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NFL 2017 Training Camp/Preseason |OT| - If you don't like it, you should have made it

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K

Kastrioti

Persecution Complex
QB wins are the only stat that is important. A Measured Response.

Quarterback wins: A stat that’s been around for a long while. A stat that’s been deeply flawed for that same amount of time. Nevertheless, quarterbacks are often regarded as a player on his own playing ground. Despite football being a team game by definition, we often consider the quarterback to blame for wins and losses.

The odd part being that an average basketball team has 11 players, baseball has a 25-man active roster and hockey has a 23-man roster. Football has a 53-man roster. It’s the very definition of a team game. All 53 players play a crucial part to the game in one way or another. Yet it’s the quarterback that either takes the glory or takes the shame.

At what point does everyone realize that a quarterback doesn’t win games on his own? You would have thought that moment would have been Super Bowl 50. Peyton Manning was easily the worst player on the field. He still took every bit of the glory for the win.
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Nevertheless, this is the way people feel. And I've admittedly been hellbent on proving this theory wrong for years. Today is another chapter of that. Although, I want you to make your own decisions based off the data.

As we’ve heard all week last week and will undoubtedly hear until the summer is complete, Matthew Stafford, not the Lions, but Matthew Stafford is 5-46 against teams with winning records. That’s really something, but is it just unfounded idiocy to say that? I’ll let you decide.

Here’s what I’ve done. I’ve gone back and recorded Stafford’s numbers for every single one of those games. I’ve broken it down into multiple categories. The injury prone years, the Schwartz era, the Caldwell era and the playoffs. We’ll go over the numbers and see just how much Matthew Stafford had to do with all those losses. Let’s jump right in.
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The “Injury Prone” years

There’s no doubt that the Lions lost these games as a team, because they were a horrible team at the time. Let’s not forget that Matthew Stafford inherited the worst team in NFL history.

In the early going, Stafford sure did make a lot of mistakes. Multiple interceptions and unrefined decision-making likely lead to some of these losses. But a defense headlined by Larry Foote might have had something to do with it do. Maybe.
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The Schwartz Years

Alright. So at this time, as we know, the Lions are beginning to improve. Matthew Stafford is healthy and playing some great football, but he just can’t seem to beat those good teams. While the Lions defense was better around this time, outside of Ndamukong Suh, there wasn’t much to write home about. Stafford’s receiving crew and running back corps was much the same. Nothing to write home about, but somehow an improvement.

This time Stafford’s stats tell a bit of a different tale. This is the old Stafford. The “he only chucks it down field” Stafford. You can make a case that some of these games were definitely lost by the quarterback. Like the the Thanksgiving massacre against the Packers or the or the ugly winter game in Lambeau when Stafford had the ugliest fumble known to man.

But then there are a lot of other games that you can’t blame Stafford on. Like the Thanksgiving day loss to the Texans. The Lions win that game if Jason Hanson doesn’t miss a field goal. A week later against the Colts, the Lions defense gave up a last second touchdown to lose the game. The Lions defense allowed a backup quarterback to go video game on them in Green Bay. Things like that.
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The Caldwell Era

As we know, Matthew is a much more polished quarterback these days than he was under Schwartz and Linehan. That shows in the Lions’ ability to come back and win games. Can you honestly say that the Lions lost any of these games because of Stafford?

You can bring up 2015’s horrible outing against the Cardinals. Stafford threw three interceptions and got benched. But you’d then have to explain the defense giving up 42 points like it was easy. Then you’d have to ask what happened a couple weeks later when they allowed the Chiefs to have a 40-burger of their own.

Then there’s the fumble in Seattle, the defense losing to Drew Stanton, the Lions’ inability to find a kicker for a month, bad calls, coaching lapses and so on. Is it possible that the Lions just lose games in weird ways that are beyond anyone’s control? Naahhh.
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Some quick things I noticed

What’s weird is that the Lions have lost 23 of these 51 games by seven points or less since Stafford joined the Lions. Evident enough, in my opinion, that 23 of these games could have gone either way. To me that looks like Stafford is keeping the Lions in these games. Maybe?

Or it’s evidence that the Lions lack killer instinct. You’ve heard that before, I’m sure. While Stafford, or the team will lay well enough to keep the team in the game, it never seems to be enough. They’re never able to stick the dagger in the backs of their opponents, and twist it. Is this a Stafford issue? Or has this long been a coach issue? In my opinion, it’s the latter. As we know, Lions coaches are somehow always impervious to adjustments.

The other thing is that a lot of these losses seem to come against the same teams. The Packers, Texans, Vikings and Cardinals. The Lions just can’t seem to beat these teams. That’s actually proven. All four of these teams have all-time winning records against the Lions.
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Stafford stats against non-winning teams

What do you know? The man’s a legend. 46-12. That’s incredible, but I’m not going to give him all of the glory. Just like I choose not to give the man all of the blame. Whether it’s 46-12, 5-46 or 51-58, that’s the Lions’ record. Not Matthew Stafford’s record. Just like if the Lions win the division, a playoff game or the Super Bowl, the team won those things. Not the quarterback.
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https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2017...w-staffords-poor-record-against-winning-teams
 
C

chuckddd

Fear of a GAF Planet
Via the tweetys:

In interview with @missi_matthews, Joe Haden confirms Dallas, New Orleans, and Miami all made offers. #Steelers
 
S

Sanjuro

Member
Alligatorjandro said:
I ate Moes
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MwtznJh.gif
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
I was reading Deadspin today and completely forgot that Chefs lost a playoff game to a Steelers team that didn't score a single TD.


how the fuck do you even pull that off
 
K

Kastrioti

Persecution Complex
WATCH: Matthew Stafford reacts to getting snubbed by NFL Live

NFL athletes constantly tell reporters that they don't pay attention to what the media puts out there. They don't hear what SportsCenter says about them. They don't care what Skip Bayless has to say. They don't read the editorials or look at their Pro Football Focus grade.

While that may be true for some, it's certainly not true for all. And on Thursday, Kelly Stafford, wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, gave us a look at how some NFL players may react to getting snubbed by the media.

NFL Live ran a segment detailing NFL stars that played high school football in Texas. Stafford notoriously played high school for Highland Park in Dallas, and even won a state championship there. However, he did not appear on the list of players that included the likes of Dez Bryant, Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson, Andy Dalton and Andrew Luck.
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stafford_snub.jpg
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https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2017...fl-live-snub-reaction-video-texas-high-school
 
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