Part of what makes Matthew Stafford one of the best quarterbacks in football is his ability to make tough throws look easy. He might throw a dart to a receiver over the middle that looks like a simple completion, only to realize after watching the replay that he looked off the safety, reset his feet with pressure bearing down and threw his target open with great anticipation.
Or more impressively, he used his eyes to hold an underneath defender and made a no-look throw to the receiver. He did that in the Super Bowl against the Bengals during the Rams’ game-winning drive, and he did it again in the playoff loss to the Eagles this past January.
When Sean McVay was on the “Fitz & Whit” podcast this offseason, he talked about that specific no-look pass against the Eagles and explained what made it so special despite looking so easy.
“He’s able to hold Nolan Smith to be expand him to be able to dot it on Puka Nacua for a big positive gain,” McVay said. “And you’re like, ‘Oh, he just works across the board, hit a basic.’ And it’s like, ‘Uh, no, mother. It was not like that. He actually manipulated a weakside hook player coming from on the line of scrimmage in a simulated fire zone and he made what looked like a routine play outstanding because of the intricacies of how he plays. Those are the things that you talked about that you don’t take that stuff for granted and I know I don’t either.”
Stafford is a master of making the spectacular look routine, and McVay perfectly described how he does that. Playing quarterback isn’t as simple as dropping back and throwing to an open receiver.
Stafford plays with anticipation and never wastes any movement in the pocket, whether he’s using his eyes, a shoulder fake or moving his feet to evade pressure. It’s why he’s had so much success during his decade-plus in the NFL.