Huge nothing burger. It was a playoff game. We had not won 1 in 3 decades of course people were fired up. I’m sure some were cheering, some were booing, some so drunk they thought Stafford was still a Lion. 
Thank God we won!!
And the appropriate time is… never before a game.
Okay, maybe a preseason game.
The only natural time to show our appreciation for Stafford would have been during his first visit back to Ford Field. But it was a playoff game, emotions were too high for a win, and it just wasn’t meant to be. And the out pouring of appreciation for “Ja-red Goff” was simply amazing and I think really was appreciated by Goff.
At this point I think our responses to Stafford should just simply be indifference. It would seem kind of weird, or fake, to now come back and show him some mass level of appreciation from the crowd on game day. At this point he’s just another QB on another team and should be treated like any other QB on any other team we’re playing.
The other thing that hasn’t been mentioned: in the context of playoff game at Ford Field the Stafford Returns Home thread was inextricably interwoven with the Goff Thrown Under the Bus and Kicked to the Curb thread.
3+ years later, a lot of folks still find it hard to talk about Stafford without invoking Goff and vice versa. If not for the apparent zero-sumness of the circumstances, which hit an emotional peak in the playoffs - how could it not? - I doubt Stafford gets such a strong negative reception.
How many Detroit fans cheered for him to win that Super bowl? How many wore those silly Detroit Rams shirt around?
Most of this fan base supported the heck out of Stafford. But that ends when he’s playing for the opposing team for the first playoff game at home in 30 years
That was the fan base that was taking over other teams stadiums at the time. And was so noisy they turned away games into home games.
To expect that horde of win-starved fans to cheer for an opposing QB is lunacy.
I don’t care if it were Jesus Christ himself, giving the whole crowd fish and chips and turning everyone’s water into beer. If he was about to hurl it for the team coming into our house, he’s getting boo’d
Hold on did you say turn water into beer?
Detroit Rams shirts sold = 5,342
LA Rams shirts sold = 6
Detroit Lions Goff underwear purchased…
No one will boo the guy handing out free beer.
Yes to the first question; no to second.
What the Lions should do for Stafford’s next game at Ford Field is sign i back-up from college…then trot him out for the coin toss and run past Kelly, shake her hand then give her the wink and the guns!
In seriousness, Slay can have his opinion but it should never been a warm reception for him for a playoff game, especially a home one that happens rarely!
I think if the Lions made him a tribute video the fans would react positively. Throw that Browns game in there, some 4th quarter comebacks, a no-look pass, a jump ball to Calvin with triple coverage. Fans will cheer.
And good old teddy two gloves!
Give him his due before the first game.
Give him hell between the lines during the first game.
Boo the children only if absolutely necessary. 
The Donner party thought along the same lines as that.
Those children are never flying back to detroit…
■■■■ Darius Slay and ■■■■ Matt Safford and ■■■■ Kelly. I dont give a shit what any of them think or say or hope or pray. Why TF are we still asking Darius Slay what he thinks about anything that has to do with a team he played for so long ago that NOBODY other than the owners remain? I do not give a ■■■■! and ■■■■ Chuck Long for asking such a pathetic question, he’s no Chris Long. 
Thats it.