Rams QB Matthew Stafford excited to play for Super Bowl contender

While new Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has "no ill will" toward his former employer after Wednesday's trade officially sent him from the Los Angeles Rams to the Motor City, Matthew Stafford, the other signal-caller involved in the transaction, told reporters on Friday he's delighted to be joining a Rams team that notched a playoff victory in January. Stafford said, per Nick Shook of the NFL's official website:

"It's exciting, it's something that drew me as a, I guess, tradeable asset at some point that the Rams were a team that were proven winners, had done it quite consistently over the last four or five years, something that was exciting to me.

"And obviously being on the other end of that, not having too many playoff chances under my belt is frustrating. It's tough. You play this game for success as a team and you want to win games and be in those big moments, so I'm excited to hopefully have that opportunity.

"That isn't guaranteed to us. Just because it happened in years past doesn't mean it's going to happen again. We've got to go out there and earn it, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we earn it."

The Rams had a banged-up Goff and former Alliance of American Football quarterback John Wolford in the rotation for their postseason win over the Seattle Seahawks on Jan. 9, and they're expecting Stafford will serve as a significant upgrade at the position. Meanwhile, the 33-year-old with only one Pro Bowl appearance on his resume will look to double that number and take the Rams back to the Super Bowl for the second time in four seasons.