Odell Beckham Jr. was in street clothes, out with a knee injury. The Los Angeles Rams’ running game was no better. The whole offense had stalled out, just 52 second-half yards stretched across five drives.
Cincinnati led on the scoreboard, the clock was dwindling and a Super Bowl the Rams were favored to win on their own home field was slipping away into a forever loss.
Matthew Stafford, his own ankle taped and throbbing after getting rolled up on during a sack, gathered the offense 79 yards from an end zone it simply had to reach.
This — the pressure, the moment, the challenge — is what Stafford coveted across his entire career.
When he played in Detroit, this is what drove him to show up at 6 a.m. at the team facility even in the December cold that was as dead as the Lions season. This is what pushed him through offseason workouts, trying to prepare for a chance that seemed so far away.
This is what would cause him to come to Super Bowls through the years, soaking in the week-of…
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