The 2018 season was not Matthew Stafford’s best, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, the longtime Lions quarterback did have some positives in his down year.
One of those was his ability to deliver the play-action fake and pass. Stafford finished in the top 10 in the NFL in passer rating on passes while using play-action.
It wasn’t a huge staple of the Lions offense under Jim Bob Cooter, alas. Stafford has always been good at rifling the ball in between the linebackers and safeties after the LBs get sucked up by a run fake. Between the stale offense and the lack of weapons over the middle of the field, it’s pretty impressive that Stafford finished as high as he did.
His play-action rating was 25 points higher than his overall season passer rating of 89.9, which was Stafford’s lowest since 2014.
Thanks to “NFL Matchup” on ESPN for the stats.
