Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford Prepared To Play Through Pain: 'Done It Before!'

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has played through injuries before, and as he prepares for his return on Sunday, he's more than ready to do so again.

The one thing that no one can take away from Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is that he is as tough as they come.

Stafford, 35, has suffered a number of brutal injuries throughout his career, but rarely have they ever slowed him down for long. 

Perhaps the most iconic instance of this phenomenon came in his rookie season with the Detroit Lions, when he came back into the game after suffering a separated shoulder to help his team score a comeback victory over the Cleveland Browns. In the years since, Stafford has continued to fight through the pain even when it seemed impossible.

Stafford is on track to return from a UCL sprain in his right thumb for Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's fully healed. As he has done many times before, though, Stafford is ready to play through pain once again.

Stafford sacked by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons in a loss on Oct. 29 / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

"All of them that touch the ball are important, thumb maybe the most, so it's definitely a challenge," Stafford told reporters. "Obviously, played the whole 2020 season with something similar, or not the whole, the second half of 2020 something similar. So (I’ve) done it before, can do it again.”

The injury Stafford referred to plagued him throughout the 2020 season, his final one in Detroit. He had it repaired ahead of his Rams debut in 2021 and is just one of a few hand injuries he has dealt with throughout his career.

Despite not being back to full health just yet, Stafford is still very confident about his ability to go out there and sling it.

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"It's a fine balance of rest and rehab as much as I possibly can to try to let you know everything in there kind of settle down but at the same time, understanding that at some point you got to go out there and see what you got and was able to do that a little bit on Monday and then full practice today just doing everything we wanted to do. So feel pretty good about it.”