You know the feeling you get in your stomach when you see a car accident about to happen. Tension builds in your gut as you witness the naivite of each party, billowing at full speed towards their perilous destiny. You just want to yell, shout, alert them of the oncoming danger. This is my cry: “Don't do it Detroit! Don't draft Matthew Stafford! Take a lineman, trade back and get Sanchez, forfeit the pick, anything, but don't waste millions of dollars and years of frustration on inevitable failure!”
Yes, I've heard about his cannon arm. I know he can make “all the NFL throws.” I know he's “ a real gun-slinger in the mold of Brett Favre.” But all cliches and metaphors aside, he's not going to be a very good NFL quarterback, especially not with Detroit.
Quick, what does an 0-16 team at the most important position on the field? A laser-rocket arm? Pocket presence? Nimble footedness? First and foremost, I'll take a leader; Someone who will put a team on his back and commit himself fully to winning; Someone who, when challenged, is eager to respond and showcase his fortitude; Someone who will not accept failure.
Matt Stafford doesn't fit the bill. On September 27, when Bulldog fans marched “between the hedges” into Sanford Stadium, eager to see how the preseason #1 team would fair in its first real test against Alabama, do you know what they got? A drubbing. A 41-30 beatdown in which the score fails to properly measure just how hard they got bitch smacked. Now maybe it's an unfair comparison, but when Tim Tebow gets beat, it's the worst day of his life. He'll do anything and everything to make sure it never happens again. Stafford doesn't give a shit. No memorable speeches, no rallying cry, no picking up his fallen comrades. No, when Matthew Stafford hits the canvas, he stays down.
We got to see just how unfair of a comparison the Stafford/Tebow matchup was on November 1. That was the day Florida came into Athens and dismantled the Bulldogs 49-10. Matthew threw three interceptions, while Tim scored five touchdowns. Or there was Stafford's final home game, where his team blew a 16 point halftime lead to Georgia Tech. Did Matthew apologize to the fans or promise to avenge this loss in his team's bowl game? No, he said he “might consider entering the NFL draft.” Matthew Stafford is concerned with Matthew Stafford, and Matthew Stafford alone. Maybe some players on some teams can get away with that-- but not franchise quarterbacks on a team that failed to win a game in the previous season.
Yes, I know the Lions' incoming regime would like a new face for the organization. I know Dante Culpepper and Drew Stanton aren't long-term solutions at quarterback. I know Stafford's physical abilities are impressive, but his accuracy is questionable, his performance in big games-suspect, and most of all his lack of leadership- downright disturbing. Unaccountable quarterbacks don't turn teams around-- they wreck them. Pull the e-brake, Detroit.
2 comments:
And lets not forget he threw 9 TD passes his last season. That's pathetic, esp with a top wr, rb, and tackle.
sometimes you can give people full warning and they still end up getting in a car accident...
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