Lions=TehSucks: This is for you buddy.

[lionstop1]

Maybe this will help a little:

As a long-time follower of Stafford, I see the improvement. He's come a long way and I think Linehan is doing a good job with him, believe it or not. I'd even argue that if it wasn't for the seasons where he he was injured, we would be talking about a even better qb than we have now. All throughout college all they talked about when Georgia played was that he would just need to refine some of those things we discuss because he has such great physical attributes.

 

[Rob]

This. Look how incredible stafford has been with these guys. This is stuff brees, rodgers, brady and manning do.

- Brees has a really good group of receivers and has had that group for a long time. He wasn't elite in San Diego during his first seasons and he had very talented players around him. He was getting better and better back then.
- Brady is struggling this season because he doesn't have guys he can rely on. (and he's older now)
- Rodgers took a couple of years to build that chemistry with Nelson, Jennings, Jones, Finley, etc.
- Manning had Wayne and Harrison to go with Dallas Clark during his great seasons. His receiving corp this year is as good as any I've ever seen.

These QBs built trust in their receivers over time. Welker, Nelson, Garcon, (all of Brees' receivers), and tons of other guys weren't created by great quarterbacks. They are all good to great receivers in their own right. Elite QBs simply reveal the full value of the receivers on the roster.

I believe Stafford is doing that (trying to do that). Problem is once you look past CJ who has he had this year?

1. Nate Burleson is good.
2. Tony Scheffler was good prior to this year.
3. Brandon Pettigrew is good but painfully slow.
4. Durham looks good when targeted, but doesn't get too many passes thrown his way lately.
5. Jeremy Ross stinks.
6. Ogeltree stinks.
7. Broyles... Uggh.
8. Joe Fauria has vanished.

No continuity and not much in the way of quality on the field right now. If I were Stafford I'd throw 15+ times at Calvin every game too. Getting back Burleson will help out a lot. He's a starting quality receiver that will get open and catch 5 or 6 passes immediately. It will move the lesser quality coverage onto Durham. This is what will allow Durham to gain confidence in himself, and Stafford to gain confidence in Durham. I believe Durham can be the first player that Stafford "creates". The Lions need to add a young receiver to the mix. Maybe one that isn't crazy or prone to major knee injuries. If they have talent Stafford will make it show up on Sunday.

 

[LPinSLC]

Stafford absolutely has to improve on his short passes. Misses them far too often.

 

[Thruthefog]

But is he getting any faster?

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

(Lol) I saw your, "where the fuck is Lionstop1 now" post.

I'll politely respond with this:
I don't make excuses for any player and I hate when our guys play bad just like everyone else but don't be acting as if none of the guys aren't allowed to make mistakes. You guys kill me the way you over react when Stafford, in particular, messes up. Everyone is so quick to point that out when at the same time, our star player (CJ) drops a easy 4th down pass, our defense played horrific, two interceptions were dropped, Bush fumbled everywhere, Ross, Durham and Ogletree dropped some, the stupid fake fg and everything else that happened.

I think Stafford is elite, so what! Everyone else doesn't, so what! I never ever take none of this message board shit serious.

The reality of all this right now is that the Lions defense is the whole key to whether they will make it in or not. Even when the offense struggles, they still manage to put up points. The defense rarely show up or has their back when needed. This is strictly my opinion. Have a great day! Lol

I am going to respond to this.. You were constantly praising Stafford in the third Quarter of that game even when it looked like the receivers actually made plays.. He is not elite yet.. I never stated that he sucked, but now that you call me out in a thread later and could have easily just responded in that thread, lets me know that once things went sour, you were nowhere to be found.. I called out both sides because both the coaching and Stafford did not do well enough to win the game.. We need to be honest and realize that Stafford was bad in the 4th Quarter in that game(the entire receiving core was atrocious), but it took two to tangle.. Him not playing well in a game like this(because of the weather) I'm assuming, keeps me from calling him elite.. He is borderline.. Needs to win playoff games and clinch a game such as this for me to call him such..

 

[gvsulaker82]

Generally I agree with most what you say Rob but I gotta take the other side of this coin. This guy is an elite player who needs to be accounted for at all times. Also, he is about to enter the prime of his career and made two all pro teams already. The defense sucks as is and I don't want to see the Lions let their best defensive player leave.

Agree completely suh and fairley are both beasts and cannot be slowed down, I believe suh leads the nfl for qb disruptions for DTS.

 

[gvsulaker82]

- Brees has a really good group of receivers and has had that group for a long time. He wasn't elite in San Diego during his first seasons and he had very talented players around him. He was getting better and better back then.
- Brady is struggling this season because he doesn't have guys he can rely on. (and he's older now)
- Rodgers took a couple of years to build that chemistry with Nelson, Jennings, Jones, Finley, etc.
- Manning had Wayne and Harrison to go with Dallas Clark during his great seasons. His receiving corp this year is as good as any I've ever seen.

These QBs built trust in their receivers over time. Welker, Nelson, Garcon, (all of Brees' receivers), and tons of other guys weren't created by great quarterbacks. They are all good to great receivers in their own right. Elite QBs simply reveal the full value of the receivers on the roster.

I believe Stafford is doing that (trying to do that). Problem is once you look past CJ who has he had this year?

1. Nate Burleson is good.
2. Tony Scheffler was good prior to this year.
3. Brandon Pettigrew is good but painfully slow.
4. Durham looks good when targeted, but doesn't get too many passes thrown his way lately.
5. Jeremy Ross stinks.
6. Ogeltree stinks.
7. Broyles... Uggh.
8. Joe Fauria has vanished.

No continuity and not much in the way of quality on the field right now. If I were Stafford I'd throw 15+ times at Calvin every game too. Getting back Burleson will help out a lot. He's a starting quality receiver that will get open and catch 5 or 6 passes immediately. It will move the lesser quality coverage onto Durham. This is what will allow Durham to gain confidence in himself, and Stafford to gain confidence in Durham. I believe Durham can be the first player that Stafford "creates". The Lions need to add a young receiver to the mix. Maybe one that isn't crazy or prone to major knee injuries. If they have talent Stafford will make it show up on Sunday.

brady is getting older so I think thats why we see the decline, but he made his receivers good for the most part. Manning made studs out of guys like garcon and collie in indy, wayne is nowhere near the player that he was with peyton, and neither is clark. You can say these qbs have had great wide receivers but besides welker for the patriots they dont have any superstars. Brady, peyton and rodgers did it often without a running game. Brees had players like henderson and meachem and colston. You can say they had to develop a chemistry with their wrs but that would apply to every team in the league. These guys make their wide receivers and tight ends look good and sometimes great and thats why they are elite qbs and mvps. As I said. Now we are seeing glimpses of that with stafford which is great. Hes turned an udfa in fauria into a huge threat in the red zone, hes made a virtual nobody kris durham into a somebody. The lions have been fucked at WR since burleson went down and that hasnt caused matthew to miss a beat. Hopefully nate is back this weekend, because he is exactly what they need to get rolling. He was doing awesome pre injury and if you can have durham as the third or fourth option instead of the second that would be huge.

 

[Microwahevo]

but now that you call me out in a thread later and could have easily just responded in that thread, lets me know that once things went sour, you were nowhere to be found..

We both live in South Bend and we both lost our DirecTv signal during the 2nd half of that game. Many people even lost power so him not responding in that thread could've been the fact that he couldn't comment on things he didn't see. Just saying.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I read an article where the Lions lead the NFL in drops with 31 thru 11 games. That is atrocious. That is almost 3 times a game. This is a very lenient stat too. If they counted the borderline balls -- I wouldn't even want to think about how many they actually have.

To put it in perspective -- Reggie Bush has 7 drops this year -- The Green Bay team has 9 total for everyone.

 

[Wazmankg]

Yeah they've had too many drops. On the other hand, I think we can all agree that if Staff has a throwing issue it's that he throws everything hard. So some of those "drops" are on short ones that he threw way too hard. Then there are some of CJ's catches that nobody else in the world could have caught which would have otherwise been incomplete. So it kind of evens out.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Stafford is at 59.2% completions and Detroit has dropped almost 8% of the passes he has thrown. So he hasn't been bad at all.

As far as throwing the ball too hard? On what passes are you talking about? Swing passes? Anything over the middle of the field -- you have to throw hard, as you are throwing into small windows.

 

[broncosmitty]

If you subtract the drops, the knockdowns, the tips, the overthrows, the underthrows, the picks and the miscommunications he's having one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

If you subtract the drops, the knockdowns, the tips, the overthrows, the underthrows, the picks and the miscommunications he's having one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.

The tips, the overthrows, the underthrows, etc. are his fault. It isn't his fault his team leads the NFL in dropped passes -- all he can do is throw the ball to them.

If Detroit had the same number of drops as Green Bay (9 instead of 31) -- Stafford's completion % goes from 59.2 to 65.9.

I'm not saying Stafford is an elite QB, because until Detroit wins a playoff game and becomes a serious threat in the NFC, he most definitely isn't. He is light years better than anything the Lions have had under center in a long time though.

 

[themuzzer]

Leave my Boyfriend alone smitty.......Don't make me come to the Zoo looking for you....I know the zip code and have a description of that cardboard box you live in.....You won't be hard to find!!!!

 

[broncosmitty]

Leave my Boyfriend alone smitty.......Don't make me come to the Zoo looking for you....I know the zip code and have a description of that cardboard box you live in.....You won't be hard to find!!!!

What'd I say? If it weren't for a couple dozen incompletions last week he would have been perfect. You can't say that about very many Quarterbacks. Hell... You probably can't say that about ANY other quarterback.

 

[themuzzer]

Slippery slope......Sure some were Staffords fault.....Some where the WRs fault....The QB takes the blame because he's the leader......I don't have a problem with it....

The good news is that you don't hear Stafford bitching about WRs dropping balls. Other teams start pointing fingers, Garcon vs RGIII ........TO vs Romo.....Chad Johnson vs the World......As long as the WRs and Stafford arn't pointing fingers at each other, I think were ok.....Lots of teams arn't ok in that regard.

 

[broncosmitty]

I think we're okay too.

 

[themuzzer]

I think we're okay too.

Kum Ba Yah My lord.

 

[broncosmitty]

Kum Ba Yah My lord.

Ohhhhh lorddd..... Kim ba yahhhhhh....

 

[Wazmankg]

As far as throwing the ball too hard? On what passes are you talking about? Swing passes? Anything over the middle of the field -- you have to throw hard, as you are throwing into small windows.

Basically anything short. Swing passes is one example.