Matthew Stafford made NFL history on Sunday, becoming the first player to hold the franchise record for passing touchdowns with two different teams after a three-touchdown showing for the Los Angeles Rams.
Matthew Stafford (Credits: ESPN)
The milestone came in the second quarter of the Rams’ 35-21 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in Las Vegas. Stafford threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Puka Nacua — his third touchdown pass of the first half — to reach 155 passing touchdowns with Los Angeles.
That moved him past Roman Gabriel, who threw 154 touchdown passes in 130 games with the Rams from 1962 to 1972. Stafford reached 155 in just 81 career games for the Rams.
Matthew Stafford Rams and Lions Touchdown Records
Stafford, who spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the Detroit Lions, already leads that franchise with 282 passing touchdowns. Holding both records at once makes him the first player to hold the franchise passing-touchdown record for multiple active teams — and, per reports, the first ever to hold the career touchdown-pass record for two franchises.
“It’s pretty cool,” Stafford said of the milestone, before joking, “It just means you’re old and you’ve played a lot of ball and wore yourself thin enough at a certain place where they moved on.”
The Rams traded for Stafford after the 2020 season in a package that sent quarterback Jared Goff to the Lions and included multiple first-round picks. The move has since defined the second act of Stafford’s career — and Sunday added its most historic statistical chapter yet.
Stafford’s Record Day Against the Raiders
All three of Stafford’s passing touchdowns came in the first half, which tied a career high in any half, according to ESPN Research. He threw two touchdowns to Davis Allen before the record-breaker to Nacua, and finished the first half 17-of-19 for 148 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
His 79% completion percentage was his highest in a game since 2018, when he was still with the Lions. Stafford also passed former Rams quarterback Jim Everett (1,846) for the second-most completions (1,851) in franchise history.
Stafford was quick to share the credit. “Throwing touchdowns isn’t a one-man job,” he said. “Takes a lot of people to block and get open and coaches to draw up plays.”
“It’s been a heck of a ride,” he added. “Enjoy doing what I do, still love it, and look forward to doing some more.”
The win improved the Rams to 3-4 and kept them in the playoff race after a slow start — but Sunday will be remembered first for the record: a quarterback who rewrote the history books in Detroit, and has now done it again in Los Angeles.
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Source: ESPN — read the full story there.
