Matthew Stafford

[gvsulaker82]

SHHHH!

That will create a frenzy to draft a WR #1!

Dude, we already have one. Hes our third string TE.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Or China doll

I thought that was either zackfollet or lionstop.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Lol. What are you trying to prove Gandy? That just shows that I will be a realistic critic of these players performances. I think Bell and Bush are playing bad and even worse than Stafford. As you can see, I expected them to be good.

Well, Ive always believed there are very few running backs that can produce without an offensive line. Barry sanders was one of them. These running backs dont come around often. Since the oline has been doing poorly the runnng game is suffering because neither bush or bell can do shit witout adequate blocking. Essentially what Im saying is the lions could be using just about any running back this year and the numbers would be poor. Unless the offensive line shows major improvement the offense will struggle more especially within the running game. The majority of time running backs are a product of their offensive line whereas in a few cases such as sanders they are so amazing they can run with a poor offensive line.

 

[Old Lion]

The fumbles and drops more than anything worry me about the RBs. The fact they are not running well is on the OL.


Stafford still needs to man up, but he has not been as bad as the RBs. I am having my doubts about Lombardi at this point too.

 

[Gulf of Brazil]

Should not have doubts about Lombardi at this point. He is new to the position as OC and still new to the player's as to what they can do. Now, if we're going the route of making changes/adjustments at half-time, to correct issues from the 1st half, I might agree with that assumption.


I believe it was Valion, who quoted AZ HC Arians statement, it takes 8 games for all player's to adjust to a new offensive system (kind of paraphrasing there, but I'll find it again).

 

[tpaulus_2]

So, given the amount of flak Stafford was/is taking on here following the win yesterday, I figured I'd examine his numbers a bit closer, in hopes of dispelling the notion that he's playing poorly.


Now I want to give a disclaimer first, just so we're crystal-clear: I DO NOT THINK STAFFORD IS PLAYING WELL SO FAR THIS SEASON. I also do not think he's playing poorly.


Anywho, his numbers through 7 games, broken down and projected over a full 16 games would look like this:


4,322 yards, 21 TDs, 14 INTs, 7 fumbles, 63.% completion percentage.


Given that we're 5-2 right now, if we finish in the 10-6 to 12-4 range, and Stafford holds his current pace and hits those numbers, are you guys really going to try to pass that off as poor QB play?


Sure, he's capable of much more, and we have to remember that these numbers are without a healthy Calvin Johnson for 4 games, so hopefully he can improve on the TDs and yards a bit over the second half of the year. Even if he doesn't, though, he'll have cut down on the turn-overs pretty substantially, to the tune of 10 less total turnovers.


Given that he's playing without his top offensive threat, without Fauria and his red-zone presence, and while trying to master a new offense, I think those of you dogging him are being just a tad bit unfair.


His numbers tell a different story than what some of you are trying to throw out there, and, more importantly, the win-loss numbers are finally where we all want them. In seasons past he's put up huge stats, but you all said they were worthless without the wins. Now his numbers are down, but so are his mistakes, and the wins are up. Apparently that's not good enough either- we need the wins and Stafford has to be putting up big numbers. I don't get it.


You guys complain too much, imo- be happy with a good winning record and improved QB play from last year...

 

[gandydancer]

Tpaul the part gets me from you.

"Sure he is capable of much more"... So seems expect to see the much more and not be content with mediocre play.

Yes I would be very unhappy with 21 turnovers. Holy shit then you add the fumbles from RBs yet to happen. Lions end up with a 10-6 or 11-5 record that defense stayed top3 all year. Overcoming turnovers is hard to do. Saw it early yesterday. Bree's saw it late.

Not bad aside from turnovers. With him starting to get a "game manger" vs "gunslinger" talk. 21 is way too high.

 

[gandydancer]

Holy wow. Just realized 21 TDs and 21 turnovers. You are okay with 1:1 ratio just as long as they win?

I am only seeing one playoff caliber team so far they played. The Packers and 1:1 ratio will not beat them or any of the other ten teams there most likely.

He outplayed a HOFer yesterday, sure. I expect more from 20 million am I wrong for that? I expect more from Suh and CJ also. Pay them like all stars, I want all stars.

 

[Rollingthndr]

You guys complain too much, imo- be happy with a good winning record and improved QB play from last year...

I am happy with the record but you know damn well that win was fluky as they come. Lucky ass 4th down pass interference. Along with penalties being the only reason the ball moved at all on a couple of those drives. I give Stafford credit for hitting Fuller at the end. but he was given a boat load of chances to do it. In the end, a win is a win. My only problem is the way Stafford completes his passes, he is throwing behind,high and having his receivers go off their routes or stop or whatever. Same way Calvin re-aggrivated his injury. Ball was way low. If it was on the money, he could of avoided the guy darting at his knees. All I'm saying is his throws put his receivers in harm's way a lot of the time.

My hats off to the defense which is playing out of it's mind right now. Quin is playing like a sure fire bro-bowler. Probably my favorite Lion to watch on defense. Guy lays the wood and covers a ton of ground. Always seems to be in the right spot.

 

[gvsulaker82]

I'm not worried about staff, am worried about offensive line and kicker though. Salivating thinking about both CJ and Tate playing with that d tho

 

[Microwahevo]

Holy wow. Just realized 21 TDs and 21 turnovers. You are okay with 1:1 ratio just as long as they win?

I am only seeing one playoff caliber team so far they played. The Packers and 1:1 ratio will not beat them or any of the other ten teams there most likely.

He outplayed a HOFer yesterday, sure. I expect more from 20 million am I wrong for that? I expect more from Suh and CJ also. Pay them like all stars, I want all stars.

He only has one fumble lost though, so unless he really starts losing them, it won't be 7 total fumbles lost.

 

[gandydancer]

I'm not worried about staff, am worried about offensive line and kicker though. Salivating thinking about both CJ and Tate playing with that d tho

CJ is my reason I can't pile on Staff. Lombardi being a new OC is also learning how to game plan without CJ. Sure his early planning involved CJ 80%. Safeties are playing up right now. CJ comes back and opens many variables. Box is empty on running plays and the underneath stuff.

The one plus I saw this week is other names being utilized. Him seeing Ross and Fuller this week only means no reason to lock in on CJ once he's back. Many good things could come from CJ being out. 3-1 so far during this stretch were he was a non factor or out.

Even when CJ comes back, still needs to work on touch passes and decisions making. I heard happy feet yesterday many times. OL in IMO gets minimal help from CJ changing a defensive look. They need to step up or we will keep seeing mediocre play from Stafford

 

[gvsulaker82]

As frustrating as staff has been gandy, he has been ok . He has no oline, kicker, running game, or CJ. He has also proven he can throw to wide outs not named CJ. Still has a lot of work to do but I definitely see progress.

 

[Kreton]

I keep saying this. Stats don't tell the whole story. Wins and losses are what matters. Now when week in and week out it seems one side of the ball is winning games for us despite the other side then the other side needs to step it up.

For many years in the past people have been begging for our defense to step it up. Our offense carried us. Now it is the opposite with many of the same offensive players. I think for the most part we have a defense playing great. One of the best in the NFL. And we have an offense capable of being one of the best in the NFL who just isnt playing like it.

But because stats seem to dominate I'll continue to play along.

Facts about some Stafford stats:

Matt Staffords QBR is only 2 points better than Kirk Cousins who has been benched for a 3rd string QB.

Stafford is ranked worse than Whitehurst, Hoyer, Kyle Orton and almost every starter in the NFL. He is 23rd in terms of QBR.

Stafford is 22nd in completion percentage.

tied for 9th most interceptions.

Now I'm not trying to make Stafford look bad, but stats can tell all kinds of stories when you pick the ones you want to post. And QBR is kind of a big one.

More concerning is the offense as a whole. And Stafford is a very big part of that. We have the 24th ranked offense in the NFL. If this were reversed, top offense and the 24th ranked D people would be going apeshit and talking that same ol' lions bullshit.

31st in rushing.

Worst O line in the NFL.

25th in points.

Those are concerning stats.

5-2 is awesome. Wins are great. But we have those 5 wins. They are there. They ain't going anywhere. The concern now is the next 9 games. Any given week our defense is playing great. Pretty much barely good enough to hold on to win.

Over the last few years, me and some others looked at those losses and said we were close. We were barely losing. Well now we are barely winning. Its a step in the right direction. But how long are we going to keep winning these close games? We need the offense to step up. CJ will help for sure. But Stafford, the O line, and the RB committee needs to play better.

 

[Wazmankg]

He was better yesterday. He missed a few but he had a few drops as well and the OL is still the biggest problem.....plus look what he was working with. He's good enough with Calvin in the lineup but the OL needs to show some improvement. Who would have thought they'd be the problem heading into the season and the D would be the biggest strength ? It's been a funny year. OT, but we should be happy we're not Bears fans. How TF does Miami hold that offense to 7 through 3 & 1/2 quarters in Chicago ? Cutler has probably 2 top 10 WRs, a decent TE and Matt Forte to work with and they couldn't score. Whatever is going on over there I hope it continues.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Dolphins have a good defense, I thought miami did well against GB too, considering outside of denver GB is the hottest team currently.

 

[Kreton]

Dolphins have a good defense, I thought miami did well against GB too, considering outside of denver GB is the hottest team currently.

Dallas.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Dallas has been dominant but I was thinking more along the lines of just destroying opponents.

 

[jdwills126]

Stafford is trying to be a game manager. This offense is supposed to be a low risk, low turnover scheme. I don't think it fits Stafford's strengths but look at Chicago and Jay Cutler, will have a All Star type game and fallow it up with a 3 turnover performance. You can never count on Cutler and Stafford has a lot of Jay Cutler type game in his.

Whatever works the thing about Stafford is he will adapt where I don't think Jay Cutler can.

 

[gvsulaker82]

I think we can crunch down those stats and attribute almost all of those to just a shitty offensive line kreton. I believe its time to replace sims or raiola and see if that helps. Raiola preferably. Hes been in the league how many years and he still looks completely lost out there, not to mention jes a piece of shit. They cant get any push whatsoever up the middle, and struggled against a bad saints defense. Unless something is done with the offensive line I believe the lions will continue to struggle mightily.