Matthew Stafford is having a great start to his 2019 season. The Lions quarterback has clicked nicely with new offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, attacking down the field more and finding significant success in doing so. Stafford is making clutch throws and completing tough passes into tight windows consistently.
His uptick from a down 2018 has earned Stafford a lot of respect nationally. In fact, Stafford has cracked the top five QBs in 2019 in the polling among NFL.com voters.
The panelists noted the odd narrative shift with Stafford and the Lions,
For the first chunk of his career, Stafford was seen as a quarterback who had not yet refined his game or been able to unleash his full potential. If he could ever put it all together, the Lions could really go places. This season, however, the perennial Detroit narrative seems to be flipping around: Now, Stafford has put all (or most) of it together, and the rest of his team is what’s holding him back. He kept the Lions even with Minnesota for much of Sunday, only to be foiled by sacks, an offensive pass-interference penalty that helped kill a drive when Detroit had a chance to take the lead and a defense that couldn’t stop Kirk Cousins. Detroit is having a tough-luck season, but it’s gratifying to see Stafford, who is on track to post the first 100-plus passer rating of his NFL tenure, come into his own.
It’s nice to see Stafford shown some love for his renaissance season with the Lions.
