Rams 26, Seahawks 20
Q. (Inaudible).
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, the last three. I thought T.J. did a great job on the first one, getting in front of Reed there, that was tough, and having the other options, it was great for him to come through and make a big play. And since he ran a great route, from my right to my left, throwing basically a deep comeback off the keeper and he did a great job separating and making that play and the next one -- yeah, I mean I didn't think I was throwing that ball pre-snap but sometimes that those things happen. You get out clean and D-Rob does a hell of a job winning the point and holding them off and catching.
Q. Yeah, I know it's a different situation but when they're bringing that pressure like that and then you're throwing a ball to the top of the route that you're maybe not usually throwing to. It remained me back of post-season 2021. Is there any similarity at all?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Probably the closest one to it would be last year at the Giants I hit D-Rob on a high corner versus a pressure look, but, yeah, I was trying to think about -- I was talking to Rags, our QB coach trying to figure out the last time I threw a high corner for a walk-off. I think it was my rookie year, first win with the Lions against the Washington team way back in the day to Will Hellick. Love that shout out. (Laughter) Yeah, it's been a while.
Q. When your defense stopped them in overtime, can you describe what kind of pick-me-up that was for the offense?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: They did it the whole day. It was unbelievable. I thought our defense was fantastic. We always talk about making them snap it one more time and they were the epitome of that today, right? A couple times they get down there in the low red. Kam does a hell of a job getting two turnovers, taking one back. Play of the day was him re-recovering his own fumble in the endzone. (Laughter) But no our defense played fantastic. What an up and down game, right? Our defense getting turnovers. We got down there and didn't score a touchdown from the one. We get a punt block. It was a crazy one, it was all over the place. It took a lot of mental fortitude and strength and believing in each other to win that and that's what it takes and we have that, so that's great. Yeah, we lose Puka in the game, Rob goes out, all sorts of things we had to overcome and we were able to do it.
Q. Earlier in the season you pointed out that in the Arizona game they had to (inaudible). How does it feel to win one of those games?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, I do. I still think the first half on offense, we didn't play well at all. We just missed assignments and physical errors, all the things that can go wrong kind of did and we had to come in here at halftime after losing a little bit of momentum right there at the half. A though little two-minute sequence there really for both sides of the ball. Regroup and understand we're still in the ball game. Got to go out there and make the plays we know we can make and we were able to do that enough in the second half as a team to give us a victory and that's what it takes sometimes. Not every time you're going to come out and play football and the score be 35-32 or whatever it is. It's going to be tough, ground-it-out games especially on the road against a really good team and tough crowd so it was nice to get the win.
Q. All you needed in that situation was a field goal to win it but your attitude -- can you take us through what your attitude is in that situation?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, I just want to do whatever I can to help our team win and to be honest with you, that was as good a match-up as we had on that play, but like I said, I wasn't planning on shooting that one out there pre-snap and I got the edge clean. Coop did a hell of a job getting me the edge, had a little bit of time and it just kind of popped and was able to throw it out there and he made a hell of a catch. I heard he caught it one-handed.
Q. Have you seen that?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: I have not but when I threw it, D-Rob's body language I was like oh, no, I underthrew it. I thought I might have underthrown it from his body language, did such a great job holding him off and making a play.
Q. Matthew when something like this happens with Puka, we talked earlier this week about channelling his emotions and learning how to do that. What do you say to him? What was your --
MATTHEW STAFFORD: He's a smart and aware kid. I'm not worried about Puka. Obviously that's not something he wants to do. He doesn't want to not be able to be out there and play with us and all those kinds of things. It's a little bit of a frustrating start to the game and that guy made a hell of a play on that ball, and sometimes emotion gets the best of us, but I got total trust and confidence in his ability to respond and understand those are the things we can't do and as hard as that is sometimes, you have to walk away from those things. You have to do it and I have no problems with how he will be moving forward.
Q. (Inaudible).
MATTHEW STAFFORD: (Laughter) He did. He was one of the first guys to dap me up, so I was cool with that. So fired up for us to get that win, obviously. I'm sure he was sick about not being out there but it'll be good to have him back.
Q. After the last time we were talking about Puka so much and Demarcus kind of made a comment in jest, I'm a pretty good player, too, what's your read on him in terms of --
MATTHEW STAFFORD: I think it's pretty good. That's an understatement. I think D-Rob is a hell of a player and he's a joy to be around. He loves the game of football, loves being a teammate in this locker room. That's first and foremost and when you go out there on Sundays and watch him make the plays that he makes, first touchdown catch, I think the guy fell down, he just dusted him. He's a problem in man-to-man and he does a hell of a job for him so we all feed off of his energy. A lot of times he's a spark plug for us and he was tonight.
Q. All right, thank you.
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