Comparing Stafford to Crap Prescott is a joke. One plays on a team with the best Line in the game and a great running game and the other was the most pressured QB with little running game or pass protection.
“The problem is that he can’t get it done when it matters” - usually 4th quarter comebacks are done when it matters and nobody is better at it than Stafford. Picking and choosing when “it matters” is ridiculous.
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“Usually 4th quarter comebacks are done when it matters and nobody is better at it than Stafford”
Yep…which is why Stafford got it done in the wild card game against Dallas…right?
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Going back to the switch to Lombardi and what made it difficult…
Receivers never made a route decision in Detroit under Linehan. If our offense was friendly to anyone, it was the WR.
In comes Caldwell and an offense where now receivers are making reads of their own and have to be on the same page as the QB.
I say in comes Caldwell and not specifically Lombardi because it was still a responsibility of the receivers to adjust their route based on alignment under JBC.
This continues under Bevell as both he and JBC had strong WCO influence.
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My god if the standard is “players aren’t great” if you can point to a time they didn’t succeed there are no great players in history. What you can point to are all of the times where he was able to get it done, which is more than his peers.
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You said “WHEN IT MATTERS” didn’t you?? Well that was the biggest moment OF “WHEN IT MATTERS” that he has had so far in his career and him being the best at it he didn’t get it done. 2014 you are playing the Packers for a division title, opportunity for a 4th quarter comeback WHEN IT MATTERS and NOPE! 2016, you are playing the Packers AGAIN for a division title, this time on your home field, the result? Wait for it…DENIED! SO Mr. JR sir I can point to more than just one moment when Stafford could have claimed the crown that he has been CROWNED. I not bashing him, in fact I am very neutral on him because I understand there are pros and cons to his game and his ultimate results. I will, with no hesitation, point out both …IJS sir!
That’s some funny shit, right there!
It’s not just that they didn’t succeed, but WHY they didn’t succeed.
That play to Pettigrew is just such an example. If you look pre-snap, you see 9 in the box (to stop Riddick?) because they’re expecting the run. They have one safety way deep (which you have to do) and Calvin Johnson split left as the only wide out (at the numbers) with the smurf (5’ 10") he’s been killing all game long. Let that sink in. Single coverage. Calvin Johnson. Need 1 yard. Is the right move really to go with the long developing play call to Pettigrew (who was targeted 15 times the entire year)? Or does an elite QB audible out of that and hit their go to guy since they came in the league 6 years earlier?
An easy one yard pass to CJ would have iced the game. Instead, we get the comedy of errors that ensued.
Nobody looks at it like “what should we have done there”? It was all about the picked up flag or how the pass was short. That play was supposed to leave the TE unopposed and in the open. Stafford said as much in an interview a few days later. But the Cowboys covered it. Stafford said it had worked before. Seems the Cowboys did some amazing scouting to me…
As Lions fans, we know not to put the game in the hands of the refs. They job us so bad it’s kind of funny now (but it isn’t).
I’m sorry I feel this way. I wish I didn’t. But for a guy with a rep for being clutch in the 4th, that was a critical missed opportunity. I’m not saying it was a guaranteed catch, but it was a heck of a lot higher percentage of a success than that ridiculous trick play.
Blame the OC. Blame the refs. (although, if you watch the play from all angles, you’d see that Pettigrew had a handful of facemask on that play, so it really should have been offset penalties). But I don’t. Every time I watch that play, it should have gone to CJ. Even if you dont’ call an audible, CJ had his man beat the whole play and there was a throwing lane…
I think it’s plays like that that separates the elites from the "very goods’. It’s not about arm talent. It’s about making the right decision at the right time.
If you blame the OC, then all you’re saying is that Stafford is a marionette.
Just my opinion. You can disagree if you want and it doesn’t bother me any.
The Lions as a team have failed in many occasions. Outside of late 2013 Stafford has been a huge piece of all success. Yes with the broken finger in a brace he was not able to beat the Packers that year (most all other QB’s would have taken the time off), but he has won 4 straight against the Pack. Every game is pressure and 4th quarter comebacks are the biggest for a QB. Focus on real things and stop pretending Stafford has let you down. He has been the biggest reason we are worth talking about. Make no mistake we do not have the weapons of KC, but hopefully Patricia and Bevell realize that Stafford needs to be unleashed to beat them.
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