Re: Stafford is Ours
PostPosted:3 years 2 months ago
Stafford's full name is John Matthew Stafford, wears #9, this is like a Twilight Zone episode for Wolford...
"I've always wanted to play in those big games, I feel like I will excel in those situations," he said. "I wanted to shoot my shot."
With the Lions owners giving coach Matt Patricia and GM Bob Quinn a win-or-else ultimatum Dec. 2019, Stafford knew another tear-down and rebuild could be on the horizon.
"To be honest, Kelly and I probably started talking about it before last season," he said. "It was one of those things where, you know, we were hoping that, golly, let's go, I hope this thing takes off and we play great. But if it doesn't, you just knew what was going to happen. They were going to tear it down and rebuild.
"And anytime you switch GMs and a head coach, you know that they're going to want to bring their own people in, and that's going to take time. ."And I, frankly, didn't feel like I was the appropriate person to oversee that time
Stafford said that if he'd stayed in Detroit, the organization might have continued to be marred in mediocrity, never having a roster good enough to compete with the best, but never be bad enough to bottom out.
"In my mind, I felt like I was going to be able to help us go win six, seven, eight games, because I wasn't gonna let us lose more than that, you know?" he said. "But I probably wasn't good enough (by myself) to help us win more than that. And maybe we don't ever get those top picks that we needed."
During Stafford's tenure, the Lions drafted in the top-10 six times, including No. 7 overall this year.
The question in Detroit was never the quarterback's talent, but rather was it Stafford who couldn't raise the boats around him or the organization who failed to build a capable squad buffering the quarterback?
Stafford has a chance in L.A. to prove he is the signal-caller who can win the big game when given a chance to shoot that shot.
"Sometimes it's not the perfect storybook ending in the same place," he said. "But I can leave here knowing that I gave this team every damn thing I had."
Interesting take. Glad he wants a better shot. He deserves a better shot. He seems to say he could win 6 - 8 games on a shitty to mediocre team, while some question whether he is capable of elevating players around him. The Rams roster is certainly not mediocre but reading between the lines, apparently they're in need of a QB who can inspire the offense. I never bought in to the "elevate theory" as I believe it's simply a matter of good players, playing good. No great QB, including the GOAT ever won a Superbowl with a mediocre or shitty team. However, some great teams won a SB with a mediocre QB. Hopefully Stafford is a guy who can produce some inspiration on the offense and that will be enough.
