Matthew Stafford

I will come straight out and get it over with. In my opinion, Matthew Stafford was a horrible pick for the Detroit Lions. He very well may become a great Quarterback in the NFL, but for the Lions, in 2009, he was a horrible pick.

Many times I have heard Stafford supporters say that you need a great quarterback to be a Superbowl contender in the NFL. What they do not consider is the fact that every great quarterback has a decent offensive line in front of him. In 2008, if you were to take the Lions quarterbacks out and put Payton Manning in but keep everything else the same, how many games would they have won? Three? Maybe four tops? Does anyone actually believe Manning would be a star QB today if the Lions had drafted him? If you say yes, you are lying to yourself. The one thing every great QB has in common is that they are given the chance to succeed. That is something the Lions have not given to a quarterback in a long long time.

Go back and look at Manning and Tom Brady. They are two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and arguably two of the best the NFL has ever had. Yet even they have had some pretty bad games in their careers. If you go back and watch those games, you will find a common denominator. They had a lot of pressure on them in those games. If the offensive line breaks down and the quarterback is forced to pass to soon, his timing with his receivers is thrown off. If you hit a QB enough times in a game, they begin to feel the pressure and will make mistakes. No quarterback in the history of the NFL is immune to that!

Everyone knows it is possible to win a Superbowl with an average QB. Everyone remembers the Baltimore Ravens doing it with Trent Dilfer. I don't know anyone who is willing to say Dilfer was a great quarterback. I also don't know anyone who can point out a team that has won the Superbowl with a bad offensive line. If the offensive line is bad, the receivers do not have enough time to run their routes. The QB does not have enough time to go through his reads and find the open receiver. The Running Back has no openings to gain good yardage.

Matthew Stafford may have the talent to be a great quarterback, but can he pass from on his back? If the blitz comes through as often as it did in 2008, who will Stafford throw the ball to if the receivers have not had time to get open? How many times will he be hit before he catches an acute case of 'Happy Feet'? The Detroit Lions have done little to improve their offensive line from 2008. The worst offensive line in the NFL and it is not much improved if at all. Yes they signed OT-Jansen recently. If this was five years ago, I would be excited. Today? Jansen has bad knees and is at the end of his career.

As a Detroit Lions fan, I hope Matthew Stafford works out and becomes a great quarterback for them. For that to happen, the Lions will need to sit him and let him learn until they can show they can protect him.