OT: Matthew Stafford supposedly a Lion through 2017
Deal (if true) is worth $53 million in new and $43 million in guaranteed money.
Well what has the Lions record been against winning teams before Stafford was there? How about against any teams with a winning record in the last 20 years? Probably not much better
However, there are quite a few posters that seem to believe he is a "top tier" QB. I dont think many Lions fans in the last 20 years would try to make that claim about any previous QB's.
Well, even a top tier QB can't do much with a bottom tier OL
Sure, but let's give him an offensive line, running back, and defensive secondary before blaming him for that.
So Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more times then anyone in the past 3 seasons. Also with one of the worst running games in the league, and a secondary that gave up more yards then anyone, ever. How do you explain that?
Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Jermichael Finley, Randall Cobb >>>>>>>>> Lions WRs not counting Megatron.
When you have Durham, Robiskie, Osgood, Scheffler and to name a few scrubs as your WRs for most of the season, yikes.
Set a franchise record with 6 TDs against our defense. That's all you need to know.
I don't see what I'm supposed to explain. See my comment above: I don't think Stafford is a great quarterback, whereas Rodgers is. In that same vein, you can't expect Stafford to single-handedly carry the Lions when he only has one (admittedly all-time-great caliber) tool. He is not, was not, and will never be that sort of quarterback.
what else would you expect?
I cant imagine Calvin Johnson or Ndamukong Suh having a much better win percentage. At this point, there are only a handful of QB's that I would trade Stafford for if we are looking to be set at QB for the next 10 years.
hes 17-28 overall so that 1-22 record against teams that finished with a winning record is 16-6 against teams with a losing record, which seeing as how we went 0-16 the year before he was drafted. so stafford beating the bad teams and losing to the good ones is fine by me, the team is the most competitive it has been in years.
The Lions can keep Stafford and Megatron around all they want. Until the day comes when the Fords no longer own the team, the Lions will be mired down in mediocrity.
Hopefully Staffy has been drinking his milk like a big boy, his injuries scare me.
The injury concerns have faded somewhat.
WOOD!!!
I know this is gonna sound crazy, and it feels crazy to type, but I think the lions are headed in an upward direction. Last year feels like an aberation to me and I feel like the front office learned a lesson from last year and resting on laurels...
jdon
two years ago: get easy schedule, win a lot
one year ago: get hard schedule based on # of wins, lose a lot but by not much
this year: receive easy schedule due to # of wins
???
Profit?
I don't recall where I saw it, but there was a breakdown of the Lions' season last year compared to their point differential, and they under-performed their point differential (outscored by a total of 51 points) by 2.6 wins, meaning they really should've won ~7 games. Last year was an aberration, and historically a team that underperforms their point differential that significantly tends to rebound significantly the next year. If the Lions lose more than 9 games this year, it's a serious issue, and they need to make significant changes at the top.
Lots of bad luck and misery despite good talent.. Lets hope Lions 2013= Michigan 2006 ( minus the phantom Roughing the QB call in the final regular season game and crushing bowl defeat of course).
Sporting News goes into their interpretation of the mechanics of the deal here - LINK. They do, of course, mention the practical reason for doing this right now.
"They needed to get this extension done for salary-cap purposes, first and foremost — Stafford was set to cost $20.8 million against the cap in 2013 and nearly $20 million in 2014. But the Lions also believe in Stafford’s abilities wholeheartedly, and they’ve hesitated little to show that, be it on the field or at the negotiating table."
I would think that it makes sense for the Lions to do this now because of what they might have been having to pay or match down the road as well as because of the cap charges. They wrapped up Johnson last year, I believe, with a nice long deal and if they are going to do something (or at least mount an attempt) in the next few years, keeping the centerpieces of any such effort is a good call.
Personally im not a Lions fans and I do like Matt although I do feel like he just looks toward Calvin and just stays on whatever side he is on.
when you have Kris Durham, Mike Thomas, Tony Scheffler(a TE who is basically a defacto a WR), Kassim Osgood(a special team ace but not much of a WR otherwise), and Brian Robiskie as your recievers at mid season?? There's no wonder that Stafford is looking at Megatron every single time when they lost Burleson, Pettigrew and Broyles (Plus Titus Young who went full on mental)?
I expect Stafford to be much better with an addition of Bush who will play in a Jahvid Best role that Lions offense desperately needed plus with Burleson, Pettigrew and Broyles getting healthy for next season.
Do you want him to not throw at calvin? Calvin is our best OW so he gets targeted a lot, way more last year with the injuries but pettigrew still had like 60 catches, joique bell had a ton too from all those checkdowns at the end of games.
Signed Megatron to a massive comtract in 2012, signed Stafford to one in 2013, will Suh be next in 2014? I'm not sure Suh is worth 15 mil per year with his current level of production (or lack thereof)
He's so overrated its not even funny. Even without the on and off-field distractions, he's a cancer.
By 2017 his right arm will have already fallen off. Let's keep having him throw 55 times a game, such a smart coaching move.