Matthew Stafford embracing reception he knows he'll get from Lions fans (again)

Last year's Wild Card Round game in Detroit, while also the Lions' first home playoff game since the 1993 season, also marked the return of Matthew Stafford as the Los Angeles Rams' starting quarterback. The former Lions' signal caller was well aware of how he'd be received going in, and Ford Field delivered.

Sunday night's season-opening matchup between the Lions and the Rams carries a little bit less juice on the "Stafford returning to Detroit" front, simply because it's not the first time. Some people still feel like Stafford left the Lions high and dry when he asked to be traded rather than be part of another rebuild in 2021, rooted in how much he was paid over 12 seasons in Detroit. It's probably time for that segment of Lions' fans to let that specific kind of vitriol toward Stafford go, especially since it worked out to trade him away.

Ahead of his return engagement at Ford Field as a visitor, Stafford knows what to expect from Lions' fans.

Matthew Stafford fully embracing reception he'll get from Lions' fans (again)

Stafford spoke to reporters before Rams' practice on Wednesday. Returning to Ford Field and the reception he'll get from Lions' fans the second-time around was an automatic topic.

"I feel the crowd 100 percent,” Stafford said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “Motivating factor. Love it.”"I want to hear all of it. I want to smell it. I want it to feel like it’s football. That’s part of football, especially going to an away game. That stuff just motivates me.”

Klein noted how Stafford does not wear headphones during pregame warmups, so his words are backed up by his history of actions in embracing hostile road environments.

Stafford does expect to naturally be a little more comfortable being in the visitor's locker room at Ford Field a second time.

"I’m going to obviously be one more game comfortable being an opponent in that field than I was, I guess, last year,”

The Ford Field crowd will surely boo Stafford vociferously the minute he's visible for pregame warmups on Sunday night, just as it did back in January. And he expects nothing less.