Notes: Matthew Stafford listed as No. 3 MVP candidate through Week 4

• Matthew Stafford has had a modest start to the season statistically, but his play has led the Detroit Lions to a 3-1 record through four weeks. As a result, he’s getting a lot of attention nationally. NFL.com’s Gil Brandt has Stafford as the No. 3 MVP candidate, only behind Alex Smith and Tom Brady.

• Las Vegas seems to agree, as Stafford has the second-best odds to win the yearly award:

• ESPN threw their hat into the ring, and ranked Stafford fifth on their QB index, behind Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees.

• Wednesday night, Ameer Abdullah was awarded the Ed Block Courage Award for the Lions player “who exemplifies sportsmanship and has overcome injury and/or adversity to excel on the field.” You can watch part of his powerful acceptance speech below:

• Golden Tate is pretty comfortable from the slot position:

And he’s pretty amazing at running after the catch, too:

• We’ve talked before about what Glover Quin has done to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, but Quin wasn’t the only player directly affected by the storm. Travis Swanson also grew up in Houston, and the team will be providing aid to his former high school:

ESPN has more details on their relief efforts, which includes buying 250 Chromebooks for the school that will remain closed for the rest of the school year.

• Pro Football Focus’ Brett Whitefield has a great article detailing how linebacker Tahir Whitehead is having a career year so far.

• Hey, look! We asked TJ Jones a question through this week’s #AskALion segment: