Matthew Stafford

[Kreton]

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

Destroying opponents make Baltimore and Indy come to mind. Or anyone who played the Bucs. lol

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

31st in rushing.

Worst O line in the NFL.

I think this sums up the offenses problem right now. I would also include Lombardi as a problem. We have all gave standing ovations to Austin for his work with the defense, but Lombardi has come over and turned an offense who, under Linehan, was a top 5-10 offense and turned it into what we are seeing.

The OL, which was a strength, under the new scheme has now become a glaring weakness. Of course, injuries have a lot to do with some of the offenses struggles, as Calvin Johnson has been out multiple games and a decoy in others. Bush and Bell have missed time. Fauria has been injured. I'd mention Ebron, but he was as productive in yesterday's game, as he was a couple weeks this year anyway. (i apologize -- had to throw that in)

Everyone wants to point at Stafford, but from listening to the game yesterday at the end -- the announcers kept saying the line isn't going Stafford time and when he had time, he had no one to throw the ball too. I don't know if they are biased toward Stafford, as I don't normally listen to the game on the radio, but they did not speak kindly of anyone on the Lions offense except for Golden Tate.

At what point do we start looking at our OC for a lot of the issues we are having?

 

[gvsulaker82]

Destroying opponents make Baltimore and Indy come to mind. Or anyone who played the Bucs. lol

Yes indy was my preseason pick to go to the super bowl in the afc. I see the ravens dominate one game then suck the next. Im not sold on them. Bucs are horrible although they also put up 24 on the saints. Just when I thought the jags were the worst team in the league they beat the browns and hoyer was absolute trash.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Its too soon to blame the OC imo. I was skeptical of the lions oline performing as well as the did last year although I didnt think they would be dead last. Fans need to see a healthy CJ with tate both playing and we should see some fireworks. If we still dont, then yes feel free. Lets not forget how incredibly inconsistent linehans offenses were.

 

[jdwills126]

I think after reviewing last season's tape the coaching staff realizes the Lions were a 10 win team if Stafford does not turn over the football. So they installed a scheme to prevent that.

 

[jayfan]

So let's see... We blamed the OC and WR's for QB's play. So switched OC and upgraded WR. Now blaming new OC and OL for same QB's play. When do we blame QB?

 

[TwoCents22]

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?

Umm, yes. Maybe because we watched the game? Look at the Lions final 4 pass plays:

Throw to Tate 4 yards short of first down, Tate makes 4 guys miss runs 80 yards for the TD. Not a bad throw, not a great throw, more of a jump ball on an out route, never a good pass, but let's call it the right throw.

Throw behind a wide open Fuller, probably a TD on a better thrown bal . I think we can all agree on that one.

Throw to Bush short of first down, on 4th. He locked on Bush here IMO. Perfect play call, as Bush drew 2 guys and allowed Pettigrew to get wide open in the end zone, but Stafford was already dead set on throwing to Bush. Bailed out by PI.

Throw to wide open Fuller. I won't debate good/bad pass. IMO he did want to throwvhigh, but it did almost sail on him.

So, last 4 pass plays Stafford is 2/3 for 92(?) Yards and 2 TDs. Holy shit is he good. He won us the game considering we were down 13 with 4 minutes to go. The stats would say we have Joe Montana, but better.

To the eye, a regular fan would see 2 bad throws, 2 easy TD throws on those same 4 plays. See the difference in perception?

 

[gvsulaker82]

I agree stafford hasnt been great 22, but neither has anyone else on the offense not named tate. The offense as a whole sucks, not just stafford.

 

[tpaulus_2]

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

Oh no- actual stats and wins-losses are meaningless. The only thing that really matters is how everyone perceives Stafford to be playing. I think that's starting to become pretty obvious. His mistakes will be magnified 10 times over, and when someone puts up numbers that show something other than what the posters here think they're seeing, those numbers are no good, because you have to watch the game to know that Stafford was off-target on some of his throws. Besides, we all know that good QBs complete 75% of their passes each and every week (sarcasm font, fyi.)

In all seriousness, though, Stafford's completion percentage (that's the ACCURACY statistic, in case anyone is confused on that) yesterday matched Peyton Manning's completion percentage for the year, and people are trying to argue how inaccurate he was? I think this should be exhibit A on why many of you have unrealistic expectations. Of course if you focus solely on the missed throws, and nothing else, then he's going to look bad. Honestly, if he's completing 68% of his passes, I could care less how far off his missed passes are, provided they don't land in the hands of the opposing defense.

 

[tpaulus_2]

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.

That's a great way to put it.

While Stafford has been frustrating because we all know he can do better, he also hasn't been bad, per se. It seems like he's always chasing an ever-shifting gold-standard on here...

 

[tpaulus_2]

Umm, yes. Maybe because we watched the game? Look at the Lions final 4 pass plays:

Throw to Tate 4 yards short of first down, Tate makes 4 guys miss runs 80 yards for the TD. Not a bad throw, not a great throw, more of a jump ball on an out route, never a good pass, but let's call it the right throw.

Throw behind a wide open Fuller, probably a TD on a better thrown bal . I think we can all agree on that one.

Throw to Bush short of first down, on 4th. He locked on Bush here IMO. Perfect play call, as Bush drew 2 guys and allowed Pettigrew to get wide open in the end zone, but Stafford was already dead set on throwing to Bush. Bailed out by PI.

Throw to wide open Fuller. I won't debate good/bad pass. IMO he did want to throwvhigh, but it did almost sail on him.

So, last 4 pass plays Stafford is 2/3 for 92(?) Yards and 2 TDs. Holy shit is he good. He won us the game considering we were down 13 with 4 minutes to go. The stats would say we have Joe Montana, but better.

To the eye, a regular fan would see 2 bad throws, 2 easy TD throws on those same 4 plays. See the difference in perception?[/QUOTE]
That's part of my issue, right there, is focusing on the bad throws, even though by normal NFL QB percentages he missed a less passes yesterday than most NFL QBs do in a game.

Again, if you're going to focus on the bad and ignore the good, then he'll look bad 10 times out of 10 times. If you look at the bad and the good together, he's having a decent, if underwhelming, season so far.

 

[Kreton]

Oh no- actual stats and wins-losses are meaningless. because you have to watch the game to know that Stafford was off-target on some of his throws.

Seriously? You are mocking that it makes more sense to watch the games and see the plays rather than just looking at the stat sheets? Holy fuck dude. I must have misread that. So while you are raving about pure stats and assuming Stafford is awesome, why the low QBR which factors in more than just cherry picked stats? By the stats argument our defense sucks, Brees was amazing, Stafford was really good, and the Saints dominated the game. Our D line was terrible yesterday too.

The simple truth is stats can say all kinds of things. Watching the games makes more sense than just looking at stat sheets. Brees outplayed Stafford in every facet of the game by looking at stats.

Im not trying to really come at you here, but c'mon. Watching the game, seeing what is happening > stats when evaluating someones performance.

 

[TwoCents22]

I'm just upset we have a guy more resembling Matt Ryan or Jay Cutler than a top 5 QB. I hate that Stafford is so dependent on everybody around him being good and making plays.

I'm still sticking with my prediction of a Superbowl loss for our Lions. I fully expect to get Calvin back, and for Ebron to start being more involved. Then we'll start seeing the offense move the ball, and put up 20 points on a consistent basis. With our defense playing well, IMO were ready for a legit Championship run.

 

[gvsulaker82]

And the lions have van noy returning in a few weeks 22. I fully expect him to replace palmer and contribute.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Thank goodness stafford is only 26 and still not even on his prime. Theres many reasons to hate on him, I get it. But there are also many reasons to have faith tha hes getting closer and closer to breaking out. I wont make excuses for him, he needs to play better. For the record 22, currently besides tate there is not one person around stafford making plays. Hell, he even has to worry his fucking kicker will miss an easy kick.

 

[Kreton]

If you look at the bad and the good together, he's having a decent, if underwhelming, season so far.

I wouldnt call it decent. Overall he's been a bottom 12 QB based on QBR. Defense has bailed him out some but overall his performance has not been decent. The team has been winning and Stafford has been good enough.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Seriously? You are mocking that it makes more sense to watch the games and see the plays rather than just looking at the stat sheets? Holy fuck dude. I must have misread that. So while you are raving about pure stats and assuming Stafford is awesome, why the low QBR which factors in more than just cherry picked stats? By the stats argument our defense sucks, Brees was amazing, Stafford was really good, and the Saints dominated the game. Our D line was terrible yesterday too.

The simple truth is stats can say all kinds of things. Watching the games makes more sense than just looking at stat sheets. Brees outplayed Stafford in every facet of the game by looking at stats.

Im not trying to really come at you here, but c'mon. Watching the game, seeing what is happening > stats when evaluating someones performance.

No, I'm mocking the fact that every one of his missed passes was blown way out of proportion. Nobody seems to want to acknowledge that he was 68% on the day yesterday. All that seems to matter is that he missed some bad ones. That sort of thing happens to every QB in every game in the NFL, but you'd never know that based on the threads here.

Yes, watching the games tells you way more than the stats do, obviously, but if you're watching the game with a bias agenda, then you're going to come away with a very different take vs. what really happened...

 

[gvsulaker82]

The entire offense has been just good enough kreton, theres much blame to go around.

 

[TwoCents22]

Exactly. The main point I'm trying to make is we can't be satisfied with this type of play all year. If the same thing as last year happens, the organization would be dumb to not start exploring other possible options. I hate when people say " get used to it he's the starter for at least the next 3 years due to his contract". Stfu, no quarterback should have that type of security.

 

[tpaulus_2]

I wouldnt call it decent. Overall he's been a bottom 12 QB based on QBR. Defense has bailed him out some but overall his performance has not been decent. The team has been winning and Stafford has been good enough.

So stats don't tell everything, you say, but you keep hanging your hat on ESPN's QBR stat as if it's the end-all-be-all measurement for QBs...