Eagles' OC On Matthew Stafford: 'One Of The Premier Quarterbacks'

Kellen Moore started his NFL journey with Matthew Stafford in Detroit.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws a pass during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - Matthew Stafford is five months older than Kellen Moore, a former teammate of the Los Angeles Rams starting quarterback for the first three seasons of the Eagles offensive coordinator’s playing career.

Moore won’t turn 37 until July and has already been running NFL offenses for five-plus seasons.

Once a star quarterback himself at Boise State, Moore has already piloted two No. 1 offenses in Dallas and is currently game-planning and calling the plays for the fifth-ranked offense in the NFL with Philadelphia

Stafford, meanwhile, preceded Moore in the NFL by three seasons as the 2009 No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia and is still playing at a high level in his 16th NFL season seven years after Moore traded in his cleats for a coaching whistle.

If anything Moore was the more accomplished player in college as a two-time All-American and the first quarterback in FBS history to win 50 games during his career.

The difference was the physical gifts with Moore generously listed 6-foot and 200 pounds and Stafford straight out of central casting as that No. 1 overall pick with a right arm touched by the Football Gods.

Stafford is still slinging the football at a high level for the 5-5 Los Angeles Rams, who will host the 8-2 Eagles on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.

The gifts are just the headliner to the Stafford story, accoding to Moore.

“Matthew is one of the premier quarterbacks in this league,” Moore said Tuesday. “I was fortunate enough to be around him for a few years in Detroit. I think what I always learned so much from him when I was in the room with him was just how much work went into it during the week.”

Like most successful players, Stafford was able to marry his God-given abilities with a work ethic to match.

“Matthew’s preparation is very rare,” said Moore. “The work he puts into it. The amount of film he watches.”

Last week the game plan for the No. 1 ranked Philadelphia defense was to make uber-talented rookie Jayden Daniels to play quarterback, according to safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. This time it’s got to be about speeding up and getting Stafford off the spots he’s comfortable with because the Rams' veteran has a Master’s Degree in playing the position.

“I think he’s got an excellent, excellent feel for the game," Moore said. "His ability to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage and kind of control the whole operation is very rare and so certainly I learned a lot being around him for those first couple of years."

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