One year ago, Matthew Stafford started his first full season as an NFL quarterback, and went on to have one of the best seasons ever for a QB in the NFL. Sunday against the Rams, he threw three picks in the first half (a would be 4th pick bounced off a defenders chest). To be completely honest? Who cares!
Stafford has been an ultimate star for the Lions, so if he has a game once in a while where he throws a few interceptions, so what! He also gathered himself together and had a pretty decent second half and connected with Kevin Smith for the game winning touchdown with only ten seconds left on the clock.
Some may say he had a bad game, but Stafford also completed 66.7% of his passes and threw for 355 yards. If you step back and look at it, Stafford actually had a very good game but simply had a few bad passes mixed in. And of course, the Rams took advantage of those mistakes.
Matthew Stafford is not the only one who had a deceiving game. Many fans are excited over how good the defense did. The defensive line looked great as they were all over the Rams backfield through out the game. However, early in the game, the Rams best offensive lineman went down with an injury. Later in the game, a second lineman left with an injury as well. The Rams were delegated to almost half their line being played by rookies, and other linemen were playing out of position. What I am saying is, do not read too much into a good game for the Lions defensive line, because it would have been absolutely inexcusable for them to not have a good game under those circumstances.
Even with the constant pressure thrown at Bradford all game long, he still completed 68% of his passes. That worries me. Bradford is not yet known for beating teams with his abilities. Yet, if the Rams would have let him throw the ball more, they would have beat the Lions. Instead, he only aired it out 25 times, while the Rams called 27 run plays. The Lions Defensive Line was excellent against the run however, and it was ridiculous that the Rams continued to try and run the ball so much rather than throw the ball more, which is where they were most successful.
On a more personal note, the worst moment of the game for me, happened early on when Stafford threw his first pick in the endzone. It was not so much the interception that hurt, nor was it where it happened. It was more of WHO it was that hurt. Hoping to complete a touchdown pass, Stafford threw to his right, and Janoris Jenkins cut in front of it for the pick. Here we are in the first quarter, of the first game, and Stafford throws his first interception of the year and it happens to be the cornerback the Lions should have drafted with their first round pick. The Lions skipping over him has bothered me since April and it was like salt in the wounds to see him take the first pick.
In the end, the Lions won the game, and that is what is most important. It doesn't matter that it was a near loss to the lowly Rams. It still goes down as a notch in the victory column. But narrowly escaping the Rams while playing in Ford Field, does not give me much hope for the Lions going into San Francisco to play the 49ers next week.
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