Thursday, April 18, 2024

Rams QB John Wolford was “confident” before his NFL debut against the Cardinals

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Alan Binder
Alan Binder
"Alcohol scholar. Twitter lover. Zombieaholic. Hipster-friendly coffee fanatic."

If you are Click on the John Wolford stats page“No results available” reads in uppercase, bold. It is not a filter issue or a download issue. The 25-year-old midfielder has not scored any shots of the regular season in the NFL.

Wolford has no time to crawl or use a walking aid. No, the Los Angeles Rams midfielder has to run from his first shot, making his NFL debut in the Week 17 win match against the Arizona Cardinals.

After planning a financial career, Wake Forest producer set aside a banking gig for taking the NFL QB photo. Wolford, which was not drafted in 2018, received a call from the New York Jets, having spent the pre-season. He then scored in AAF with the Arizona Hotshots, completing 63.1 percent of his passes at 1,617 yards (the second most in the league), 7.8 yards per attempt with 14 touchdowns in AAF with seven interceptions and a 95.9 QB rating.

After his stint in the defunct league, Wolford relegated as backup coach for Jared Goff in 2019. With Sean McVay as coach, there’s no better landing place for a young QB to work every day. After Goff underwent surgery to his thumb this week, his professional first footage of Wolford will come in an extremely stressful situation.

If you’re looking for trivia destined for Sunday’s match, here’s this excellent solid block at Wolford: Entering Week 17, he has 22 fewer NFL pass attempts (0) in his career than Rams Punter Johnny Hekker (13 of 22), 184 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT in Profession).

Big stakes don’t worry the former Demon Devil.

“I’ll put my head down and work my best,” said Wolford. “Whatever happens, I’ll be able to sleep at night. I’m just looking forward to this opportunity.”

Wolford would become the 25th QB to start his first career in week 17 (since the NFL switched to a 16-game season in 1978). The previous 24 have a 5-19 WL record, but both of the latter two won (Patrick Mahmiz of Kansas City in 2017 at DEN and Kyle Allen in Carolina in 2018 at NO).

It’s a new challenge for McVay. Goff started all but one of the coach’s tenure matches in Los Angeles, a match in Week 17 in 2017 when the player rested. Shaun Manion got off to the start that day with Rams already defeating NFC West.

The Sunday sub mode will be a lot different.

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