Matthew Stafford brings Olympic spirit to the Super Bowl

American football doesn’t feature in the Olympic Games. But if it did, Matthew Stafford would make an ideal flagbearer. Some neutrals may cheer for the underdogs, the Cincinnati Bengals in this year's Super Bowl. But many will be backing the Los Angeles Rams, in the hope Stafford will finally get his due reward.

Matt Stafford has attracted an unfortunate nickname, ‘Stat Padford’.

A raft of impressive statistics attest to his quality. But the highly respected quarterback has no major trophy to show for it.

Stafford dedicated most of his career to the Detroit Lions, who selected him first overall in the 2009 NFL draft.

But the team never quite matched Stafford’s abilities. The Lions never even won a playoff game during his time in Detroit.

Finally, the Lions agreed a trade with the Rams.

The time was right for Stafford to move on, and the Rams were intent on acquiring ready-made stars who could bring home a Super Bowl as quickly as possible.

At 34, Stafford now faces not only one of the most-watched sporting events in the world on Sunday 13 February, but the game that could define his career.

His post-season form has been exemplary, with a 72 per cent completion rate, six touchdowns, and only one interception.

But as Stafford knows, statistics are not the whole story.

He was once a player who kept his head down. 

Brannan Southerland played college football for Georgia with Stafford.

“The thing about Matthew is he’s just a humble guy,” he said.

“He doesn’t love the spotlight, he never has. 

“And I think that that’s what people like about him: He just wants to play football and doesn’t necessarily want to be in the spotlight all the time.”

But in recent years Stafford has stepped forward, both to take a stand on racial equality and to support worthy causes in Detroit, where the Stafford family retains special ties.

Stafford explains this partly had its roots in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This offseason for us as a football team was a special one,” Stafford told the Detroit Free Press in August 2020.

 “It was different. Obviously, we’re on these Zoom calls, but there were some awesome conversations that happened. 

“We got a lot of listening, a lot of learning and a lot of inspirational stuff, so that was an awesome thing to be a part of. Kind of got the wheels turning.”

Around three years ago, Stafford’s wife underwent surgery for a brain tumour. Perhaps this too influenced his perspective on life.

“I’m not really doing it for (attention) at all,” Stafford said.

“I’m just doing it because I think it’s the right thing to do.

“That’s what I believe in, what my wife believes in, what our family believes in, so we’re just trying to do what we can to make a difference.

“It wasn’t for anything else, it wasn’t for trying to lead QBs or anything like that.

“We’re just trying to figure out how we can make a difference and help people along the way and we thought this was a good start and just happy to be a part of it.”

There may not be too many neutrals in Detroit on Super Sunday.

“I think we all are playing for not only the guys in this locker room, but those who helped us get to this position,” said Stafford.

“There’s so many people in Detroit, important people in my life, that have helped me get here.”

Just a little bit more pressure then.

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