Matt Stafford = Less clutch version of Tony Romo

Romo is easily better than Stafford.

Stat Padford

Not sure I believe in "clutch" at all to begin with.

With that said, Stafford has more natural ability than Romo and is significantly younger than him, give it time. He's already taken the Lions to the playoffs once and has been injured a decent amount. Also, Stafford's actually pretty intelligent, which I feel like he's never given credit for since he sometimes has that Jay Cutler demeanor to him.

Schwartz is a fraud and if they miss the playoffs again, then surely he's toast.

But Stafford's biggest problem, aside from his occasional brutal mechanics, is just the overall lack of creativity within the offense. They rarely, if ever, are in anything other than the shotgun. It's one thing when you're creative with it and can run the ball out of it, but sporadically running draws/delays and variations of the trap without a lead blocker, with 2 rookie OL, a very average blocking TE in Pettigrew, and a couple of RBs who aren't pile pushers is just begging for trouble. Numerous times on 3rd and short tonight they were in a 5 wide, empty backfield look. WTF? Unless you run the QB draw with a slightly pudgy white kid who's paid the 2nd most on your team, then you're blatantly one dimensional with limited talent at the skill positions Stafford can throw to. It's almost like they're not even trying to win.

Clearly this lack of running game and constantly throwing with two rookie OL doesn't help, but the skill talent outside Megatron is exceptionally poor compared to the rest of the league or it is misused by the coaching staff. Burleson and Durham should not be getting significant reps for a playoff team. Pettigrew is exceedingly average.

Joique is a solid #2 and, as we all know, Reggie has talent, but has never put it on display on a week by week basis. Stafford has actually made him look pretty good this year IMO. He is about to post the highest rushing total of his career in a single season and his second most receptions in a single season. Reggie didn't just magically "get it" in the 8th year of his career and he's not dominated touches (Bush: 236 to Joique: 177). Stafford deserves some credit.

The unfortunate part for him, and especially Schwartz since he'll be the one getting canned, is what the offense could have been this year sans injuries and mental issues:

Get Fauria more reps to go along Megatron, Ryan Broyles (ACLs), Titus Young (bipolar), and Bush, then how much more explosive does the passing game become?

Young is done for good. Broyles might as well be. They literally have to draft another WR or big time TE in this coming draft to have a shot at salvaging Stafford's career in Detroit. If the OL develops, they add a little more explosiveness to take pressure off Calvin, and they somehow implement a more diverse run game that can take the pressure off Stafford on 3rd down, then they could be deadly.

Instead, at least for now, they come out w/ 3 WRs (Calvin, Burleson, and Durham) and a TE (Pettigrew) with Reggie in the backfield on the first play of their last drive. They run four verts for no apparent reason, no contemplation of the situation or of initiating a drive. It was almost like they were ready to get off the field. Where's Stafford going on that play with a under a minute left, the DL pinning their ears back, and the DBs fully aware the pass is coming? Calvin gets the extra attention while Burleson, Durham, and Pettigrew fail to win their 1 on 1 match ups. Thus, Stafford has to try and force a pass into a window so tight that the pass wouldn't have been complete if the ball was thrown perfectly.




At least at this rate they'll get another high draft position.