Matthew Stafford reveals secret behind throws few NFL QBs can make

Matthew Stafford has spent most of his NFL career making the impossible look annoyingly routine. 

No-look passes. Sidearm. Three-quarter. Off-platform. Throwing around a defensive lineman rather than over him. 

If you took away his uniform, pads and helmet — and just watched his throwing arm — you would think the Rams quarterback looked more like an MLB shortstop than the reigning NFL MVP. 

But after nearly two decades of contorting his right arm into whatever position necessary to deliver a football, Stafford revealed on Thursday that there’s a method behind the madness. 

“For me, it’s about not giving the defense a second look,” said Stafford when asked about how and why he’s able to change his arm angle. “Sometimes it’s just about getting it to a running back or getting it to a checkdown.”

A defender flashing into the throwing lane can turn a routine completion into a tipped ball. So Stafford adjusts on the fly, dropping his arm and changing the release point to navigate around potential obstruction. 

“Not to say it always happens, but those are the kind of little throws where I think [the] average fan probably watches and just goes, “Oh, you know, there’s a checkdown for 4 yards to the running back,” Stafford said. “But maybe that ball gets batted down or, you know, you don’t even get the chance to throw it with a D-lineman in your face.” 

Stafford has also become the prototype for no-look passes in the NFL. His most famous one came on the final drive in the Super Bowl that helped deliver the Rams the Lombardi Trophy. Once again, Stafford acts instinctively, knowing that the secondary is reading his eyes to try to jump a route. 

“That’s where I feel like they come from,” Stafford said. “It’s not the launches down the field … it’s just instinctual plays.” 

The improvisation has been part of Stafford’s football DNA for years. His star receiver, Puka Nacua, had to learn it early in his NFL journey. 

“There’s a lot of times where he’s in the pocket and he’s just able to manipulate defenders on his own,” Nacua said. “I’m in the spot and trying to make sure that he has an angle to see me if he can’t, because he might be assuming I’m not open. You just have to get used to the ball coming out of a different angle and stay on your toes.”

At Georgia, his arm strength was already bordering on folklore. Sports Illustrated reported in 2017 that one of Stafford’s first slant passes in practice actually whistled through the air. Years later, quarterback trainer Adam Dedeaux asked Stafford to attempt a difficult off-platform throw at 3DQB in Southern California. Stafford dropped his arm angle and fired such a violent pass that Dedeaux — who had trained Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Matt Ryan — laughed at what he had just witnessed.

Over the last 19 years, the rest of the NFL has taken notice. 

Before facing Stafford last season, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield called him one of the best pure passers in NFL history, specifically marveling at the way Stafford can change arm angles and manipulate defenders with his eyes.

Stafford then backed up the praise by winning the 2025 NFL MVP after throwing for a league-leading 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns.

Now, at 38 years old, the arm strength is surprisingly still there. So are the no-look lasers and throws from platforms quarterbacks aren’t supposed to be able to use. 

But as Stafford revealed on Thursday, his secret to those arm angles isn’t showmanship. It’s instincts and geometry. 

And sometimes the difference between a harmless 4-yard checkdown and a football getting swatted into the turf is simply finding another way around.

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