DETROIT – Kelly Stafford, wife of longtime Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, started a new podcast and said her husband has “a little bit more of a shot” in Los Angeles and is having fun playing football for the first time in awhile.
The universe just keeps finding new ways to make being a Lions fan more and more awesome.
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Matthew Stafford, who played his first 12 season in Detroit before being traded to the Rams this offseason, dominated in the opener, throwing for 321 yards and three touchdowns while completing 20 of 26 attempts.
Though he was electric at times throughout his Lions tenure, Matthew Stafford ultimately finished with a 75-90-1 record, and fans will always remember that the team didn’t win a single playoff game. In Los Angeles, it certainly looks like he has the supporting cast to break that streak.
On Monday, Kelly Stafford posted the premiere episode of her “The Morning After” podcast. In it, she details her husband’s first game outside of Detroit.
Click here to listen to the full episode of her podcast.
“They announce Matthew -- and normally with Matthew, when he was in Detroit, he would just put his head down and run out,” Kelly Stafford said. “Matthew’s a very even-keeled dude. If you guys know anything about him, he never shows much emotion -- very private, everything. So he ran out of that tunnel and his energy -- he gave even a little fist pump, and our whole suite erupted. We took on that energy so quickly. It was just consuming.”
She talked about being in their suite with only their closest friends and family members.
“I can only imagine what was going through John’s head -- that’s his father,” Kelly Stafford said. “Watching your son do what he loves to do -- but he did it for 12 years in a place and wasn’t successful, and to come to a new place where maybe he’s got a little bit more of a shot -- to watch him run through that tunnel and just feel his energy, feel like he was a kid again. It’s was brand new. It’s going to be fun.”
She said while they were in Michigan, she always wanted her husband to have the ball first. But in this instance, she was hoping for the defense to get the juices flowing before he took the ball. The Rams got an interception on the opening drive, and three plays later, Matthew Stafford threw his first touchdown pass.
“I’ll never forget that moment,” she said. “It was just -- the feeling was like no other.
“He looked like he was having so much fun, which I haven’t seen that side of Matthew on the football field in a very long time.”
She said for the first time she can remember after a game, he took the game ball and looked up at their suite and smiled with both hands in the air.
“I felt like my husband has a renewed love for this sport again,” Kelly Stafford said. “It was just an amazing day.”
When he got up to the suite, everyone was emotional because they had all “been through the 12 years in Michigan,” Kelly Stafford said.
She later added, “I felt like football hadn’t been fun for him in a very long time.”
