(Note from Sean: Bumped to the front page for the interesting comparison and good research.)

Matthew Stafford had a really bad game yesterday.  Still, if you want a pick-me-up from some historical perspective, his overall performance through six games is very, very similar to that of another #1-overall rookie eleven years ago who turned out to be pretty good:

Peyton Manning, rookie year, first 6 games:

Game 1: 1 TD, 3 INT, 8.16 ypa, 56.8% comp
Game 2: 1 TD, 3 INT, 5.70 ypa, 63.6% comp
Game 3: 0 TD, 2 INT, 4.39 ypa, 45.5% comp
Game 4: 1 TD, 3 INT, 9.66 ypa, 59.4% comp
Game 5: 1 TD, 1 INT, 5.96 ypa, 52.2% comp
Game 6: 2 TD, 2 INT, 5.73 ypa, 48.8% comp

Total:
    6 TD, 14 INT = .428 TD/INT ratio
    113 comp / 210 att = 53.8% comp
    1364 yards / 210 att = 6.50 ypa
--
Matthew Stafford, rookie year, first 6 games:

Game 1: 0 TD, 3 INT, 5.54 ypa, 43.2% comp
Game 2: 1 TD, 2 INT, 5.07 ypa, 60.0% comp
Game 3: 1 TD, 0 INT, 6.69 ypa, 58.3% comp
Game 4: 1 TD, 1 INT, 8.22 ypa, 66.7% comp
Game 5: 0 TD, 1 INT, 5.09 ypa, 42.4% comp
Game 6: 2 TD, 5 INT, 5.23 ypa, 52.4% comp

Total:
    5 TD, 12 INT = .417 TD/INT ratio
    115 comp / 214 att = 53.7% comp
    1265 yards / 214 att = 5.91 ypa

Side-by-Side Comparison:

    6 TD, 14 INT = .428 TD/INT ratio (Manning)
    5 TD, 12 INT = .417 TD/INT ratio (Stafford)

    113 comp / 210 att = 53.8% comp (Manning)
    115 comp / 214 att = 53.7% comp (Stafford)

    1364 yards / 210 att = 6.50 ypa (Manning)
    1265 yards / 214 att = 5.91 ypa (Stafford)

TD-INT ratio: 
 Manning threw one more TD and two more INT's than Stafford.
 Manning's TD-INT ratio beats Stafford's by eleven hundredths of one percent (that's not very much).

Completion %
 Manning completed 113 of 210 passes. 
 Stafford completed 115 of 214 passes.
 Manning's completion % beats Stafford's by one tenth of one percent.

Yards per Attempt:
 Manning's 6.5 ypa beats Stafford's 5.91 by  1 foot, 9-1/2 inches.

Side note:
Stafford has had to play one game of his first six without Calvin Johnson.  Marvin Harrison did not miss any of Peyton Manning's first six games.