More on trust for Stafford. Maybe we learned a lesson after last week …
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I think that is the best article Kyle Mindlessly ever wrote
“We’re cool,” one veteran said. “I’m telling you, this isn’t last year. Nobody thinks this is last year.”
“Make no mistake, the Lions have confidence. They think they’re good. They haven’t played good so far, there’s no question about that…”
YES!!!
This is very much like what I posted in the other thread. If you pay attention, you can feel it happening! If they want to keep this thing rolling, they will have to continue to trust their guys!
Nobody should need to “learn to trust Stafford”, who will be the all time leader in 4th quarter comebacks when he retires. His highlight reel of comebacks is already better than anyone we have seen. If you count the number of comebacks of his that aren’t counted because the Lions Defense couldn’t stop anyone he would already be top all time.
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Everybody knows they wouldn’t be comebacks if Stafford played better against something other than a prevent defense!
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Truth, but he’s damn good at it…AND it makes a fantastic point, not only to himself, but our own coaches - hopefully not for the rest of the league.
Matt has played against a lot of last minute prevent. He’s been money!
No what this means is that he has had to play with lots of subpar groups with subpar coaching in a subpar organization. Suggesting that they were behind because of Stafford is ridiculous as they haven’t been able to run the ball his whole career, haven’t been able to stop anyone for most all of his career. If Stafford doesn’t win the game the Lions are toast.
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I think they didn’t run on purpose because they, as Caldwell said, “we have an arm and we’re going to use it”. Further, we hired little backs who caught short passes behind the LOS and ran after catch. We sat in shotgun all the time (one year 84% of the time), which hurts the run game but helps the passing game. We got OL that were pass blocker, not run blockers. We had Warford but let him go because he was more of a run blocker than pass protector. When he left, he promptly made the pro bowl 2 years straight.
We didn’t run to create more advantage for the QB. Because we did that, I’m not going to accept it as an excuse as to why Stafford didn’t pass better.
Our best year, 2014, was due to the defense, not the offense. We didn’t score all that much because the main job of the offense was to not turn the ball over. So lots of short passes. Lots. That defense was one of the best the Lions ever had. And if we’d taken Donald instead of finding another receiving threat for Stafford, we’d have stopped everyone.
Caldwell has never known how to coach a running game. A QB has to have support to perform at his best. We have never had a good pass blocking or run blocking OL. Hopefully Ragnow and the interior are solid now and we just need OT talent. A QB can overcome some issues, but if you can’t run or pass block, can’t run and have few receiving options that can beat coverage it is just asking for a miracle. We haven’t had an NFL caliber OC in Detroit since Linehan and that is a big reason our offense has been stifled. Hopefully Bevell will develop a good rapport with Stafford, which I expect and people that don’t know what they are watching will suggest that he is now “playing better”.
Donald was the pick I wanted, but even Beckham would have been enough for the Lions to win a SB that year. Everything impacts like taking a slow CB in the 2nd and passing on Kamara who would be the impact RB that is great in the passing game as well.
Matt had a rough season last year and he has too much class to blame anyone or anything. All you need to know is that he is a very hard worker who has a ton of talent and the Lions are extremely lucky to have him.
This further strengthens my argument that we intended to pass all along. We put it all on Stafford’s shoulders on purpose.
With Millen (and Mayhew because he was Millen’s right hand man since 2001), we stayed pat with the pass pro OL. They did that intentionally. They were good at pass pro. 2011 was a darn good passing year. Stafford just needed to get it out quick and he did. 2012 and 2013, not so much.
They changed styles in 2014 because gunslinger mode wasn’t working out well, as evidenced by the end of 2013. It was a horrible stretch by Stafford. After getting out to a 7-5 start, it was close to inexcusable. They decided to hang with Stafford and brought in Caldwell who promised to “fix” him. That’s why we went small. Stafford’s stats got way better but we never really had a killer offense.
Ebron was the wrong pick for sure. But we had WRs in 2014. Rookie WRs… no thanks. Donald would have been great for 2014 and even better for 2015 and 2016. Who knows, maybe Suh stays for less if we had Donald opposite him. Suh wanted to win… I don’t 100% buy that he was only a mercenary after the money.
He better be a hard worker. I have my doubts after that time they asked him if he had an offseason coach and he said “nah, not my style”. That’s not “eye of the tiger”. I think he does have a ton of talent, but so far an underachiever.
When the Lions had Linehan, Stafford was throwing almost 1.2 interceptions a game and had a QBR of 79.8 and 84.2 and was a sub-60% completion rate his last two years here. The Lions wanted to try and cut-down on Stafford’s mistakes and make him a more efficient QB. JBC did that with a lot of short throws and trying to get the ball out of Stafford’s hands quickly.
Linehand had his flaws too. It doesn’t seem like any OC we’ve had yet has been able to take Stafford to that next level. I think the coaches have come to the realization that Stafford is what he is and will never be among the elite QB’s in this league. He’s a consistent 2nd tier QB. I think he has all the physical tools, just not the cerebral QB that Manning, Brees, and Brady types are.
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newsflash AD, we couldn’t run for shit long before Caldwell ever had anything to do with the Lions…so when he got here , Caldwell’s Brainiac comment was "We got an arm and we’re going to use it. what other choice did he have. ? if you can’t run well…you throw… well yeah, no $#!7 .
It’s not news to me. So cut the snark, please.
I know that Linehan was pass happy. I can even spew stats without even looking
- Most pass attempts by a QB in a single season (727). Record still stands. CJ got a lot of receiving yards. Stafford padded a lot of stats. But we went 4-12. The offense wasn’t awful that year, but it wasn’t balanced.
This goes to team building. We built a team to pass. We did not build a run team. We acquired small backs and it was required they could catch the ball and run. That’s not a team looking to run. You run those little guys up the middle and they’re more likely than not getting arm tackled. And then hurt. (Best, Bush, Abdullah, Riddick…) K.Smith was a little bit bigger, but still…He was darn good catching the ball and was decent running, but the Lions, in their infinite wisdom, thought they needed a homerun hitting little guy instead, so back bencher went K.Smith and Joique Bell. You want a run game, give those guys the ball and let the OL run block instead of putting us in shotgun all the time. Shotgun is counterproductive to solid rushing games. Do you disagree?
You can say we didn’t run because we couldn’t, but I say we couldn’t run because we didn’t.
He struggled bad the end of 2013 without a QB coach to help him with his mechanics. If Linehan had that ability he would have helped him there, but he didn’t. You can’t keep whining about 2013 as he has really worked hard and his mechanics are great since. All players will go through some difficulties and have to work out of them. He is not an underachiever on any level. He is top ten and likely #1 when he is done with 4th quarter comebacks, which is a list of the very top at that position. The organization and team have underachieved, but Stafford is the reason for optimism in Detroit. You echo what is ugly and negative with many Lions Fans. You act as if he can just wave his hands and make the Lion win. He plays great under pressure and is as tough as they come, that is all you need to know.
Stafford has done more with what he has had to work with. Linehan did not know how to coach the QB position and Stafford needed a QB coach. JBC came in as a QB coach and his mechanics were solidified and he has been fundamentally sound since. Lombardi and JBC were not NFL level OC’s and both were extremely flawed. Stafford pays the price playing with a 500 lb gorilla on his back and fans just want someone to vent at. Hopefully Bevell will bring the stability to that position he needs. Stafford brings as much to the table as any QB in the game. The last thing you want is people in positions of power on this team to worry about stats and nonsense. Much of what QB’s in this league do have more to do with protecting their QB rating as a contract strategy instead of doing what a competitor would do. Stafford made several special throws in that game and that was the difference between winning and losing. Rivers wasn’t able to even though his guy had Slay’s number most of the day.