Matthew Stafford is not elite

What makes Matthews 5000+ yards is he did it with a very minium run game and a ugly right side.

Nobody is talking about how Matt had zero running game. Defenses came after Matt or sat back in zone without worrying about the run in the slightest.

Give Matt, Thomas and Ingram, Bradshaw and Jacobs and see what he does.

I’ve watched him for a long time on the NFL Network. He is a supremely jealous individual and thinks he and his beloved “Greatest Show on Turf” was the best offense ever. Too bad Kurt Warner couldn’t do with ALL those weapons at his disposal what the 23 year old Matthew Stafford could do. Real shame. That’s where these comments come from. Jealousy.

What Matt did this year was nothing short of supernatural. Had it not been an absolute freak year for quarterbacks and the stars and planets and Mayan calendars and all that shit aligning, this kid would be getting the true applause he deserves. I think now that the season is over and people have had time to think about it, he’s finally starting to get his due. He was just overshadowed by the three of the better quarterbacks in the modern era of football. Marshall Faulk can suck a fat one.

I think Schwartz is paying this guy off.

Just look how the last time he did it with Cris Carter worked out. CJ exploded. Next year, look for Cris Carter and Marshall Faulk to sit down to a very expensive lunch consisting of the finest crow money can buy.

Back to back 5,000 yard seasons? That’s never been done and Brees is the only one ever to have 2 years total of 5,000.

even if you hold on to the idea that doing something only 3 other QBs in the history of the NFL have accomplished doesn’t make a QB elite, did he watch the Oakland game? San Diego? Kansas City? Denver? Green Bay away? Carolina? Minnesota? Dallas?

He managed the team to 3 comeback victories of 17+ points. Another thing no other QB has done in a single season.

Apparently marshall doesn’t watch the Lions.

I personally like when Stafford is criticized though. I like the fire it might light…

But damn dude…Sometimes he says things I think just because he wants to be the other side of the argument. Whatever though. As much as I love Matt you can’t deny calvins place in that 5,000 yard stat. So another guy says something we don’t like….Moving on

want based on who they like for whatever reason. Barry was elite and Marino was elite; along with hundreds of other athletes that broke their brain and body on this game and set records and played elite season after season with few playoff wins and no superbowls.

People who like to justify their opinion make banal statements about stuff out of a players control, like playoffs and superbowls. I’ve even heard Barry knocked for -2 yds in a game “when they needed him most.”

Sure, Staff needs to play elite more than one season to be elite. But to say that this is not an elite accomplishment, or to support such a notion is flat out ignorant. Only a person that has never thrown a football for a living could even muster such an ignorant statement. Kurt Warner was openly impressed with Stafford in a similar session; that says it all.

As a 23 year old kid, throwing for 5,000+ yards and 41 tds with no run game and a inconsistent receiving corps outside of Calvin,and leading the perennial losing Detroit Lions to a 10-6 record with a playoff berth, its very impressive.

No quarterback in the history of the game has done what Stafford has at just 23 yrs old and in his first full season.In a few years he will be considered elite by everyone once he gets that’s superbowl ring. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that Stafford will get it too. He has the tools to be one of the best in NFL history and just needs to stay healthy to prove it.

when you have two of the best wide recievers ever and a great QB its easy to talk shit they never expected him to do what he did and kurt warner made him. anyone who downplays 5000 yards has some very severe brain damage.

The old man just has a hard time putting a young QB in the same category as guys like Brady, Brees, Rodgers, and I guess Eli.

But here is the question: If you were a NFL GM and had to pick a quarterback to start your franchise with, who do you pick? A 34 or 33 year old Brady or Brees? Or a 24 year old Stafford? I can see Rodgers getting some love by still being 28. But if Stafford is even in this conversation, to me that tells me that he is elite.

Let me put it this way, because I was going to write a big long rah rah fanpost about this very thing and rather than spend thousands of words, and several paragraphs on it I will be short and sweet for once.

I was watching the NFL honors show off my DVR, yeah I know, still catching up with the times, its sad but true. Anyhow, as I watched Matthew Stafford accept his comeback player of the year award I could not help but to realize a couple of things.

1) Matthew is EXTREMELY young. There is still amazing upside with him.

2) He does not have the supporting cast that others have. Sure I give Brady a ton of credit, but he has two amazing tight ends and arguably the best possession receiver in the game. Do I even need to go through all of the weapons that Brees has? And let’s not forget that Marino had not only Clayton and Duper but one heck of a running game as well.

3) If you consider that last season was really just Matthews second season in terms of game experience, he has yet to even come close to hitting his stride. As mentioned above, we are seeing his first baby steps in the NFL. Ok maybe that is a bit extreme, but he certainly is not much beyond a toddler. Now consider that and think about what his next steps are. his next goals.

It is rather simple….

Win playoffs games.

Become the league MVP.

This is what he has to do now to progress and become better. Are you smiling yet? I sure as hell am. Just think about that and let it sink in, win playoff games and become the league MVP….

Now what company does that put Matthew in?

Brady, Brees, the Manning Bros, uhm… Aaron Rogers… yeah OK so who else can anyone with one brain cell argue is any better? Rothlisburger… eh ok maybe on experience and past, but not on the future. Matthew easily the 6th to 7th best QB in the league, if not better. He is moving up the list, others are moving down or struggling to remain status quo.

Don’t sweat it, Marshall Faulk will eat those words. And OK, my bad, perhaps this was not so short, I hope it was at least sweet. ;)

I think at the heart of this issue is the fact that I think individuals define the term “elite” differently. For example, I think elite is in the upper echelon of QB play. Experience for me is irrelevant. I ask “Is he playing elite?” And yes I DO think Stafford is elite right now. This is because I do not need playoff wins to say a QB is elite right now. I need elite play. That’s it. I distinguish between elite right now and elite all time. If you were to ask me is he one of the elite QBs all time I would say not yet.

BUT
what if he does turn into the perennial probowler? What if he has a hands down Hall of Fame career? What if he puts in 10 years of awesome, wins a couple superbowls and a bunch of playoff games (obviously)? When you look back on this season you wouldn’t consider his play this year elite? Sorry. Only 3 dudes passed for the yards he did only 3 dudes had that many TDs. Top 3 in anything is elite for me. The whole playoff win thing and a few years of consistency and all that only seems to be ways of confirming the elite status. In other words, it seems to me once Stafford is considered “elite” because he produced whatever stats an individual requires in order to consider a QB elite, this year would most likely be grandfathered in as an elite season (because stat-wise it sure was), after the fact. I don’t think that’s fair. Stafford is playing at an elite level right now, which for me, is the bottom line.

TBH while I understand the argument, the playoff win thing just doesn’t make sense to me in this case. There is no doubt in my mind the defense lost that game to NO, not Stafford. In fact, I felt Stafford’s play was amazing. Without a doubt I can confidently say Stafford’s play has been elite. For some elite play is not enough. Some need a few years of it, some need the post season success. I do not. Elite play = elite in my book.

I think the difference here is that people do not want to take the label away once it is given. That is why there needs to be such prolonged success. I don’t mind taking that label away. For example I thought Matt Ryan was elite last year, this year, not so much… That’s okay you can say Matt Ryan isn’t elite and I’d agree, but last year I wouldn’t have agreed because he played at an elite level last year. If Stafford screws it up next year I would be the first to say he is not elite, but this year he was elite IMO.

Should be whether he merits HOF status.

There will be plenty more 5k passers in the future with the rules so slanted towards offense.

He had a great year at times. I know you all watched the games, at what point in the S.F. game for example did we have an elite QB? We didn’t. What we do have, finally in my lifetime, is a franchise QB and Superbowl visions.

The Elite moniker should be left to after we have actually done something. Not just making it to 1 playoff game in his first 3 years.

Sorry, had to do it!

that it is easier to pass for over 5000 yards because the QBs get more passing attempts than they did in the past. Well, that part is true in a simplistic way. There are many quarterbacks that threw the ball over 600 times per season prior to this year:

Drew Bledsoe did it several times and he holds the record for most passing attempts in a season, but he never passed for 5000 yards in a season.

Warren Moon did it several times as well and never cracked 5000 yards.

Dan Fouts had a couple years near or above 600 passes as well and he did it in only 14 game seasons. Yet he never passed for 5000 yards.

Brett Favre broke the 600 pass attempt mark twice. Not only did he not pass for 500 yards in those seasons, he did not pass for even 400 yards. We all know that Brett Favre was not a very good QB, right?

There have been teams that are pass happy ever since the AFL and NFL merged. That is one of the big things that the AFL brought to the table in the merger. We talked about all this at length when Al Davis dies. I guess that Marshall Faulk didn’t get the memo.

One of the things that makes me laugh the most is that Faulk played on a team that passed the ball a lot. I guess he doesn’t realize that a lot of his success in running the ball was because the “Greatest Show on Turf” forced the opposing defense to pull the safeties out of the run box and play cover two. Not having that extra tackler up there to stop him was a major part of his success.

Marshall should be very careful about devaluing players because of the system they play in, because he was the beneficiary of playing in a system that improved his stats as well.