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Rams-49ers

Jimmie Ward isn't too worried about Matthew Stafford

The two 49ers-Rams games this year just got more interesting. The general rule of thumb for players is to avoid giving opponents bulletin-board material, but San Francisco safety Jimmie Ward has thrown considerable shade in the direction of Matthew Stafford.

“I like Stafford, but they still will have the same players that he’ll be throwing the ball to,” Ward told Grant Cohn of SI.com.. “He’s the same quarterback who was on the Detroit Lions and they still didn’t go to the playoffs, and they had Megatron. What was the problem over there in Detroit? Are you going to blame the city? What was the problem? Was it the money? If they city didn’t have enough money to bring players over there, why even have an NFL team? That’s a big question mark.

“They went and traded Jared Goff, who went to the playoffs several times and went to the Super Bowl. Yeah, he lost. He went to the Super Bowl, though. I’ve yet to see that with Matt Stafford. And I’m saying, he’s still great. I believe he’s a top 10 quarterback, maybe top 5. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m just going off of what I see. And I see Jared Goff got those boys to the Super Bowl.”

They’re fun quotes, and it would be nice if we saw more of them, with players being more honest about opponents. They’ll add a little something extra to these two divisional games (especially with Stafford trying to connect on passes against Ward). The Rams were the better of these teams last year, but San Francisco swept them. The 49ers also won both meetings in 2019 – they seem to match up well against Los Angeles.

In regards to Stafford and Goff, it’s downfield passing ability that’s the key. Stafford has more ability to connect on the longer pass plays, as well as connecting on balls into tighter windows. That’s the theory.

There were confidence issues in Los Angeles last year. Goff seemed to lose confidence, and the coaching staff seemed to give up on him, deciding they needed to get better at the position.

The Rams last year were one of only three teams whose wide receivers averaged fewer than 11 yards per catch. The Lions ranked 8th in that category, averaging almost 3 more yards per completion.

The main wide receivers in Los Angeles aren’t deep-threat burners. Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp tend to be more reliable than explosive. But the Rams signed DeSean Jackson and used a second-round pick on Tutu Atwell, who’s a similar kind of player. We’ll definitely see more long balls in that offense this year.

WIDE RECEIVERS: YARDS PER CATCH
TeamNoYardsAvgTD
Las Vegas155235115.214
Denver168242714.414
Tennessee183261914.319
Cleveland163231414.212
Houston239331813.922
Minnesota196271513.923
Green Bay203276413.629
Detroit208282413.616
Indianapolis175237513.611
LA Chargers203273013.419
Tampa Bay239315113.229
Atlanta264346413.121
Carolina251329213.110
Kansas City225290412.925
San Francisco182233612.89
Seattle232293612.728
Dallas256323512.617
Baltimore137172912.617
Philadelphia166208212.514
Buffalo312389712.528
NY Jets188232012.412
New England168206312.34
NY Giants177212612.09
Jacksonville228272712.019
Miami172201811.711
Washington194226011.68
Cincinnati235271511.613
New Orleans189213911.312
Arizona258288411.215
LA Rams253274810.912
Chicago246262510.713
Pittsburgh297309610.430

—Ian Allan

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