Watching his play so far this season, I cannot understand how anyone can say that Matthew Stafford is going to be a great quarterback in the NFL. A few of his touchdowns were pretty, but that does not make him a great quarterback prospect. Remember, even the hated Joey Harrington threw some touchdowns. It is rare that Stafford shows he has the ability to put any kind of touch on his passes. He has a great arm, that is a fact, but he throws a bullet every pass. His down field passes are always thrown on a rope so defenses can snatch them before they get to the receivers. Yet that is not why I am down on him.
Far more often than not on crossing routes, he throws the ball behind his receivers. It is seldom that the receivers can catch the ball and continue to run rather than going into a slide as they reach behind them. Just as often, his passes are not even catchable. I do not doubt that he can learn to put some touch on his passes as he accumulates experience but accuracy in general is not something to be taught.
If you look at the better quarterbacks in the NFL, there are a few things they all have in common. They are accurate throwers, they have good poise and they are intelligent. Matthew Stafford does not have accuracy or poise and the intelligence is still up for questioning.
I have already talked about hi9m not being accurate, but I will add one more point of evidence on the fact. In college, he only passed for over 60% in one season. His junior season he completed 61.4% of his attempts. In college, that is not considered great. So far in the NFL he is at a 54.1% clip.
I know many will want to argue the poise claim. I can only go by what I have seen of him and so far his poise is practically non-existent. Yes, he does wait til the last second sometimes to throw the pass, but when he does wait, his passes are usually very erratic. Far more often than not, when he has a player coming at him hard, his pass will not even be catchable. That is not poise!
As for intelligence, that is still up for debate. It will solely depend on if he can ever learn to read the defenses better than he does now.
When Tom Brady still played for Michigan, I was the only person I knew who actually believed he would be a good NFL quarterback. I watched him throw very accurate passes as he was taking hits too often. He showed me two of those three qualities. Accuracy and poise. The knocks against him coming out of college was that he tended to hold the ball too low, he sometimes hung his deep passes and was not great at escaping pressure. They also said his arm was not considered to be real strong. Funny how all the things that were held against him are things that are praised about Stafford. The strong points about Brady, the accuracy, poise and intelligence are not considered to be Stafford's strong points.
So many believe Matthew Stafford will become a great quarterback in the NFL. I stand now and say it will not happen. As I said, I gauge a quarterback by three important markers. Accuracy, poise and intelligence. In that order. Stafford does not have the first two in my opinion and those are two things that cannot be taught. Oh, Stafford will have his good games. Just like Joey Harrington, Charlie Batch, Scott Mitchell and every other Lion quarterback has had. I do not believe however, that Stafford will ever have great games on a consistent basis.
Once again, the Detroit Lions have wasted another first round pick.
11/11/09
11/8/09
Lions Lose to Seahawks in week-9
This week in Seattle, the Detroit Lions were hoping to make up for their debacle last week against the St. Louis Rams. They came away with a 32 to 20 loss.
If you did not watch the game and could not even listen to the game, you might see the score and think the Seahawks beat up on the Lions. I assure you the score is very deceiving. It was nowhere near as close as the score makes it sound.
The Seahawks came out flat and turned the ball over on their first two offensive plays of the game and Detroit took advantage, going up 14 to nothing. The first quarter ended with the Lions ahead 17-0. Then the real Detroit Lions showed up to play. In the final three quarters of play, the Lions accumulated only one field goal while giving up 3 touchdowns and 4 field goals.
Once again the Lions could not stop a pass as Matt Hasselbeck completed 76% of his passes for 329 yards. Often, almost every pass, his receivers caught the ball with no Lions player within three yards. On screen passes the Lions defenders often charged to within 3 or 4 yards of the running back and stopped, shuffling their feet while waiting for the running back to make the move and run by them. Seldom did the Lions defense attack.
Stafford was once again extremely inaccurate as he completed only 52% of his passes. Many of the passes he did complete were throws his receivers had to reach back behind them to grab. After throwing the two touchdown passes in the first quarter, he finished the game out by adding 5 interceptions.
On paper, the Lions are far more talented than they were in 2008, and yet they are playing worse than they did in that 0-16 joke of a season. Even though they won a game this season, their play in pass defense and offense has been much worse. They have now been beat up by two of the three worse teams (other than the Lions) in the NFL in consecutive weeks.
If you did not watch the game and could not even listen to the game, you might see the score and think the Seahawks beat up on the Lions. I assure you the score is very deceiving. It was nowhere near as close as the score makes it sound.
The Seahawks came out flat and turned the ball over on their first two offensive plays of the game and Detroit took advantage, going up 14 to nothing. The first quarter ended with the Lions ahead 17-0. Then the real Detroit Lions showed up to play. In the final three quarters of play, the Lions accumulated only one field goal while giving up 3 touchdowns and 4 field goals.
Once again the Lions could not stop a pass as Matt Hasselbeck completed 76% of his passes for 329 yards. Often, almost every pass, his receivers caught the ball with no Lions player within three yards. On screen passes the Lions defenders often charged to within 3 or 4 yards of the running back and stopped, shuffling their feet while waiting for the running back to make the move and run by them. Seldom did the Lions defense attack.
Stafford was once again extremely inaccurate as he completed only 52% of his passes. Many of the passes he did complete were throws his receivers had to reach back behind them to grab. After throwing the two touchdown passes in the first quarter, he finished the game out by adding 5 interceptions.
On paper, the Lions are far more talented than they were in 2008, and yet they are playing worse than they did in that 0-16 joke of a season. Even though they won a game this season, their play in pass defense and offense has been much worse. They have now been beat up by two of the three worse teams (other than the Lions) in the NFL in consecutive weeks.
11/4/09
My Thoughts on the Detroit Lions
2008 was the worst season I have ever been through as a Detroit Lions fan. Of course that statement holds true for most all Lions fans. The problem is that this season might be worse!
The Lions hit a record low last year going winless for the first time for any team in the NFL. It was a disappointing and discouraging year as we watched the worst football team in NFL history. But last year we all knew the talent was desolate. We all knew that the Lions as a team were at an all time low. This year was supposed to be different!
Jim Schwartz took over a the coach. Gunthar Cunningham was the new defensive coordinator. Together they were supposed to build a much better tam and show a much more aggressive style of play. In came Larry Foote, Julian Peterson and Grady Jackson. They drafted a young hitting talent in Louis Delmas. They signed two new cornerbacks. On the offensive side of the ball, they drafted what is supposed to be the Lions future star at quarterback and Tight End. This year was supposed to be different!
So where is that difference? When a team as bad as the St.Louis Rams comes into Detroit and the Lions still lose, is this improvement? Are the multitude of dropped passes any different? Are the collage of missed tackles on each play anything new? The horrible accuracy by a quarterback, is that new? The stupid penalties and bad offensive line play, is that something we have never seen? Other than all of the new names on the roster, where is the difference?
How can a team look so much better on paper, be just as bad as the worst team in NFL history? How is it possible the Lions have not improved? Over 2009, don't they improve by simple default? So they won a game this year. You know what? That doesn't mean they are better! That only means one of their opponents finally had a horrible day!
When will the Lions finally get a clue as to how to put a real NFL team together? When Barry Sanders was here, the Lions still sucked! They weren't a good team. They just won some games because they had arguably the best running back of all time. Sure Sanders had some awesome years, but it wasn't because he had a great offensive line blocking for him. In fact he did not even have a decent line in front of him. That is why Barry was as well known for his one or two yard losses as he was for his 80 yard touchdowns. Because the line sucked and far too often he was hit as he took the hand off. Barry retired early because he was sick of the Lions losing ways.
Year after year the Lions place an emphasis on improving the running game. Every coach says the same thing. They will emphasize the running game. Yet no coach is willing to do what it takes to have a good running game. Get a decent offensive line!
Here are two extremely common yet very very accurate cliches in the NFL. ... "The game is won in the trenches" and "Defense wins Championships"! Oh how about, "You build a team from the inside, out!" I have debated many times before that if you give me an average quarterback with a great offensive line, I will beat a team with the best quarterback in the NFL history who has a bad line. So can someone please tell me why the Lions continue to draft high profile players like quarterbacks, Running Backs and Receivers?
If the Lions are improved, they need to start showing it. They do not get a free pass because they are using a rookie QB. They shouldn't have drafted him in the first place! If he is not ready, they should play another QB! It is time for our rookies to begin showing us why they were drafted so high! Delmas needs to wrap up on his tackles. Pettigrew needs to get open and catch some passes. Stafford needs to become much more accurate! If they cannot start showing they are a better team, the Schwartz needs to go. Even after only one year. Yes I agree a coach needs three years to put his team together with a scheme of his own. But when you come to a team as bad as the Lions and add so much more talent and get the same results, that is inexcusable!
The Lions hit a record low last year going winless for the first time for any team in the NFL. It was a disappointing and discouraging year as we watched the worst football team in NFL history. But last year we all knew the talent was desolate. We all knew that the Lions as a team were at an all time low. This year was supposed to be different!
Jim Schwartz took over a the coach. Gunthar Cunningham was the new defensive coordinator. Together they were supposed to build a much better tam and show a much more aggressive style of play. In came Larry Foote, Julian Peterson and Grady Jackson. They drafted a young hitting talent in Louis Delmas. They signed two new cornerbacks. On the offensive side of the ball, they drafted what is supposed to be the Lions future star at quarterback and Tight End. This year was supposed to be different!
So where is that difference? When a team as bad as the St.Louis Rams comes into Detroit and the Lions still lose, is this improvement? Are the multitude of dropped passes any different? Are the collage of missed tackles on each play anything new? The horrible accuracy by a quarterback, is that new? The stupid penalties and bad offensive line play, is that something we have never seen? Other than all of the new names on the roster, where is the difference?
How can a team look so much better on paper, be just as bad as the worst team in NFL history? How is it possible the Lions have not improved? Over 2009, don't they improve by simple default? So they won a game this year. You know what? That doesn't mean they are better! That only means one of their opponents finally had a horrible day!
When will the Lions finally get a clue as to how to put a real NFL team together? When Barry Sanders was here, the Lions still sucked! They weren't a good team. They just won some games because they had arguably the best running back of all time. Sure Sanders had some awesome years, but it wasn't because he had a great offensive line blocking for him. In fact he did not even have a decent line in front of him. That is why Barry was as well known for his one or two yard losses as he was for his 80 yard touchdowns. Because the line sucked and far too often he was hit as he took the hand off. Barry retired early because he was sick of the Lions losing ways.
Year after year the Lions place an emphasis on improving the running game. Every coach says the same thing. They will emphasize the running game. Yet no coach is willing to do what it takes to have a good running game. Get a decent offensive line!
Here are two extremely common yet very very accurate cliches in the NFL. ... "The game is won in the trenches" and "Defense wins Championships"! Oh how about, "You build a team from the inside, out!" I have debated many times before that if you give me an average quarterback with a great offensive line, I will beat a team with the best quarterback in the NFL history who has a bad line. So can someone please tell me why the Lions continue to draft high profile players like quarterbacks, Running Backs and Receivers?
If the Lions are improved, they need to start showing it. They do not get a free pass because they are using a rookie QB. They shouldn't have drafted him in the first place! If he is not ready, they should play another QB! It is time for our rookies to begin showing us why they were drafted so high! Delmas needs to wrap up on his tackles. Pettigrew needs to get open and catch some passes. Stafford needs to become much more accurate! If they cannot start showing they are a better team, the Schwartz needs to go. Even after only one year. Yes I agree a coach needs three years to put his team together with a scheme of his own. But when you come to a team as bad as the Lions and add so much more talent and get the same results, that is inexcusable!
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