The Japan Times - NFL playoffs open with QB swap adding to Lions-Rams tension

After 12 seasons with the Lions, Stafford was traded to the Rams for Goff in 2021 and led Los Angeles to the Super Bowl title later that season while Goff has brought Detroit its first home NFL playoff game since 1993 when the Rams visit on Sunday.

"I understand what the people and the city of Detroit meant to me in my career. I hope they feel that back," Stafford said. "But at the same time I'm not a stranger to the situation.

"I'm the bad guy coming to town."

The juicy Rams-Lions subplot spices the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs, with win-or-go-home tension added to the mix.

AFC games find Miami (11-6) at reigning champion Kansas City (11-6) and Cleveland (11-6) at Houston (10-7) on Saturday with Pittsburgh (10-7) at Buffalo (11-6) on Sunday and top seed Baltimore enjoying a first-round bye and home-field edge through the conference finals.

NFC games find the Rams (10-7) at Detroit (12-5) and Green Bay (9-8) at Dallas (12-5) on Sunday with Philadelphia (11-6) at Tampa Bay (9-8) on Monday and top-seeded San Francisco with the opening bye.

Winners and top seeds advance to next week's games to set up the conference finals on January 28 with those winners advancing to next month's Super Bowl at Las Vegas.

The Lions had missed the playoffs for six campaigns until winning the NFC North division title this season and Detroit has dropped nine playoff starts in a row since last winning over Dallas 38-6 in 1991 -- when Stafford was only age two and three years before Goff was born.

"I so badly want to win a playoff game for this city that hasn't had one in so long," Goff said. "We've got a home playoff game for the first time in so long.

"That's so much more important than anything personally for me. I want to be a part of this win and do my job the best of my ability."

Detroit supporters have waited 30 long years between home playoff appearances. The Lions have won four NFL titles but none since 1957.

Goff, second in the NFL this season with 4,575 passing yards, was sore at Rams coach Sean McVay at the time of the trade but has mellowed over time about the life-changing deal.

"Obviously, we had our differences there at the end, but he's a great coach," Goff said of McVay. "He's a guy that taught me a lot.

As for the trade, Goff says: "I think it'll never leave me and I think that's a good thing."

McVay admits he could have handled things better in dumping Goff to land Stafford and boost the Rams' title hopes.

"That ended up being difficult. And could it have been handled better on my end? Absolutely," McVay told ESPN. "He deserved better than the way that it all went down."

Stafford, the 2009 NFL Draft top pick, owns Lions career records of 45,109 passing yards, 282 passing touchdowns and 74 quarterback wins.

- Cold times for Tua -

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is set to face the coldest conditions he has ever faced for a game when his team visits Kansas City, where single-digit sub-freezing temperatures are expected and the Hawaii native doesn't plan on wearing gloves.

"It's just a feel of how everything is, what the ball feels like, what throwing feels like, what holding the ball feels like," he said. "We'll test it out and see what we have to do.

"You can't prepare for a game like that with that kind of weather, so it'll be new."

T.Ikeda--JT