Matthew Stafford has had one tough career and he is only 25 years old.  His first two season as the Detroit Lions quarterback he was ridden with injury and missed six games his rookie year and nearly the entire season in his sophomore season.  Since then he hasn’t missed a game and has been quite the gunslinger.  In 2011, Stafford led the Lions to the playoffs for the first time in years but lost to the Saints in the first round.  The past two years the Lions have gone back to disappointment with a 4-12 record in 2012 and a 7-9 record this past season.

Since 2011, Stafford has been trending in the wrong directions in some very important statistical categories.  Even though he throws over 4,000 yards, his passing yards and completion percentage have declined every year and his interceptions have been increasing. 

Stafford has tremendous ability to throw the ball far and hard and fit it into tight holes when he has to.  His downfall is that he tries to do that too often which makes him throw a lot of interceptions.  Stafford has thrown over 15 interceptions in each of the last three seasons.  He reminds me a lot of a Brett Favre who just slings the ball down field and hopes for the best in every throw.

Luckily for him he has one of the best receivers on his team in Calvin Johnson who can go up and get the ball nine times out of ten.  Without Johnson, Stafford would have a lot of trouble completing as many passes as he does and would further hurt his completion percentage.  Johnson makes up for many of Stafford’s mistakes and he might possibly not have a career in Detroit any longer if Megatron wasn’t around to help.

When talking about if Stafford is a “bust”, it is hard to say at such an early age.  He is clearly not as bad as a Ryan Leaf but he is clearly not better than an Aaron Rodgers.  As I stated earlier there are many flaws to Stafford but at the same time he puts up good enough numbers to help his team win.  He clearly needs to cut down on throwing interceptions and the Lions need to focus more on the run game and building a defense to help support Stafford.  In the right system, he can be an elite quarterback and lead teams to the playoffs and maybe further.

I will not put the label of “bust” on Stafford just yet.  There is a lot of time for him to improve his game and cut down on mistakes.  It is true that the Lions blew their chance at winning the division by losing six of their last seven games.  That is the ultimate fall apart but now with head coach Jim Schwartz fired, maybe the next coach who steps in can help develop Stafford to limiting mistakes.

The Lions have a dangerous offense when healthy.  Next year will be a promising year for the young team and with a new head coach and they will surely be a contender for the NFC North.  If Stafford falls apart the last few games again like he did this season, I will be singing a different tune this time next year.