FanPost

Matthew Stafford - China Doll; Time to Move On

As fan's, we can do one of two things right now.

We can do what we always have done and "hope" for Stafford to return after he is heeled with no significant further injuries. We can pretend that these are all just "freak" hits, and in the future he will be more durable and run off 10-12 years of injury-free and pro bowl caliber play.

OR, we can realize this for what it is. ANOTHER failed quarterback pick for the Lions. Joey Harrington couldn't play quarterback, but he was durable. Matthew Stafford can be an amazing quarterback, but he can't stay healthy. Both were and ARE lethal to the future of our team.

Unless the NFL puts red jerseys on QB's so that they aren't allowed to be hit, or puts a flag football belt around their waist, Matthew Stafford (based on the evidence in front of us today) appears to NOT be able to play QB in this league. It's not about talent this time for the Lions, it's about having enough durability to stay on the field. If we ever want to have a future for this team, we have to stop pretending that "everything is OK" and we will be fine. Everything is NOT OK, and we will not be fine if we continue to ignore the evidence that's in front of us and take action now. So, what do we do?

It's time to get Matthew healthy and deal him to another team. Maybe the Bills or whomever gets the #1 pick next year so that we could get Andrew Luck from Stanford. Stafford has shown enough brilliance that teams will think they can get him into condition to play in this league and avoid future injury. We could get a top pick in the draft and probably another pick as well.

What if Staff gets healthy and goes on to have a brilliant and injury-free career for another team? I am willing to live with that. On the other hand, what if we keep him and ignore the warning signs in front of us today? Can we live with the reality that we very well could be playing with our 2nd and 3rd string QB's for 50% of the games for the next 4 years? Winning a few games per year and wasting all of the other talent on this team?

I, for one, cannot live with that option. I have played the "wait & hope game" with the Lions for 4 decades now, and based on my experiences as a fan I am certain that pulling the curtain on Matthew's career in Motown is the right thing to do for us...for the team, it's players, and us fans. If you are less than 30 years old, maybe you don't have enough personal experiences with the Lions to make such a bold move. I have said to myself, "maybe Landry will be the guy". Then maybe Danielson, Hipple, Long, Batch, Ware, Mitchell, Harrington, Garcia, etc, etc, etc.

Could it be a bad move where Matthew goes on to be a great NFL quarterback? Absolutely, but based on what we have witnessed so far, a reasonable person would have to say that it is a chance worth taking. Based on our franchise's lack of success, we should be willing to take the risk of making bold action based on limited information (24 games). If Martin and Jim are serious about producing a winner with no excuses for failure, then they should NOT IGNORE the red flags that are saying "CAUTION: BRIDGE OUT". Matthew is NOT the bridge to the future for us, and we need to take a detour before we run the bus off the bridge once again.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.