Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford receives high praise from former teammate
By Bob Heyrman
Former Detroit Lions standout wide receiver praises Matthew Stafford. He calls him the best quarterback he’s ever played with, yet he seems to continue to fly under the radar throughout the league.
Golden Tate recently mentioned that Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was the best quarterback he’s ever played with. That’s high praise from a receiver that also played with Russell Wilson. Was Tate throwing a little shade to his former teammate or does he actually believe Stafford is better than Wilson?
Golden Tate has a history of saying what he’s feeling; he’s never been shy to express himself; it’s something we’ve grown to love with athletes. We the fans desperately want a close up look at our favorite athlete’s sports teams etc. That’s why we seem to love HBO’s Hard knocks so much; it lets us into places; many of us would never have an opportunity to experience if it didn’t exist. Remember Tate had a chip on his shoulder after the Seahawks failed to resign him.
In an article written by Emily Caron of Sports Illustrated Tate briefly describes Stafford’s personality;
"“Stafford’s been the best quarterback I’ve played with,” Tate said Sunday in speaking with ClickOnDetroit.com. “The guy can flat out play, he’s tough, and his attitude is amazing, and he just wants to play ball. For me, I have nothing but praises for him. It’s almost unfair despite how great he is, he doesn’t have a ring to show for it.”"
Matthew Stafford seems to be falling out of favor according to the national media. I’m sure he doesn’t care, but we need to defend our guy. Recently Colin Cowherd went off rambling about the top tier quarterbacks throughout the league, Stafford wasn’t mentioned. He continued with a string of second-tier quarterbacks which brought the total to about twelve names being mentioned; Stafford still wasn’t mentioned.
If you are a Detroit Lions’ fan, you are likely shaking your head, as was I but it gets worse. The guy continued to spew out names like Dak Prescott, Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins stopping after the quickly ranked 17 quarterbacks and did not mention Matthew Stafford once. Are you kidding me?
Stafford once was the talk of the town; he was always mentioned in conversation of the top-15 quarterbacks in the league, often floating around the top-10. There is no way he’s suddenly in the back third of the league. I won’t stand for that disrespectful approach. There are still more worse quarterbacks throughout the NFL than better when talking about Stafford, placing him in the worst-case scenario 16th overall; but he’s better than that.
The 31-year old had a down year last season with the Detroit Lions, but it wasn’t exactly all his fault nor was it THAT bad. He was playing under the direction of an offensive coordinator who was as creative as a pop warner coach at times. Jim Bob Cooter regularly called plays that were destined to be stopped short of the line to gain; he drew up plays with receivers being within five yards of each other deep down the field. Plus the Lions were hampered with injuries much of the second half of the season.
Last season Stafford threw for merely 3,777 yards (16th in the league) totaled 21 touchdowns (17th in the league) and only 11 interceptions (15th in the league) backing my previous points about the quarterback rankings. A far cry from his 2011 season where he tossed for 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns. I don’t expect Stafford to mirror those numbers, but I’d bet he’s closer to 4,500 yards next season than he is to 3,800 and 30 touchdowns than 20.