Getty Matthew Stafford playing vs. the Jaguars.
Matthew Stafford has been around the NFL for 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions, and in that time, he’s squared off against every team. Perhaps surprisingly, he had not thrown a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That all changed on Sunday afternoon.
With a flick on 4th and goal early in the second half, Stafford managed to get his team in the end zone for the third time against the Jaguars on the afternoon. This score was significant because it gave Stafford touchdowns against every single NFL team he’s played.
Here’s a look at the touchdown pass to get Stafford on the board against the Jaguars in his career.
Stafford finds @TheeHOCK8 on fourth down for the score!
All told, Stafford has been a statistical machine in his career, but the fact he had not yet thrown for a score against the Jaguars was quite befuddling. Classically, the Jaguars are a bad team, but it’s been more of a statistical anomaly than anything else that he hasn’t found a way to get in the end zone against the Jaguars in his long career.
Now that Stafford has gotten in the end zone against them, he can lay claim to having a pass against every NFL team in the league. No matter how silly it might sound, it’s an impressive fraternity to join considering the difficulty of playing in the NFL.
Matthew Stafford’s History Against Jaguars
Stafford has struggled beating Jacksonville in his career. The opposite is true. Stafford is 2-0 career against the Jaguars in terms of record, but he has played poorly statistically in those games. Stafford hadn’t had a touchdown or an interception in his career against Jacksonville and just 563 yards passing. Both previous games the Lions had won against the Jaguars were defensive in feel and closer wins where Detroit’s kicking game and running game figured bigger in the final score than Stafford did. The team had never managed to get Stafford a score against the Jaguars until this point in time.
Regardless, it has to feel good for Stafford to get this particular statistical flaw fixed.
Matthew Stafford Stats
Long considered one of the more accomplished young passers in the NFL thanks to his abilities, Stafford has put up some serious numbers after being Detroit’s No. 1 pick in 2009. He has put up 42,042 passing yards and 264 touchdowns coming into Week 6 of the NFL season. In spite of these numbers, Stafford has not been able to win a playoff game or an NFC North title thus far in his career. Those remain the black marks on the resume at this point, and those are the things Stafford will have to change about his resume in order to alter how folks view him moving forward.
It had to be considered a lowlight for Stafford not to have thrown a touchdown against the Jaguars, but finally, he has managed to end that streak in a big way for the team in 2020 with the short pass.
It’s just another solid statistical highlight in his career. Obviously, Lions fans hope Stafford can do more in the future.