Kelly Stafford Reveals the Toughest Part of Watching Quarterback Husband Matthew Stafford Play Football

For Kelly Stafford, watching husband Matthew Stafford lead the Los Angeles Rams isn't exactly fun and games. 

While she loves cheering on her quarterback (and, she acknowledges, "They get paid ridiculously—we all know this"), every time the 36-year-old athlete gets sacked, her heart sinks. 

"It's not the easiest watching this sport," The Morning After podcast host admitted in an exclusive interview with E! News. "Especially when you have a loved one on the field." 

She's accepted that, say, a shoulder separation or a tailbone fracture are all part of the game. "I'm like, 'Okay, you broke something, whatever. We'll figure it out,'" she said. However, continued the 35-year-old, "I worry about the head because it's the one [injury] people push through and they shouldn't." 

And while she recognizes the league is trying to come up with a game plan to prevent such head injuries, she still worries. 

"You take more hits the longer you play," she noted. "And he's on year 16. So that is very heavy on my heart every time I go to the game. It's part of the reason why I get so nervous." 

And she's not the only one on her squad who winces each time No. 9 takes a dive. 

With 7-year-old twins Sawyer and Chandler at most games, along with younger sisters Hunter, 6, and Tyler, 4, "My two older ones have really started to notice when Daddy's slow to get up after getting hit," Kelly revealed. "One of my oldest asked last year if he had to play again because he'd gotten hit a bunch one game. And I think that really sat with him." 

So Kelly calls the plays off the field. "You have to tell your kids, 'He's fine, he's fine,'" she shared of her strategy. "But, yet, you don't know. It's just something that you deal with." 

Because while she's been her husband's top teammate since she was rooting him on as a cheerleader at the University of Georgia, "At the end of the day, I want my husband to be who he was when I met him and married him after he's done playing and helping me raise these girls," Kelly noted. "We have a whole life after the NFL." 

But she also understands that the 2022 Super Bowl champ is "a gamer. He wants to be in there and play to his ability." 

So as his Rams punt into another year, Kelly said, "It's something I remind him of when it gets into the thick of the season: Just do your best to stay healthy and run as fast as you can." 

Should he forget that particular play, she fully intends to be calling out such audibles from her seat at Detroit's Ford Field, where Matthew will face off against his old team Sept. 8. 

It will be just as much a homecoming for Kelly, who kicked off her own season the night before with the first stop on her and podcast co-host Hank Winchester's Cleat Chaser Tour. 

Offering her and Hank a chance to meet up with their listeners IRL, "It's about life," Kelly said of the gameplan for their six-date tour. "It's about parenting. There might be a splash of football in there, but for the most part, it's just to have a fun night, have some cocktails with your friends and get some good laughs in."

The name is a reference to the fact that "quite literally, we will be chasing my husband's cleats throughout the country," each of the live events taking place the day before Matthew's Rams take on their opponents. 

But it's also a not-so-subtle nod to the label the University of Georgia nursing student has been unable to shake since she connected with the school's star QB back in the mid-aughts.

"It's honestly something I've been called my whole life, which is really interesting," explained Kelly. "We're so focused on the men in this equation, people forget that I grew up playing four sports. I was surrounded by athletes in my family."

And while she knows she fell for the man inside the cleats while they were playing pickup basketball on campus, "I honestly think it's kind of funny," she said of getting in on the joke. "They're like, 'Really, she called it that? Well I did.'" 

Should anyone have a problem with that, well, she's getting a little better at handling whatever Internet trolls might throw at her. 

"My feelings get hurt," she acknowledged. "I'm not going to sit here and be like, 'Yeah, I don't care what they say about me.' I do. I'm actually very much a people-pleaser. So I struggled big time with it." 

But she's doing her best to tackle those feelings. 

"I have a husband who nothing fazes him," noted Kelly. "And that's actually helpful to see him just let everything slide, like, 'Nah, whatever.'"

Should she need a reminder to block out the noise, well, she's got a great teammate for that. 

"Matthew is such a calming force in my life," said Kelly. "I feel like I have a lot of stress that I carry and he just settles me and he's such an incredible man in so many ways."

She, in turn, does her part to remind him he's more than just an accurate throwing arm. 

"I give him that push that he might need, and to realize he's more than a football player, because I feel like sometimes they get lost in that too," said Kelly, who remains active with the SAY Detroit Play Center. "We just balance each other out."  

So before Matthew and his fellow Rams take to the field, check out how he supports his squad off of the turf. 

On the field, Matthew Stafford is one of the best quarterbacks of the NFL. But when the football player comes home, he's simply dad. 

During bye-week, Matthew and his wife Kelly Stafford treated their kids to a festive fall day near their home in Los Angeles. 

"33 and grateful for the people that fill this home," Kelly wrote when celebrating her birthday. "Thankful for these girls' contagious smiles and for a husband who never fails to make me laugh." 

"A pier breakfast, turned beach day, turned watching pro female surfing competition…" Kelly wrote on Instagram. "Pretty epic summer day with great 'aloha vibes.'"

After playing at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Matthew was able to reunite with three of his daughters in a suite. 

After cheering for Dad all day long, it's no surprise that Matthew's kids just want to snuggle after game day. 

Whether they are at the stadium or going to school, Matthew's daughters love to wear the Rams' team colors. 

When Matthew worked from home during COVID-19 shutdowns, his daughters quickly wore him out. 

"My whole heart in one photo," Kelly wrote on Instagram when capturing her daughters snuggling by Matthew. 

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