I'm a bit of a stats nerd and today a bit of a rabbit hole had me looking at rushing performances throughout Matthew Stafford's career. It's not the craziest thing that a QB doesn't have a reliable running back, but the lack of a playmaker in this position for 14 years is wild to me. He's in his 15th year now and I think Kyren Williams has finally given Stafford a "safety valve" at running back. I've compiled a few stats below all gathered from profootballreference. Before anyone jumps down my throat, I'm not trying to prove any kind of a narrative other than this is the best rushing offense Stafford has ever been a part of. I just thought this was neat so I threw a few tables together (apologies to anyone on mobile if the tables don't format correctly). Keep in mind this list does not include games where there was a 100 yard rusher but Stafford did not play (such as Cam Akers having three, 100 yard rushing performances to close out the 2022 season with Stafford out due to injury).

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Starting with his career in Detroit, here are the whopping 11 times in 12 years that he had a running back go for 100 . Notice the lack of entries for four years in a row!

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Out of 32 teams in the NFL, from 2009-2020 the Lions have ranked 24th, 23rd, 29th, 23rd, 17th, 28th, 32nd, 30th, 32nd, 23rd, 21st, and 30th in total rush yards. The 2023 Lions right now are 2nd in rush yards.

In the offseason of 2021 the Rams acquired Matthew Stafford. I remember the point being brought up that for the first time in his career he might have a consistent run game with many sports analysts believing second year running back Cam Akers would have a break-out season. That... did not go according to plan. Cam Akers tore his achilles before the season even started, leaving Stafford in all too familiar territory. Here are the number of times Stafford has had a 100 yard rusher with the Rams from 2021 up to this point in the 2023 season:

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The 2021 and 2022 Rams have ranked 25th, and 28th in total rush yards. The 2023 Rams are currently 11th.

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The TLDR is that outside of this season, Stafford has had abysmal help at the running back position; and that Kyren Williams is pretty good for a 5th round pick.