National Football League

Peter Schrager's Cheat Sheet: Will Matthew Stafford's huge win be turning point for Rams?

Updated Dec. 19, 2021 4:26 p.m. ET

By Peter Schrager
FOX Sports NFL Analyst

Welcome to the Week 15 edition of the Schrager Cheat Sheet.

Each week, I take a look at several things you need to know heading into the NFL weekend. This week, we wonder if the Los Angeles Rams' big win at Arizona is just what Matthew Stafford needed, ponder the Cardinals' odd mediocrity at home, look at Micah Parsons' potential place in NFL history and more.

1. Stafford's big win

It's rare to do flips over a 12-year NFL starting quarterback for any win that occurs before Christmas Day, but it can't be overstated just how big the Rams' 30-23 victory Monday in Arizona was for Matthew Stafford.

Stafford is close to owning the unwanted distinction as the quarterback with the most regular-season starts to never win a playoff game. Entering Monday night's battle, he was 6-62 against teams that finished their seasons with 10 wins or more, and he was 0-9 against teams that had more than 10 wins when he faced them. Arizona had 10 wins, the Rams were down five starters due to injuries or COVID-19 protocols, and all eyes were on the quarterback they traded a former No. 1 overall pick and two additional future first-rounders to acquire.

Stafford didn't only deliver. He was awesome.

Micah Parsons Cowboys' MVP? Can Rams win Super Bowl? ' Schrager's Cheat Sheet Wk 15 ' NFL on FOX

Peter Schrager breaks down his Cheat Sheet notes for Week 15, including Matthew Stafford's breakthrough performance, the Cardinals' home woes, Micah Parsons' importance to the Cowboys, the shortcoming that could keep the Packers from winning a championship, and which Dallas coach could be the next big thing.

The QB went 23-for-30 with three touchdowns and no interceptions, but the stat line doesn't tell the whole story. Stafford did it on the road against a defense that handed him his lunch earlier this season, in a moment in time when many skeptical eyeballs were watching on national television.

Often working the fourth or fifth game for FOX on the sideline — meaning there were many trips to Detroit — I've gotten to know Stafford fairly well over the course of his NFL career. He would come into production meetings wearing ice packs, sporting bruises and walking with a limp. But he always seemed to play, and he never — not once — threw his teammates or coaches under the bus.

Seeing him give the rare late-in-the-season postgame news conference after a win was refreshing, if not altogether foreign.

And of course, he deflected praise, pointing to his head coach and teammates.

But I think that win at Arizona could do more for Stafford than merely get him back on track. Three weeks removed from a three-game losing streak — in which he had interceptions returned for touchdowns in each — Stafford can bring more confidence into the locker room moving forward. On paper, the Rams should have lost Monday night. Finding out earlier that day that they'd be without stars Jalen Ramsey and Tyler Higbee made them even greater underdogs in a game Vegas had them losing anyway.

But they won, and they had the better quarterback. Stafford doesn't have a long track record of wins that mattered after Thanksgiving, but this was one of them. I assure you, though, that Stafford hopes this win ends up being one of his less-significant victories of the 2021 season and that there are much bigger ones on the way.

2. Arizona's bizarre home woes

Weird things are brewing with the Arizona Cardinals, who play like world-beaters on the road but can't get out of their own way at home.

The numbers tell a shocking story: The Cardinals are 7-0 on the road, with big wins over the Rams, 49ers and Titans. They have a +112 point differential and +17 turnover differential in road games. But things get weird at home, where they're 3-3, have surrendered as many points as they've scored and have a minus-7 turnover margin.

Coach Kliff Kingsbury didn't have many answers after Monday's game, saying: "We’ve got to flush this one. We’ve got six days before Detroit. We’ve got to get ready."

Does the home-road discrepancy matter, though? We've seen countless teams — such as the Buccaneers last season — run the table during the playoffs on the road, all the way to a Lombardi Trophy.

Maybe it's just a statistical oddity. Even so, it's worth noting that the top two seeds in the conference — Green Bay and Tampa Bay — have yet to lose in their own buildings this season.

3. Micah's world

It's fun to watch Micah Parsons play football, isn't it? And with the Dallas offense sputtering the past few weeks, you could argue that he is the team's most important player right now. With great versatility, enthusiasm and range, Parsons is doing things as a rookie that I think even the Cowboys would admit are surprising — such as leading them to much-needed December victories.

The win over Washington on Sunday not only helped separate Dallas from a surging divisional foe but also solidified Parsons' place as the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year. It even inserted him into that "Best Defensive Rookie Ever" conversation.

Hold your horses, you say?

Lawrence Taylor is the only rookie to win Defensive Player of the Year. He's also the most recent defensive player to win MVP. That was in 1986. With a month of football left, Parsons has a shot at both awards. His current streak of six straight games with a sack is the second-longest ever by a rookie. He now has 12 sacks, just 2.5 short of the rookie record set by Jevon "The Freak" Kearse for the Titans in 1999.

Parsons has already broken the Cowboys' rookie sack record set by Demarcus Ware in 2004. He has all the records and the numbers, and he has the game-changing plays. Whether it be the sack that led to a fumble recovery for a TD or the countless other momentum-changing defensive plays he made during the season's first few months, he's the guy.

On a defense with names such as Diggs, Gregory and Lawrence, the rookie is the face of the unit — and it's difficult to even question that.

4. Green Bay's Achilles' heel

Aaron Rodgers is playing as well as any quarterback in the league right now, and the Packers are optimistic about the pending returns of countless injured stars. But as good as Nathaniel Hackett's offense is clicking, and as strong as the back end of the roster has performed at numerous positions, I can't help but feel a tinge of nerves when it comes to Green Bay's atrocious special teams.

I don't use that term lightly or often. And certainly, I am not looking to cause problems or create a "take" that will go viral.

It's objective. Anyone watching the Packers knows it's a real problem. Consider Green Bay's victory over Chicago on Sunday — and just a sampling of the special-teams mistakes:

Now, maybe that all gets worked out. But what if it doesn't?

What if it's something like a muffed punt or a bizarrely botched kickoff return that costs Rodgers a ring this season? What if it has been a problem all season, staring everyone in the face, but is never addressed before biting Green Bay in the butt?

I have concerns, but head coach Matt LaFleur wasn't having it when asked about a potential special-teams coaching change. So on we go.

I hope it all gets worked out because if special-teams play comes back to haunt the Packers in the playoffs, it will be nobody's fault but Green Bay's brass.

5. The NFL's next great defensive coordinator

As Dallas' defense leads the Cowboys toward a likely NFC East division title, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is getting loads of praise — and rightfully so.

But I think one of Dallas's secret weapons is a man who is going to be a hot commodity in coaching circles this offseason: defensive line coach Aden Durde.

A native of England, Durde was highlighted on "Hard Knocks" this summer. He has been awesome this season in handling the Cowboys' rotating door of defensive linemen. Durde bounced around from the World League to practice squads in the NFL before joining the coaching staff of the London Warriors, where he led one of the top American football teams overseas.

Then his big break occurred. Durde received a coaching internship with the Cowboys as part of the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship. In 2016, he landed on the Atlanta Falcons' coaching staff. Working under Quinn there, he got a chance to hone his style and rise through the org chart.

He's now a beloved coach in Dallas and one of the many men responsible for the defense's resurgence. I know he's a hot name in coaching circles for a future defensive coordinator job.

It's as cool a story as we've got this season: a London-born defensive line coach with a great accent still intact (never lose it, Aden) is one of the leading faces for America's Team.

Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network.