With the first game of the 2009 NFL season, the Detroit Lions select...Matthew Stafford to be their starting quarterback. This may not come as much of a surprise to many, seeing that he was the Lions #1 overall selection in the 2009 draft, but this doesn't make complete sense to me. During the preseason Coach Schwartz gave both Stafford and Culpepper a fair chance before making his decision. Most times Stafford looked half decent at QB, but other times he looked less than stellar by throwing interceptions and leaving the pocket too early. With this team coming off of 0-16, you would think that getting a win early would be top priority. During the preseason Culpepper managed this offense well, dumping the ball when needed and throwing long when available. Yes Stafford threw the ball downfield more, but during the preseason you see the most vanilla of vanilla defenses. When the regular season comes he will see blitzing, zones, and stunts for the first time, which will make throwing it downfield a little bit harder to do.
Look, making a decision on starting a rookie QB is not the easiest decision to make. There is no A+B=C formula to making this decision. Every situation is unique in its own way. Look at Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning. Both of them started from day one and both struggled badly at some point in the season. Statistically Manning finished the year with great stats but the team finished with a 3-13 record and lost many close games. Troy struggled as well throwing twice as many interceptions than touchdowns, and finishing with a 55.7 percent QB rating. But in the end putting them in the fire early may have been best for them. Troy finished with 3 Super Bowl rings, 1 MVP award, and a Hall of Fame induction. Peyton so far as won 1 Super Bowl ring, 3 MVP awards, and a sure bet Hall of Fame induction. On the other side of things are David Carr and Ryan Leaf. David Carr started all but five games in his five year career with the expansion Houston Texans. In his rookie campaign he had it rough throwing nearly twice as many interceptions as touchdowns and being sacked 76 times. Carr's career never recovered from being thrown into the fire early with no protection or no one to help him. He has what we call "happy feet" in the pocket. But can you blame him. He was sacked 249 times in his entire career as a Texan. If you didn't know, that's way too much. Ryan Leaf started day one for the San Diego Chargers. He led the team to a 2-0 start but everything collapsed after that. He was benched for throwing just 2 TD's and 13 interceptions in 9 games. For the season he threw for just 1,289 yards, with a 45.3 percent completion rate and a paltry passer rating of 39. During the season he not only showed that he wasn't ready to start but he also showed that he probably wasn't mature enough to handle everything that comes with the NFL. He yelled at reporters after games and also nearly fought fans during practice sessions.
All these rookie QB examples are all different. Who really knows what Stafford will turn out to be? He could turn out to be Manning or Aikman, or he could turn out to be Leaf or Carr. But of course we hope not the latter. The time now is not to criticize the decision that was made but support it. We gotta root for Stafford to succeed and not fail. Time will only tell. Story to be continued!
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