NFL Playoffs: Jared Goff Faces Player He Was Traded For, Matthew Stafford

Rams unloaded former Cal star Goff to Detroit, which hosts the Rams and Stafford in the opening round of playoffs

The Detroit Lions first postseason game since the 2016 season will be a home game Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, and it will feature a matchup of two starting quarterbacks who were traded for each other three years ago.

It's the first time in NFL payoff history that both starting quarterbacks will be facing their former teams at the same time. 

But there's so much more to this quarterback matchup. 

Former Cal quarterback Jared Goff was unloaded by the Rams in a January 2021 trade in which Los Angeles gave the Detroit Lions a package of Goff, two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick to get Stafford. That trade showed the Rams desperately wanted to get rid of Goff while receiving what they considered a significant upgrade at the critical quarterback position.

Stafford led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in his first season in Los Angeles, while Goff’s Lions went 3-13-1 that 2021 season, leaving the general impression that the Lions would seek to replace Goff as their starting quarterback.

However, things have changed, beginning with the fact that Detroit stuck with Goff. This season, Goff has led third-seeded Detroit (12-5) to its first division title in 30 years as well as their first home playoff game in 30 years. Meanwhile, the sixth-seeded Rams are a wild-card team with a 10-7 record. Goff leads Stafford in nearly every meaningful statistic, but Stafford has been hot lately, having led the Rams to six wins in their final seven games, the one loss being an overtime defeat against the Baltimore Ravens.

It was Stafford who was named to the Pro Bowl this season while Goff was not selected.

The two have faced each other twice, and each has won once, although Stafford had the better game both times.

In 2018, when Goff was the Rams quarterback, Los Angeles beat Stafford’s Lions 30-16. Goff was 17-for-33 for 207 yards, one touchdown, one interception and 68.6 passer rating. Stafford was 20-for-33 for 245 yards, one touchdown, one interception and an 81.0 passer rating.

In 2021, Stafford’s Rams defeated Goff’s Lions 28-19. Goff went 22-for-36 for 268 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and a 70.1 passer rating. Stafford was 28-for-41 for 334 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 117.3 passer rating.

So Stafford will being playing at Ford Field, which he called home for his first 12 NFL seasons, while Goff will be going against Rams coach Sean McVay, who lost faith in Goff and unloaded him in a lopsided trade to Detroit.

Of course, on Sunday McVay downplayed facing Goff:

Focused on the task at hand but excited for the opportunity. pic.twitter.com/rSGeCxxdEI

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 8, 2024

Of course, Goff is downplaying the obvious storylines:

Jared Goff: "It’s so much greater than anything about me and the Rams or Matthew in Detroit."

"It's about our team. We’ve come a long way and it’s our opportunity now to go make a real run. It’d be selfish of me to make it about anything else," he said:https://t.co/Ac6RXOmola

— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) January 9, 2024

Cover photo of Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford by Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports

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