Los Angeles - 34, Arizona - 11
Q. What's it like to get your first playoff win? And are you relieved we will not be asking you about this again?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, I mean, I'm just excited for our team to get the win. Obviously, what a team effort. I mean, our defense played outstanding tonight. Special teams basically set up a score with Johnny pinning them down there. Did a great job on field goals. And, you know, we were good enough on offense to score some points and coming away with a win. Just happy to be moving on.
Q. What does it mean to get playoff win?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: I think it means a lot more to you guys and all that. I just want to be a part of this team and help us win. I trust in my abilities, trust in my abilities, trust in my teammates. I'll go out there and play and let the chips fall where they may.
Q. How special is it here in SoFi and all the fans? What's your message to all the fans?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: It was awesome. They did a great job. There was definitely some -- when our defense is out there, pretty awesome, you know, the way they responded and the way they, you know, came out and cheered for us tonight.
And our defense did a bunch of to keep them cheering, which was great. And, you know, just happy to get a win at home.
Q. (Question concerning Odell Beckham Jr.)
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, that's a, you know, play we practiced this week. Odell is a super talented guy. He made that throw right-handed, he could probably do it lefty, too. He's a freak.
But just really well executed. Cam did a great job walking underneath it, made a play. Kudos to Sean calling that. I thought Sean did a great job of setting us up for success, really, all night. And, you know, we made some plays when we had the chances.
Q. What did you guys learn from maybe the previous week and how did you implement that?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, I thought we had a great plan coming into the game. There were a couple wrinkles that they showed that were a little bit different. Some of the stuff they were doing on third down. But we were still able to execute and make some plays.
But Sean, again, came up with a great one. We went out there and executed it well and moved it up and down the field. We had a short field a bunch of times. Our defense scored.
I mean, those kind of things are huge in any game. And in a playoff game, it's going to be magnified even more. Just proud of our team.
Q. Your offensive line, sometimes the holes seemed enormous.
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, it was outstanding. Both in the run game and the pass game. That's a tough front we're playing. That's a really good front seven.
They can get after the passer, stop the run. They can do all of it. Just proud of those guys. They played great all season, to be honest with you.
Did a great job of keeping me clean, giving me chances to work the ball down the field. And then in the run game, moving guys out of the way and our backs did a great job of reading the creases.
Q. What's your initial thought about playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: A huge challenge. Going into their place, a tough place to play. They've been really good this year. Fantastic quarterback, really good defense. Really good football team.
It will be a big challenge for us. I think their team is different than when we played them last, I think both personnel and scheme a little bit.
You always evolve throughout the season. It'll be interesting to see what they look like here as of late. And we'll go out there and attack and we'll see what happens.
Q. (No microphone.)
MATTHEW STAFFORD: You know, I felt like I was putting the ball in the right place, you know, for the majority of the night. You know, I had to throw one away towards Coop one time.
But other than that, I felt like the ball was going to the right place in a pretty good spot. Our guys made great plays.
You know, that's how I expect to go out and play when I -- you know, every game. It doesn't always happen that way. But just felt good out there, I felt comfortable. And, you know, our team played great.
Q. (Question concerning Odell Beckham Jr.'s performance.)
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, he did great. You know, both catching and throwing. But, you know, he had another one that was called back, too, from a holding that was going to be a 25-yard plus gain.
He was separating all night. Making strong-hands catches, you know, doing what we know he can do. And just the more we have guys step up -- you know, Van catches the deep one there late in the game for a big momentum play, as well.
And then Cooper, you know, what an unbelievable catch on his touchdown. You know, they brought a full out blitz at the last second and had to get it out quick. And he did a great job making a catch. And he iced the game in that four-minute drive with his couples catches and runs.
So just a great team effort. Higbee got us started. I mean, it was everybody. You know, both backs.
But Odell definitely played really good football. That's two games in a row against the Cardinals that he's played really well.
Q. Does it get much bigger in the playoffs against Tom Brady?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Nah. I mean, it's just the next step in the journey. He's an outstanding player. He's been doing it for, you know, a very long time. They've got a great football team.
I mean, their defense is really stout. They played really well this weekend. So we'll have to go and look at that.
I'm not playing against him one-on-one, but I understand that he's a great player and he's going to get his team in the end zone. I got to do my part, as well.
Q. Matt, I know you talked about the -- you know, from what he does in the regular season versus what he does in the postseason. So I'm just really curious: What do you look for to identify kind of the things that, you know, you're going to have to face playing someone like Tom Brady?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as a veteran quarterback, to be honest with you, I get that just about every week.
You know, just about every week, teams are showing me something that looks like what I -- what they did last week and it comes out to be a little bit different.
You know, this game on third down, some of their stuff they had not shown at all this year, too. So, you know, got to just go out there and figure it out and go play.
Todd's an unbelievable defensive coordinator. I've gone against him a bunch of times in my career. He gives you a lot to look at and they've got talented players. So it will be a big challenge for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports