By H. Jose Bosch
At least we know the Lions can score points when they’re spoon fed good field position. Unfortunately that’s about the only thing they could do right on Sunday afternoon.
So, to quickly recap: the Lions best offense is a … bad opposing offense. I’m not even giving the defense credit when you consider what happened the rest of the game.
But let’s zero in on more than just the fact that Detroit blew a 17-point first-quarter lead. The real story of the week is, “just how bad/good is matt Stafford?”
On paper alone he looks real bad. He’s thrown 12 interceptions to just five touchdowns. His completion percentage is just about 54 percent. (Compare that to Payton Manning, who has thrown 99 more passes and leads the league in percentage with 70 percent). And his passer rating is 55.9, fourth-worst in the league.
But in person … he looks even worse. Not one of his FIVE interceptions was the result of good defense, unless catching a ball with two hands counts. Stafford misfired badly on all those throws, sometimes throwing into triple coverage when I’m sure he could’ve checked down to an open receiver for a couple of yards.
And all I saw were the interceptions. The only time I’ve seen Stafford for a whole game, Detroit’s lone win over the Redskins, Stafford was overthrowing receivers badly. So I have to believe that the interceptions weren’t the only instance of Stafford missing the mark.
But knowing he sucks isn’t as important as why he sucks.
Detroit doesn’t have a good running game. It also doesn’t have a very good offensive line. Oh, and the defense isn’t anything to write home about either. In other words, the Detroit Lions are a crappy team. Jesus Christ could line up behind center and still couldn’t hit 60 percent of his passes. Throw a rookie back there and it’s even worse.
That’s not to say Stafford shouldn’t get any of the blame. Even when he has time to throw he tends to be erratic. And as I mentioned earlier, he’s sometimes throwing into double and triple coverage, which means he still isn’t reading defenses properly.
But this kid has talent. Every quarterback in the league has talent. You can’t make it to that level without it. What he needs is a better team around him and for the owner, William Clay Ford, to completely clean house. Without that, he won’t last more than three years in the league.
This season is a success only because Detroit has won a game. They might even win a couple of more down the end of the rode when they play other teams that are just as sorry as them (Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco). But it’s already a failure because there doesn’t appear to be any forward progress within the organization.
The old Lions would blow a 17-point first-quarter lead. These new Lions are doing just the same thing.
