Matthew Stafford says he feels awful about the way he reacted to a photog falling off the stage at the Rams' Super Bowl rally ... revealing he personally reached out to her to apologize.
As we previously reported, Kelly Smiley fractured her spine after attempting to take a pic of Matthew and his wife last week ... and the QB was captured on video quickly turning around and walking away.
Stafford was criticized for how he handled the situation ... with some people saying he should have stepped in to help out.
Matthew and his wife discussed the incident from their perspective on Kelly's "The Morning After" podcast this week ... and she says the QB DID show concern.
"Matthew looked at me and said 'check her please,' and turned around," Kelly said .... adding he personally texted the photog afterwards.
"That obviously happened really quickly and suddenly and unexpectedly and I wish I had a better reaction in the moment," Matthew added. "I didn’t. I apologized to her for that. But I’m glad that all in all she’s doing all right."
BTW -- the Staffords and Rams will be paying for Smiley's broken camera equipment and medical bills.
There's more -- Matthew and Kelly also talk about just how awful their hungover Disneyland trip was ... and the convo will make you wanna drink a ton of water.
"Disney is a beautiful, amazing place when you are sober," Kelly said. "When you are hungover and when you are still a little tipsy, not so much. If you didn’t have kids, maybe it would be a little more fun."
Matthew agreed ... saying, "Yeah, it was a tough day."