Should Stanton Start?
by ReichardZ on Oct 14, 2008 7:12 PM EDT
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PrintAlliteration aside, this becomes a very serious question for Lions fans.
I think initially, everyone is looking at the success of Trent Edwards (picked after Stanton in the same draft), the loss of Kitna for the year (perhaps a positive) as well as the hopelessness of the rest of the season, and starting Stanton is a no-brainer.
Fans start saying to themselves, "Hey, let's throw the kid out there and see what he can do." Or possibly saying, "He needs to get game experience, and now that he is healthy, why not throw him in there." That was my initial thought as well, but then I had a change of heart.
One thing Lions fans have become accustomed to is the porous offensive line. Year after year becomes sack after sack to Lions fans. In fact, so far this year, the Lions have given up the second most sacks in the league with 22. Only the 49ers have given up more with 23, and they have yet to have their bye week (Kinda makes you feel bad for former Lion and current 49ers starter J.T. O'Sullivan).
Second, the Lions transition from a pass-happy system under former offensive coordinator Mike Martz to a more run-oriented team has been slow. If your offensive line can't block, running the ball is going to be tough no matter who is starting in the backfield. Without a balanced run game to go along with the passing game, teams will key on the quarterback, and blitz to no end.
It also doesn't help when your defense is giving up boatloads of points, forcing your offense to pass to conserve time. Teams know what is coming from the Lions and can game plan to attack an inexperienced quarterback.
All this leads to one thing, a quarterback who is going to be under enormous pressure.
If the Lions really do believe that Stanton is a quarterback that they want to last for more than a few seasons, they would be wise to limit how much time he sees this year. We've seen quarterbacks who are expected to go out and become the teams starter the very first year. Some succeed (Matt Ryan so far, Peyton Manning), most don't (Joey Harrington, Ryan Leaf, David Carr, Cade McNown, I know, what a name to pull from the past).
The Lions aren't one step away, and forcing a quarterback to start on a bad team usually leads to the team getting even worse. The last thing I want to see happen to Stanton is to get happy feet from fear of constant pressure.
That being said, they do need to get him into games, but don't throw him in as the starter. Give him a few reps during competitive game experiences, such as the two or three possessions in the second quarter, if he responds well during the game, keep him out there, but if not, no reason to hang him out to dry.
What does this mean for Dan Orlovsky? Well, he may not enjoy this, but essentially games become an open tryout for him. Do well on the field, the coaches won't pull you in favor of Stanton. Do poorly and you might as well start updating your resume for next year.
Plus, unless you are planning to keep him around for a serious shot at starting next season, why would it matter if you hurt his feelings? I'm not saying the Lions need to burn bridges, but they need to be looking for who works best for the team going forward.
With the moves made in the past few weeks as well as the past few days, the Lions are showing they want to get a fresh start. I just hope the fresh start does not mean throwing Stanton into the fire.
ReichardZ
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride of Detroit or its writers. FanPosts are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable fans.
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Your forgetting one major aspect of Drew Stanton's game though...
He is great on his feet. I don’t care if people want to say the season is over , yadda yadda, the truth is, we can still put up a respectable season and maybe hit .500 or close to it if the D can keep up the play from this week moving forward. That being said, we need to give ourselves the best chance to win. Knowing that the O-line is horrible and that Dan O will get annihalated and obviously can’t scramble (see this weekends safety), Stanton looks to be the best answer.
So not only does he get the experience he needs so he can prove that he is the future of the franchise, but he also in my mind gives us the best chance to win, which we should never stop trying to do no matter how bad the season.
Not only that but it allows Stanton (who is the future QB, i’m saying it now and with conviction, mark my words), but it allows Stanton and calvin johnson to start building a rythym and getting used to one another.
Stanton is VERY accurate and highly mobile. I know we haven’t seen much of him in the pros but most of us probably watched him at State and he is a solid QB. So I say even though Dan O didn’t have a bad game, it makes more sense to get Stanton in there and say upfront that he is the starter and move forward.
The only issue I see is
He’s obviously prone to injury and we take the chance of him going down and leaving us with Dan O. and Drew Henson…
I understand where you are coming from
But there are a few things I disagree with. Last year was a wash, Stanton is still a rookie in my mind.
Alex Smith was mobile as well, he was thrown into the wrong situation too quickly and failed.
Just cause he was mobile in college does not mean the same as mobile in NFL. Everyone is faster and stronger.
I agree that Stanton is the best option, but throwing him into games and asking him to carry the team is not the best option.
maybe not now, but soon...
I liked Dan O last week. the stats weren’t exceptional but he also didn’t turn the ball over. i’d give him a few weeks to prove himself before jumping to stanton. it was his first career start, so i’ll cut him some slack on dancing out the back of the endzone. i think we can all agree that this season is a wash, so we have 11 games to experiment. so we play Dan a few weeks, best case scenerio he actually is good and wins us a few games. worst case scenerio, we continue to lose and get a sweet draft pick. but if he’s not the guy, Stanton needs starts whether he’s injury prone or not. Its the NFL, its a tough sport, people get hurt and you can’t predict it. look at romo…the guy has a ton of weapons and a much better o line than detroit and he got rocked and broke his pinkie. i think it would be a terrible decision to not start somebody bc you’re afraid he’s going to get injured. if he’s that much of a concern for injuries and we’re trying to rebuild our franchise with him, than i’m pretty pessimistic.
What's the alternative?
Should Orlovsky Start? aka SOS, which is pretty appropriate given the Lions season to date, and likely fate going forward….
Stanton may well best be served by being able to serve an apprenticeship, not being thrown straight into the fire the way Joey Harrington was, but that’d make so much more sense with a Jon Kitna, a half-competent QB at teh helm. With Orlovsky up there, he’s not going to learn anything except for finding out how bad the O-line is from teh sidelines, and imagining how he’d run away from the pressure once opposing defensive linemen broke through the protection.
Toss Stanton in there, I say, let’s see if he turns out to have anything worth keeping around over the next few years.
Stanton? Really?
Do you seriously think that Drew Stanton was worth the second pick of the second round of the draft? We could have gotten him in the third or even fourth round. Dan Orlovsky is the starter right now because he has more than five games on the sidelines under his belt. He understands the Lions personnel, and at this time gives the Lions their best chance to win. If not for a few questionable calls, the Lions would have won against the Vikings. No, Orlovsky cannot run like Stanton, but there’s a reason the coaches put him on the field over Stanton: we need to win at least one game this season. By the way, did you notice that Orlovsky didn’t throw the Kitna-esque crucial interception (or three) in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach? I know his antics running out of the back of the endzone were an embarassment, but just remember, Kitna vs Green Bay this year. I will take a safety over three picks (two returned for touchdowns) in the fourth quarter in a game that we led in the fourth quarter anytime.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20081012016&page=plays
take a look at the game summary, and play by play, and you see that Orlovsky led exactly ONE drive that lasted more than 5 plays ALL GAME. That is not a quarterback that is leading this team anywhere.
Before the 3 picks, Kitna led the Lions back from a 21-3 deficit to take the lead. Orlovsky isn’t capable of doing that. I don’t know if Stanton is, but I KNOW that Orlovsky is not. I have absolutely no confidence that this guy will ever amount to anything in the NFL. So yeah, I say go with the younger kid, see what he can do.
nice stat.
still…his first official start, but keep him on a real short leash before giving stanton a try.
it was his 1st start, let him get some more games under his belt before you bench him
at least we dont have to deal with jon kitna anymore and can at least give orlovsky and stanton chances to prove themselves
when you think .500 is the best a team can do and they are currently playing in the ALCS for a chance to advance to the WS, you have to stop and think that the future of that team is going to be amazing. GO TB RAYS!
I noticed the crucial interception thing as well
I said about Sunday’s game, I think they would have scored another touchdown with Kitna in there, but they would have also given up two more touchdowns with bad interceptions Kitna would have thrown.
Put him in, What do we have to lose??
I understand that Stanton is a rookie and all, but guess what? So is Atlanta’s Matt Ryan. Remember him?? Week 1 first play? I think we have nothing to lose right now, Put him in. Our O-line sucks and the QB is getting killed in the trenches, thus rendering sack after sack, being pressured all over. If you remember in the pre-season, Stanton had the ability to get out of the pocket, run down hill while keeping an eye on his recievers.
Stanton isn't really a rookie..
He may have been hurt a lot but this is his second year around the players and team and he’s still had a chance to study our system as much as everyone else.
Split Reps and halfs.
Heck, lets just start Dan in the firts half and let Drew come out swinging in the 2nd half. WE need the coaching staff to see what they have in both Quarterbacks. What do we have to lose?
I think split time would be a good plan. Your article brings up a really good point—I don’t think the Lions should just throw Stanton into the fire and have him lose confidence. He’s got too much potential for that, but at the same time I don’t think he (or the Lions) has enough talent yet to go through the growing pains that Matt Ryan is successfully navigating. Stanton would do better than a Joe Flacco, because of his ability to run, but I still think he should just see limited playing time, at least initially.
by Steven Ortlieb on Oct 16, 2008 12:51 PM EDT reply actions
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