Tom Brady and his reigning champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were bounced by Matthew Stafford. Stafford showed the Rams their choice to pull in him and ship out Jared Goff was a wise one, reaching the conference finals behind a 30-27 win.
The game, which at one point seemed to be a blowout at 27-3, got very close after the Rams committed numerous turnovers allowing Brady to come back. The game would be iced by a clutch Stafford drive of 60+ yards.
“In my mind, I live for those kind of moments,” said Stafford to ESPN. “I would have loved to have been taking a knee up three scores, but it’s a whole lot more fun when you’ve got to make a play like that to win the game and just steal somebody’s soul. That’s what it feels like sometimes where they’re sitting there going, ‘Man, we just had this great comeback.’ And you get to reach in there and take it from them.”
Stafford’s drive was the 43rd game-winning drive of his career. He now has the most in the NFL since 2009.
The Rams will now host their division rival San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game. In Week 18, the Rams allowed the 49ers to come back from a 17-0 deficit to make the playoffs. The 49ers have beat the Rams the last six times the two met.
Highlights from the game are available here.
