Matthew Stafford Gives His Wife, Aaron Donald & Odell Beckham Super Bowl Moments — Caring QB and the Eminem Knee Make It Feel Good

Matthew Stafford waves from the trophy platform, he kisses his wife Kelly on the grand stage the NFL’s setup. The LA Rams quarterback — and Highland Park’s own — makes sure his long-awaited Super Bowl moment is about more than just him. Stafford pulls everyone he can in t0 share in the glory, the confetti and giddy celebrating.

This may be the real legacy of this quarterback who just wouldn’t quit. Matthew Stafford is a giver of a quarterback, one who never made it about him even as the world’s media fixated on him leading up to the big game. Stafford always made everyone else feel important, never let the Rams become a team of superstars operating in different orbits.

“I think the way we pull for each other,” Stafford says in describing his team in an on-field TV interview moments after Rams 23, Bengals 20 becomes a permanent reality. “. . . We care for each other.”

Stafford cares that Aaron Donald, the greatest defensive player of this era, finally got his championship ring. He cares that Odell Beckham Jr, the uber talented receiver whose gifts got lost in dumb controversies in New York and Cleveland, is finally recognized. And he certainly cares that his wife Kelly, who underwent a grueling 12-hour surgery to remove a brain tumor and needed to learn to walk again just a few years ago, shares in his success.

There was no way Stafford wasn’t going to make his family a major part of any Super Bowl LVI victory lap. So he sought out Kelly, who he started dating at the University of Georgia when he was the quarterback and she was a cheerleader. And he brought three of his four young daughters with him to the NFL’s official postgame interview session. Two of the girls sat on his lap, one chilled at table in front of him.

So there is Matthew Stafford, talking to the world (the Super Bowl postgame sessions are broadcast live on the NFL Network and made available for reporters not at the game to stream) about winning the Super Bowl as a Girl Dad.

And proud husband.

“We battled so many things together,” Stafford says when a reporter asks about Kelly. “It’s such a special thing.”

Yes, Clayton Kershaw, Stafford’s former Highland Park High School running mate, was there at SoFi Stadium too. To watch Stafford join in the world champions club, a feat both men endured plenty of disappointments to reach.

Stafford doesn’t have a perfect game in the big game. He throws two interceptions, misses a few other passes. But he comes through when it matters most. Which is sort of the point. No one’s ever made anything easy in Matthew Stafford’s career.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Stafford tells NBC on the field with the confetti still falling and a fresh Super Bowl Champion hat on his head. “This was sort of my season. It’s up and down.”

And so clutch in the defining moments.

Sean McVay’s Gameplan and Eminem’s Crouch of a Stance

With the Rams 79 yards from taking the lead and only six minutes and 13 seconds left on the clock, Stafford saves Rams coach Sean McVay from himself. The wunderkind coach, who’s still somehow the youngest head coach in the NFL five seasons into his Rams run, is strangely conservative in his play calling for most of the game. Just like he was in the Rams’ 13-3 loss in the 2019 Super Bowl.

But with the Rams down to what’s likely their last chance, McVay finally lets Stafford and Cooper Kupp, the rightful Super Bowl MVP, just go for it. Stafford throws for 57 of those 79 yards the Rams needs. He throws a touchdown pass to Kupp that’s taken away by a penalty. So then he throws another one.

“He’s made me a better coach,” McVay says of Stafford in his own postgame press conference.

This Super Bowl will be remembered for a lot of things. Aaron Donald putting a ring on his own finger after sacking Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on fourth and one to end the drama. Eminem taking a knee, paying homage to Colin Kaepernick, the activist quarterback who never should have been blackballed out of the NFL. Hip-hop finally getting its overdue Super Bowl spotlight and producing one of the best halftime shows of all time. (Prince in the Miami rain and Lady Gaga off the roof in Houston were spectacular too, but Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and even a weirdly hanging 50 Cent are right up there.)

Heck, some people will remember this Super Bowl for Meadow and A.J. having a Sopranos reunion in the night’s most talked about commercial. Thankfully, the David Chase-directed Silverado ad didn’t cut to black.

There is so much going on at any Super Bowl. And this one seemed determined to pack plenty of extra in. Rams safety Taylor Rapp even decided this was perfect time to propose to his girlfriend. Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa did it better after winning the 2017 World Series — and the move’s long since lost any originality (or sense of place).

Rams wide receiver Van Jefferson rushing to the hospital for the birth of his son right after the game did tug at the heartstrings.

There is Matthew Stafford, talking to the world about winning the Super Bowl as a Girl Dad. And proud husband.

But in the end, this 56th Super Bowl will be remembered most for Matthew Stafford getting it done — and bringing everyone he could along to soak in the moment. Stafford is such a sharer that even many Detroit Lions fans couldn’t help but look at his victory as partly their own. Stafford spent 12 seasons fighting to lift up very flawed Lions teams that were never given enough to win with — and he never whined about it. So yes, those Detroit Rams T-shirts making the rounds are both hilarious and unexpectedly touching.

You just don’t usually see fans rooting for the star who leaves. Then again, you don’t see many quarterbacks with a story quite like this one. Matthew Stafford cares more than most. That’s a Super legacy too.