Matthew Stafford has been a master of no-look passes throughout his career, and he’s used them countless times with the Rams this season. They’re a perfect way to bait a defender into believing the ball is going somewhere, only for Stafford to throw it in a different direction.
Against the Cardinals on Monday night, one of Stafford’s best throws of the night was close to a no-look pass. Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports looked at the film and noticed that on Stafford’s 41-yard strike to Van Jefferson, he held the deep-middle safety by pretending to stare down Cooper Kupp on the left side.
He obviously saw Jefferson coming across the field on the post, but Stafford pretended he didn’t see him and was locked in on Kupp. The result? A long gain where the safety was unable to break on the pass because he was focused on Kupp.
These are the things that make Stafford such a great quarterback, and a perfect fit for Sean McVay’s offense. Had he not held the safety with his eyes until the last second, it’s possible he would’ve broken on Jefferson’s route and caused an incompletion.
But Stafford was savvy enough to pull this off and create a big gain.
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