Anthony Borbely
Footballguy
Aside from some typical rookie decisions, I was pretty impressed with Stafford's play. Stafford had one weapon, no time to throw, and no running game to keep the safeties from dropping deep. People really don't realize just how bad this team was. He had zero chance to have a good statistical season as soon as he stepped on the field, so it made watching the games very important. It is hard to put up good numbers when you have one legit offensive weapon (Calvin) and defenses lean coverages to his area of the field on practically every play. Pettigrew was improving before he was injured, but other than that, there was nothing. I was very impressed with his leadership and resiliency and his ability to more or less shrug off bad plays by both himself and the other players. He did trust his rocket arm too much at times, but that is not a concern to me. Stafford's toughness will never be questioned after what he did in the Cleveland game. Stafford has elite physical skills and I was looking at the mental parts of the game and anything involving leadership. He is already the unquestioned leader of this team. He took charge in the huddle. I think his awareness is reasonably high and his pocket presence is decent, but not great. I think his football IQ is very high and he seems to have a good feel for the game. For the most part, I did not see a lot of the "deer in the headlights" look. He is very mature also and was only 21 years old when the season started. The things I disliked the most was Stafford not putting enough air under some deep throws and that caused some accuracy issues. Reports around here suggest that he has made significant improvements in that aspect of his game, but I really want to see it in game action. He also tried to force the ball into places where there was no chance of a completion, but some of that is inexperience. He has a gunslingers mentality and that leads to interceptions. Stafford has to take better care of the ball and has to avoid sacks. He also is fearless and has to be more careful at times or he will wind up being hurt. It is difficult to look at bad statistics and see through them to the good and that is if you see the games. It is impossible to judge a player based solely on stats, especially a rookie QB with very little help. It isn't easy to see through this during the game and I am not a scout, but what I saw was a QB who improved drastically from the first game to the last and who always looked like he had confidence. Stafford passed the so-called eye test. He just looks like a QB who will be able to make plays when they have to be made. He is the unquestioned leader of this team already and his toughness (both mental and physical) is off the charts. Some QBs possess physical gifts, but they are meaningless if they don't translate into making plays when it matters. Stafford has the intangibles and the physical gifts to be a great QB. his decision making will be the key. Rookie QBs make poor decisions and they are magnified when the surrounding cast is weak. Stafford still has a lot to learn and will have more growing pains, but there should be significant improvement this year. He has a year of experience and a much better supporting cast. I really want to see how Stafford does now that he has some legitimate options in the passing game. This is the first time in my life that I am genuinely excited about a Lions QB and I'm almost 50 years old.
Yes, yes, pointing out your completely off-base prediction is a "jinx".
