Matthew Stafford becomes fastest to 50,000 career passing yards

During the Rams’ win on Tuesday night, former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford became the fastest to 50,000 career passing yards on NFL history.

It wasn’t the prettiest win for the Los Angeles Rams over the Seattle Seahawks (20-10), but quarterback Matthew Stafford had an efficient outing (21-for-29 for 244 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) as he threw multiple touchdowns in a fourth straight game.

Including the playoffs (albeit only three postseason games with the Detroit Lions), Stafford now has 50,159 passing yards in his career. On Tuesday night he became the fastest player to reach 50,000 career passing yards in NFL history, getting there in 182 games (including the playoffs).

Stafford is having a nice season for the 10-4 Rams, with 4,142 passing yards (third in the league), 35 touchdowns (second in the league), 10 interceptions and a 108.2 passer rating (second in the league). All the way through Week 15 now, he is leading the league in touchdown rate (7.0 percent), adjusted net yards per attempt (8.1) and net yards per attempt (7.6), with a 65.7 QBR that’s third.

Matthew Stafford may eclipse 50,000 regular season passing yards soon

With three games left this year, Stafford has 49,251 career passing yards in the regular season. Since he’s averaging nearly 296 passing yards per game this year, getting to 50,000 career regular season passing yards feels like a lock as long as the Rams aren’t resting players in Week 18.

In Week 16 Stafford will face the league’s 29th-ranked pass defense (252.1 yards per game) in the Minnesota Vikings, and weather won’t be an issue indoors at US Bank Stadium. Then in Week 17 he’ll face the Baltimore Ravens, who are the league’s 31st-ranked pass defense (264.9 yards per game, on the road as well.

Stafford will probably need Week 18 against the San Francisco 49ers to get to 749 more passing yards before this regular season is over. The 49ers are a top-10 pass defense in the league, and Stafford didn’t have a very good outing against them in the first matchup this season (243 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions). It seems likely the Rams will need to win that game for the best possible playoff seed, with winning the NFC West possibly still on the table.

Stafford is the fastest quarterback to 50,000 passing yards in NFL history counting the playoffs, which many will say is a product of the era we’re in and a testament to an unflattering nickname a Detroit-rooted sports writer/personality I won’t name once gave him (“Stat Padfford”).

In what would be 182 regular season games if he gets there before this season is out, Stafford would presumably become the fastest to 50,000 regular season passing yards too.