in Athens (2006-2008), where he accumulated 7,731 yards and 51 touchdowns, breaking the single-season touchdown record in 2008 (25) that DJ Shockley once held.

Stafford would forgo his senior season in Athens and become the first pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, where the Detroit Lions made the former Dallas, Texas native their franchise quarterback for 12 seasons. That twelve-year tenure as the Lions quarterback ended this offseason when he was traded to the contending LA Rams.

Stafford finished with 366 yards and two passing touchdowns, while completing 28 of 38 passes. Stafford along with other former Bulldogs Sony Michel, and Leonard Floyd will play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game next weekend.