“You know, Matthew Stafford, I think he is an elite quarterback,” LaFleur said
*He’s a natural thrower,” he continued. “He’s extremely accurate, and, you know, I haven’t really gone against him many times on teams I’ve been on, but we all watch the same tape, and I’ve always thought he was an elite quarterback.”
But how many elite quarterbacks are there in the NFL?
*I don’t know (how many of them there are) to be honest with you,” LaFleur said. “I know he’s one of them though.”
It sure seems like there’s a lot of people
calling Stafford Elite these days.
Even Barry Sanders is on the “Stafford is Elite Bandwagon.”
“When I think of Matt, they’re playing a real NFL player who’s elite," he said. “He’s one of those guys from my perspective, he’s very well-respected around the league.”
Stafford has ALWAYS been my favorite player, but I have a real hard time calling him “elite” with no bowls and ranked so far behind Brady, Rogers as top NFL QB’s, I’ve only seen Stafford ranked top 5 twice that I can remember. by and large he’s been 10th or 11th-best.
so I am sorry, I don’t award him the Elite title.
Do you consider Phillip Rivers Elite?
I have heard the same people that call Rivers Elite say Stafford is not. I find these two very comparable.
Hi KC nice to see you !, um to answer your question? I don’t give a damn about Rivers, he’s far out of my radar and I don’t think of him. I care about this team , this season, and beating our opponent put in front of us.
I don’t get caught up in the “elite” talk, because in someone’s eyes one QB is always so much better than the other in their honest assessment , and one QB is elite, while the other isn’t…I just don’t bother arguing. again I always have been a Stafford supporter/defender
BUT I can easily point to his mistakes as well. Doesn’t make me any less of his fan, just being honest/realistic. I always seen our posters throw out he’s just average, no …he’s more than “average” yet I still don’t see {Elite} when he is ranked so far down below the top 5 VERY often.
when you race, you want to be #1, you finish 10th out of 40…that wasn’t quite what your after and your surely not in the elite top of the racers.
That’s fair.
Your criteria for an individual (His skills/talent) as far as an “Elite” caliber QB is Bowls or what a sport website or media personality says?
What is your criteria and whatever that criteria is please feel free back up the assessment of Stafford not being “Elite”
Splitting hairs was fun in my teen years. Now it’s just tiring.
Are you guys still giving a crap about labels at this stage of life?
I’m not in on it, but without all the Stafford topics, Lions boards really wouldn’t be too active, so I have always been good with a nice debate on different subjects
Matt is a great QB with the potential to be elite. Show me the trophy!
what is to “back up”? Stafford has no ring/no bowl that’s what keeps him out of the elite IMO.
Stafford is ranked anywhere from 13th to 10th best all…the…time…that is not elite either…
those two factors drive it home for me “right now” that is MY opinion and not that of anyone else. my assessment is Stafford gets a bit of a rough shake on ranking…I argue he should always be at least top 10, but right now…he isn’t top five that’s a pretty unique class.
let me say again, I am and always have been a Stafford supporter and defender. He is my favorite Lion. But again, I can understand he makes mistakes. " I " don’t think he’s elite , but pretty damn good above “average”. but no bowl, no elite. 10th ranking? no elite. IMO.
my opinion. peace.
What is your criteria for the assessment/ranking? How did you form your opinion ? What makes Stafford at least top 10 for you that you would argue it ?
I am able to form my own opinions and thoughts on the matter and did, that is how I formed my opinion. as for the rest, it is the NFL’s ranking system where Stafford hovers around 10th to 13th-best…I merely said that IMO Matt should always be top 10 -worthy. It’s that simple.
I haven’t bothered to look at the QB ranking since before our preseason…but as a rule, it’s safe to say they had Stafford around tenth…weather it’s 11th, 12th, 13th whatever.
I’ve been paying attention to our 2019 games and topics here on the daily.
First let me say that I do not thing that championships are not a requirement for Elite status. There have been many Elite players who have no Division or better championships.
In addition this is just another case of Stafford being called Elite that I have heard this season. Daniel Jerimiah called him Elite just a few weeks ago during an interview, will see if I can find the article.
Now the question is do I agree, the simple answer is no. For me an Elite player is more consistent playing then Stafford has shown, While in the past he has shown that he can play at an Elite level, maybe even this season, but it never seems to last. He might make it a full season but then water finds it’s level and he looks average.
Now I believe that he can still change my mind as I can see him playing for a few more seasons. And I believe that a player can move to the ELite level, an example in my mind is the Brady. Brady’s played for a few seasons before I would even say that he started to play at an Elite level, but once he figured it out he has been consistent for a very long time. Imo Stafford still needs to figure something out so that he can maintain the Elite level of play.
Found it
Coaches always like to call other team’s players elite or great, etc, etc.
There are many reasons for this.
When you lose, well, we lost to an elite QB
It’s a fraternity.
You never know when you might be coaching that guy in the future.
What purpose does it serve to rip on an opposing player, especially as a coach?
And who ever said he was Philip Rivers…no.
Rivers career comp%, rating, and TD-int ratio are all much better than Stafford.
Rivers is 27 games over .500 as a starter, Stafford is 8 games under.
Rivers has won 5 playoff games and (I know it’s not that big of a deal) been an 8x Pro Bowler.
Wishful thinking…I don’t see the comparison between the two.
Stat wise, Andy Dalton and Stafford are very similar.
Same exact rating, completion %, and close on TD-INT ratio.
Dalton is 13 games over .500, is 0-4 in the playoffs and made 3 pro bowls.
Stafford is 27th in completion percentage this season, but other than Watson, Mahomes, and Wilson, not sure who has really been a lot better than him this season.
Yes he is elite and his talent has been wasted in this shit hole organization. He’d have won multiple Super Bowls had he been drafted by Belichick… Unfortunately he was drafted by the worst organization in pro sports history coming off an 0-16 season. This team has one playoff win in the last 60 years for a reason.
You can make the argument player X would have did this or that if only…insert Ryan Leaf, Jemarcus Russell, etc. anyone you really want.
It’s just a really weak argument and people make it when they don’t like the facts.
It’s fantasy land, not the real world.
What Fantasy Land is pretending the QB’s you compare Stafford to is equal from a team and division perspective.
So & so has done this & won that , like the QB’s have been on equal footing from the tools they have had to work with .
It’s not a situation when comparing you can remotely say they had equal opportunity to succeed such as a race .
This season alone Stafford has thrown passes at 5 to 1 ratio from a trailing position as compared to Tom Brady and Brady has already played 6 games .
How much easier is it to complete passes when you are not trailing and when your Defense has only allowed 48 pts to be scored in 6 games as compared to the 95 pts we have allowed through 4 games ?
Brady once again has a an elite Defense, the #1 Defense in football
The scenarios both have to pass in are two worlds apart
Brady 6-0 - Stafford 2-1-1 …on a per pass basis Stafford has bested Brady this season . Yet we are in a dog fight and they are coasting .
Don’t know if this is who you’re referring to, but Carson Palmer related this on Stafford similarly