Matthew Stafford spent more than a decade piling up touchdown passes for the Detroit Lions. Six seasons after leaving, those numbers are still carrying him up the NFL record book.
The Los Angeles Rams quarterback threw his third touchdown of Monday night’s game against the New York Giants to move past Philip Rivers for sole possession of sixth place on the NFL’s all-time list. Stafford reached 426 career touchdown passes, breaking a tie with Rivers at 425.
And Detroit owns a rather large piece of No. 426.
Matthew Stafford Threw 282 of His 426 TDs With Lions
Stafford remains the Lions‘ franchise leader with 282 touchdown passes, accumulated from 2009 through 2020. He also threw for a franchise-record 45,109 yards during his 12 seasons in Detroit.
That means roughly 66% of Stafford’s career touchdown passes came in a Lions uniform.
The rest have come during his second act with Los Angeles, which started after the January 2021 blockbuster that sent Stafford to the Rams and Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick to Detroit.
It has become one of those rare NFL trades that changed both franchises without requiring much revisionist history. Stafford won a Super Bowl during his first season with Los Angeles. Goff became Detroit’s long-term starter and eventually helped the Lions win their first playoff game in more than three decades — against Stafford and the Rams, no less.
Stafford’s individual numbers never stopped traveling with him.
Stafford Passed Rivers With Third TD Against Giants
Stafford entered Week 2 with 423 touchdown passes, three shy of moving ahead of Rivers. The NFL had specifically identified the milestone among the records within Stafford’s reach in 2026.
He didn’t need much of the season.
Stafford connected with Davante Adams for a 31-yard touchdown late in the first quarter Monday. A 10-yard scoring pass to Kyren Williams in the second quarter gave Stafford No. 425, tying Rivers.
Then came No. 426.
With 6:25 remaining in the third quarter, Stafford found Adams for an 11-yard touchdown, his third scoring pass of the night. At that point Stafford had completed 16 of 23 passes for 273 yards as Los Angeles opened a 21-3 lead.
The performance was particularly notable because Los Angeles entered the night without star receiver Puka Nacua, who was ruled out with a hip/groin injury. Adams instead became Stafford’s primary target and caught two of his three touchdown passes.
Brett Favre Is Next — but There’s a Big Gap
Stafford is now behind five quarterbacks in career touchdown passes: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
Favre’s 508 touchdowns represent the next rung. Stafford sits 82 behind him after reaching 426, so this wasn’t merely another spot in a tightly packed section of the record book. There’s daylight ahead.
That makes sixth place meaningful on its own.
Stafford arrived in Detroit as the No. 1 pick in 2009, joining a franchise coming off an 0-16 season. He left 12 years later without a playoff victory, a fact that long complicated how his Lions tenure was judged.
The career totals have kept accumulating since.
But 282 of those touchdowns aren’t going anywhere. They still belong to Detroit’s record book — and now they’re part of the foundation of the NFL’s No. 6 all-time touchdown passer.
Ex-Lions QB Matthew Stafford Reaches Major NFL Milestone on Monday Night