Detroit Lions: Ranking the Starting Quarterbacks of the NFC North
By Bob Heyrman
I’m sure plenty of you consider Cousins better than Stafford. Others are expecting this to be a ‘homer’ type article where Matt is ranked first, but it’s not.
This is where I sincerely believe Matthew Stafford belongs, ranked second in the NFC North. He’s been a product of a revolving door at head coach throughout his career. The former first overall pick out of Georgia is much better than the national media gives him credit for. He’s better than most Lions fans give him credit for.
Where would the Detroit Lions be without Stafford? For all the people who want Stafford gone, who do you want to replace him with? Mitchell Trubisky? Please! The Detroit Lions have been about as dysfunctional of a franchise as there can be during his tenor in Motown.
It’s been new head coach, new OC, new philosophy over and over again for Matt Stafford. The Detroit Lions need to give him some stability. They tried with Jim Bob Cooter who was a holdover from the Jim Caldwell era in Detroit per request from Stafford. It showed newly appointed head coach Matt Patricia was willing to accommodate his franchise quarterback. It once again didn’t work. In fact, Matt had one of the worst seasons’ of his career last year, leading to JBC being canned.
The Lions also never had a true every-down tailback lining up in the formation behind or beside Stafford. Finally, the Detroit Lions have Kerryon Johnson who looks the part. The new OC Darrell Bevell is expected to create a balanced offense, something Stafford hasn’t truly had in any of his first ten NFL seasons.
Stafford has the most complete group of offensive weapons at his disposal this season. After using the ninth overall pick in this years’ NFL Draft on tight end T.J. Hockenson out of the tight end factory in Iowa, and signing free agent Jesse James, the Lions have a pair of multi-purpose tight ends.
The Lions also added slot receiver Danny Amendola who is a perfect security blanket to go with the downfield threats of Marvin Jones and Kenny Galloday. It will be a bounce-back season for Stafford and the Detroit Lions offense. For the record, it wasn’t the offense that let down the Detroit Lions in week one, it was the defense running out of gas and blowing a fourth-quarter lead.
I don’t expect Matt to turn back the clock to 2011 where he tossed for 5038 and 41 touchdowns, but I can see 4500 and 30. That will be good enough to rank as the second-best quarterback in the division.
In week one he completed 60% of his passes totaling 385 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also did a fantastic job of protecting the football by not recording an interception while throwing the football 45 times.