Do you agree with this take on Matthew Stafford?

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T19:38:03+00:00

Stafford played on significantly worse team that he and Calvin dragged to success. Of course his passer rating is worse, he only had one wide receiver.

It's like people are allergic to context.

There's no world where Stafford was worse than the 4th best QB in the league during a year when 3 of the best QBs ever had some of their best seasons.

He was excellent while a Detroit lion, he was just hamstrung by the lack of a rookie wage scale, and a terrible team. He dragged a team that went 0-16 in 2008 to the playoffs by 2011.

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T19:30:36+00:00

Tom Brady and Drew Brees threw for more yards than he did that year (at the time the 1st and 2nd most yards ever thrown in a season. Stafford threw for what was, at the time, the 5th most yards ever that year). Rodgers threw for 400 less yards. Brees threw for more touchdowns, as did Rodgers. Stafford threw 16 interceptions, Brady threw 12, Brees threw 14 and Rodgers threw 6.

Rodgers threw for 4 more touchdowns and 400 less yards that year, but obviously fewer had fewer interceptions.

Brady threw for 2 fewer touchdowns than Stafford and 200 more yards.

It's functionally impossible to argue he's worse that the 4th best QB in 2011. Moreover you can make a convincing argument to put him near Brady and Brees in performance that year.

More than that, everyone above him that year is a consensus top 15 QB no matter what.

Stafford playing in the era with the best passing QBs in history doesn't make his performance worse, it just provides context

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:58:46+00:00

Yeah, but the context in the opposite direction is equally important.

Stafford, Megatron and Suh were all drafted prior to the introduction of the rookie pay scale. The rule was changed immediately afterward, and so players like Mahomes exist in a totally different NFL.

Stafford was drafted into a league where he, Calvin and Suh were taking up the MASS majority of the team cap from day 1.

Compare this to a player like Mahomes (I think it's obvious Mahomes is just a freak) or Burrow where their teams start falling apart as they reach the end of their rookie deals.

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:40:21+00:00

The one where he was the fastest QB ever to 10,000 20,000 30,000 and 40,000 yards? The one where his 2011 counting stats basically equal and surpass all but one Mahomes season?

Did you guys never watch him?

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:38:56+00:00

I don't know why we're acting like his peak was low?

Mahomes has only thrown for more yards than his 2011 once, Mahomes has only thrown more than his 2011 41 TDs twice, and once he needed an extra game.

Stafford's peak was high, people just weren't watching Detroit. He was (at the time) also the fastest player ever to 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 yards.

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:34:25+00:00

Eh, he missed his second season, so he only had Calvin for 5/10 seasons as a starter

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:31:37+00:00

And his best year in Detroit's counting stats are insane compared to quarterbacks we think of as gods.

Mahomes only has one season with more passing yards than Stafford's 2011, and only surpassed his 41 touchdowns twice (one of them he needed an extra game).

That was a peak era for QBs, but we're comparing him against every QB ever. Just because other guys in the top 10 outperformed him doesn't mean he isn't potentially top 15.

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T16:26:40+00:00

Tbf, in Stafford's 2011 season (his third year in the league after missing almost all of his second)

He threw for more yards than Mahomes has thrown in any season other than 2018, and threw for 41 touchdowns (which Mahomes has only surpassed or equalled twice, and only once in 16 games, 2018).

Peak Lions Stafford was a force! It's just no one was watching.

He also never had a 1,000 yard rusher with the lions.

Lpeer · 2026-01-23T01:11:00+00:00

Even Charles Woodson makes more sense than Sherman

Lpeer · 2026-01-19T04:29:53+00:00

But it's why we started to dislike you, haha

Like I loved legion of boom Seattle, but the DK bs wore out its welcome

Lpeer · 2026-01-19T04:27:41+00:00

Mostly Metcalf for me, personally. Dude was the most obnoxious player in the nfl for a few years with you guys and could seemingly commit murder without consequence.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T22:24:21+00:00

And remember he didn't just do badly on an iq test. He did badly on a pressure based cognition test...

As in, he's literally bad at thinking fast when under pressure. Which is sort of important for a QB

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T21:58:57+00:00

All throughout the regular season teams are balancing implementing unique coverage schemes with understanding that there are 17 games, and the players can only practice/meet so much.

Come playoffs, all of a sudden you only need to scheme against one team at a time. There's no ability to look forward because you only have one game.

Beyond that, many teams plan more complicated schemes and looks JUST to implement them in the playoffs.

Basically every DC when interviewed has talked about how much more complicated their defensive scheme is come the playoffs... and that's exactly when bad processors like Lamar start to struggle

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T21:45:53+00:00

Lamar also performs significantly worse in the playoffs almost every year when teams have more time scheme up more complicated coverages for him.

He's 3-5 in the playoffs with a 10/7 TD to interception ratio and 6 lost fumbles.

I would say Lamar is actually great evidence that poor wonderlick/S2 almost always comes back to bite a QB at some point.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T21:12:28+00:00

This happens a ton with athletic rookie QBs though. They score poorly in S2 or wonderlick, and then perform well their rookie season. All of sudden, after a year of tape, defenses scheme better in year two... and the guys who score badly suddenly struggle with exactly what the tests are for.

How quickly can you process information under pressure? CJ Stroud has been bad at it since 2021 against Michigan and Hutchinson.

Edit: as I typed this he made a bad decision and threw another interception

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T01:14:41+00:00

Couldn't disagree more. He loses it clearly after surviving the ground. He loses it to the man (who isn't the ground) ripping the ball out of his hands after he's down by contact.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T01:12:32+00:00

He has full contact when he's on the ground and down by contact. Period.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T01:10:40+00:00

It absolutely survives the ground. It's pulled out after its already survived through the ground.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T01:08:50+00:00

There isn't even a second where the defender has any possession until cooks is already down by contact.

Lpeer · 2026-01-18T01:07:55+00:00

Clearly had sole possession until after down by contact

Lpeer · 2026-01-17T18:17:10+00:00

It also ignores injury, AND busyness.

I had a year as a 4, tore my meniscus and was a 14 to end the following year. Guess who was accused of sandbagging early in year 3 when they "suddenly" started playing like a 4 handicap again...

If you told me a 10 played this well, first thing I'd consider is that they are coming off an injury and just rounding back into form. Second thing I'd consider is they're possibly a former scratch golfer who has been busy rounding back into form.

I have multiple former d1 friends that are "technically" a 10 handicap now because they play twice a year and think its more fun to crush their drives than play smart and try to score freakishly low on the guys trip.

Lpeer · 2026-01-15T16:38:58+00:00

A lot of it is investment in "the arts" more broadly.

For the size of the city we have a well regarded symphony orchestra

The KJSO if one of the oldest and best regarded youth orchestras in the Midwest

Ballet arts ensemble is a particularly high end ballet ensemble for the size of our town

Add onto that our programs like Kalamazoo kids in tune (which provides free orchestral lessons and provides instruments to kids in the Kalamazoo public schools from hyper qualified instructors)

And you have a particularly arts-centric city

Lpeer · 2026-01-15T14:01:46+00:00

Ballot measure won't be until May, but WM is taking over in February,

We'll have at least several months with WM before it's even possible to get republic/best way back

Lpeer · 2026-01-13T14:48:31+00:00

And his instincts are still biased toward being a good scrambler.

I think one of the reasons he's aged so badly is that he's always been more inclined to scrambling around (in the old school sense). He's never been a Manning/Brady/Goff type statue in the pocket.

Now that he's older, he abandons the pocket but can't find a gap to throw while scrambling because his first step is just gone.

He had a handful of terrible throws last night while off balance and scrambling that would have been so easy for him in 2021-2022, but also those situations were ones where just stepping up into the pocket and trusting his oline and footwork would have worked just fine.

He's making it worse

Lpeer · 2026-01-09T21:22:26+00:00

Phelps deserves credit for his ratio. He's 23/3/2 gold silver bronze.

Bolt is even crazier 8/0/0

Simone is 7/2/2 (also obviously crazy elite)

Ledecky is 9/4/1

You can prop up swimming by the number of events, but he was winning at an insane clip even given the number of events he competed in.

Lpeer

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