After 12 years and an 0-3 playoff record in Detroit, Matthew Stafford finally won the big one this year, leading his new Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl LVI and winning a championship last month.
And, as his wife, Kelly, told Carton & Roberts Wednesday, that was the first time he ever let on about any pressure he was feeling as an NFL quarterback.
“I think I felt it more than he did. He’s the type who just pushes through and you never see it from him,” Kelly Stafford told Craig & Evan. “When he was in Detroit, they could be facing, like, the reigning champs, and he’d say, ‘of course we have this.’ All season he didn’t show that he was feeling any pressure, but once they won the NFC Championship, he kind of let it go and let me in on it; he’s pretty good about hiding it, but I am human and on social media, so I felt it.”
One thing the Stafford wish happened differently around the Rams’ Super Bowl run? The way everything unfolded with photographer Kelly Smiley, who fell off a stage and fractured her spine during the team’s parade – specifically, Matthew walking right past her as she fell – and the way Smiley’s past history on social media was brought up because of it.
“We didn’t know any of that until way past it. I know Matthew wishes he could take that reaction back, but if he tried to help…if anyone saw or heard hum that day, he probably wasn’t in the right state of mind to do anything, and could’ve made it worse,” Kelly said, making sure to note that wasn’t an excuse. “It wasn’t the best reaction, but when we got in the car after, he asked me to text the Rams people and make sure she was okay, and the next day was when we tried to figure out a solution.”
The Rams and the Staffords ended up covering the photographer’s medical bills and equipment replacement costs, but controversy still abounded when some unsavory past Tweets of Smiley’s surfaced – but to Kelly Stafford, it was a learning experience and an opportunity to give someone the benefit of the doubt that they have changed for the better.
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“Part of me feels her whole life was thrown in the washer in a way, and I hate it for everybody involved,” Kelly said, “but I’ll be totally honest: after I heard about the things said by her 10 years ago, part of me wanted to reach out and say I was sorry this is happening, and I hope you’re not the same person now that you were then – and if you are, hopefully this changes you. Everyone makes mistakes, and I wanted to show compassion.”
In a way, it’s a similar situation of change to what the Staffords saw with Odell Beckham Jr., another much-maligned star who saw their own needed change of scenery end in a championship this year.
“We hope he’s coming back, I know both of us want that. I met him right after the Super Bowl, and he had torn his knee up and was out there in tears,” Kelly said. “I was out there with my girls and he walked by, and then he turned around and came back, and came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me, “I’m so happy to be part of this team with your husband.’ He's such a fun light in that locker room, and for him to come back and say something like that to me was special.”
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