Stafford got sacked 45 times last year behind an injured o-line that was trotting out 4th stringers. Not to mention the issue of learning a new offense, often without Megatron healthy or on the field. Add in Stafford being Stafford (ie inaccurate) and you had a recipe for disaster.
If the offense isn't signifigantly better this year...Stafford has to go. I really want to hear Kas' views on this. If the offense is relatively healthy this year there is NO excuse not to put up near Madden numbers. Healthy Megatron, Tate, Ebron over the middle, Abdullah and Riddick in the backfield...he has every weapon he could possibly want.
I just don't see how it's possible for Stafford not to throw
at least at a 2:1 TD/INT ratio with 4,000 plus yards this season. He has all the weapons in the world but IMO he has a grasp of the game that few have.
He's reached that stage in his career, like Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Roethisberger etc. where you can almost assuredly expect Stafford to come out and put up numbers. The difference is those guys have all won in the playoffs and that's the barometer Stafford will be measured by this season and for the rest of his career.
Stafford's already broken every Lions record (which isn't saying much but still counts for something) and a lot of NFL records as well, but Lions fans sometimes forget even though we drafted him 6 years ago he was 21 years old when we drafted him and he took over the worst team in NFL history.
Not all QBs have the luxury of sitting 5 years and learning a system like Aaron Rodgers did at Green Bay.
You're right all the tools are finally there for Stafford in terms of offensive weapons. Haven't felt this confident offensively since 2011-2012 and I feel more confident now that we have a more mature Matthew Stafford at the helm. He will put up numbers and points he's already proven he can.
I don't even like to think about this but if Stafford gets hurt, which is a possibility for any NFL QB, do you suddenly give up on him when he's 28 years old? I don't think so and I don't think the Lions front office will either. Do we look at drafting another developmental QB to put pressure on Stafford? I think it's something the team will look at but the pressure is on Stafford and Stafford knows that.
It's always been on him. He was the #1 pick in the 2009 draft.