Rams Matthew Stafford Shines in Third Full Preseason Practice

Here's what happened at practice.

Matthew Stafford Is Back

I'm not sure if someone poured orange juice in his cereal this morning because Matthew Stafford was playing pissed. After missing a deep throw early in team session, a switch flipped and Stafford began to throw dot after dot after dot.

He had a two word mentality that starts with a cuss word and ends with a you, throwing completions to his entire arsenal of pass catchers. He found Konata Mumpfield, throwing into a vacant zone in coverage early and from that moment on, he was on the money.

Those throws we talked about on Tuesday, the deep pass, back shoulder, outside throws, etc. The ones he was missing. Stafford was hitting them with ease.

Davante Adams was the winner on Thursday, catching pass after pass. Stafford had trouble hitting spots on Tuesday. Not on Thursday. Adams ran a premier route but Emmanuel Forbers was tight in coverage. There was a spot right beyond Forbes' reach but cl ose the the sideline that Stafford needed power and touch to hit. He hit Adams right in his hands before Adams stepped out of bounds.

Tutu Atwell burned the defense deep and in training camp, some of those passes from Garoppolo would have been dropped. For some reason, the trajectory of Stafford's throws allows Atwell to make these big plays as Atwell corralled yet another score this week.

However, it was another Stafford throw that was the declaration that the gunslinger in back.

On a throw similar to the one he had to make for Adams, Stafford did to again, hitting Atwell going the opposite way. Immediately on the following play, Stafford fired a back shoulder throw to Nacua, who caught it while tiptoeing the sideline.

Stafford was excellent and looks as good as he was in 2021. The flick of the wrist was evident and the pocket mobility is coming back quickly.

Stafford wasn't the only one having a big day. Kyren Williams advanced into the second level of the defense on multiple occasions while Blake Corum turned the corner on them.

Adams, who was catching passes with no care in the world, caught a ball in stride and hit the afterburners. He's not the fastest but his stride is second to none. The way he is running, forces defenses to close gaps fast or he'll run through them to the end zone. His speed is good but his acceleration is second to none, especially for a player at his size.

Jared Verse was on his game and was Byron Young. I'll have more on them later but we're seeing the framework of Chris Shula's new designs and all I can say is wow.

Nate Landman was a perpetual force, blasting through blocks, playing intelligent ball, never seemingly out of place. A tackle for loss machine.

Quentin Lake's versatility made certain throws for Stafford difficult, as Lake's ability will force other quarterbacks to make throws they don't want to make.