NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com is saying that Matthew Stafford must play and start right now in this season. This flies against the conventional wisdom of having a potentially great quarterback sit behind a veteran until he learns enough to become the starter.

Matt Stafford must be ready

Peyton Manning started as a rookie, so did Eli, Matt Ryan, and others. They all claim the experience was worth it.

If he sits this season, that will make 2010 a learning year for him because learning from the sidelines isn’t learning on the field.

So let’s say Culpepper starts the entire season. The Lions go 3-13. Then what? Stafford has his real rookie season in 2010, and the Lions are starting over again. For coach Schwartz, it would mean Year 3 before a playoff chance is even possible.

By playing Stafford this season and letting him learn on the fly, it might accelerate that timetable.

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Would you start Matthew Stafford to get his career going earlier? Only if he was ready. Only if he is ready. That beared repeating.

Image: Zuma Press

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If you are a long suffering Lions fan like me then you will not believe. Owner William Clay Ford claims he does not control who the Lions play on the field. The issue has come up, of course, because of the very very large contract of Matthew Stafford.

In the back of all of the mindless minds of the Detroit Lions fans are thoughts of Ford controlling everything from who they pick in the draft to what kind of hotdogs are sold in the stadium.

Will Matthew Stafford be told to start by Owner Mr. Ford?

Ford denies it and states it quite emphatically.

“I do not, contrary to public opinion, interfere with the football side of it,” Ford said. “I mean, if so-and-so plays lousy, I’ll say ‘I think he’s a bum.’ But, no, I’ve never said, ‘Play this guy or that guy’ or “Don’t play him.’ No, these guys know more about the game than I do by 10 miles. I’m not going to try to second-guess them. Now, if it goes wrong, we’ll talk about it.”
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How bad are the Lions when they seem so poorly run that we can’t imagine the General Manager or coaches screwing up that bad? Ok, that is a lot of that bads, but you get the point.

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How is it the Roy Williams can play for Texas and the Detroit Lions and never lift weights? Crimony, my wife lifts weights and she can catch a football. Lucky for Roy, she doesn’t try out for the Cowboys. This story just makes no sense at all. Aren’t these football teams?

“I’m serious,” King quoted the guy. “Roy never lifted before. Now that he has, and now that he’s serious about making himself a great football player, especially with T.O. gone, I think he’s really going to have a good year.”

Think about that. Williams played at Texas and for the Lions, and neither required him to do any weight training?

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You know Roy has great hands and while with the Lions he was often their only hope, their only threat on the field, until Calvin Johnson came along, but no weight program? Man, if you are not happy that Marinelli is gone from the Lions after hearing that, then you are just plain crazy.

Roy must lift the plates!

Here is hoping that the new number one Dallas Cowboy receiver, Roy Williams, lifts some weights and has a great year!

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What is wrong with Matt Millen? Are we still trying to figure that out? Every year he was the General Manager of the Detroit Lions things just got worse until our season was basically over when the draft was over. The only thing to wait for was the following years high draft pick of a wide receiver.

Now Matt stands in denial that he had anything to do with it. To him the losing just happened at a time that he happened to be in charge. Matt will move on and make more millions broadcasting, but few, if any, Detroit fans will forgive him for what he did as he systematically destroyed the Lions franchise.

But for Millen to portray himself as a victim is downright offensive to the people of Detroit, Lions fans everywhere and those who cover the team. As a media member, he should know how criticism works. As a former player and executive, he should know how accountability works. He has criticized, hired and fired people himself.

Millen was not a convenient scapegoat. He was not a “cheap and easy story to jump on.” He was not blamed for the fall of the auto industry, the housing market and the Kilpatrick mayoral scandal. For Millen to rub salt in those wounds is inappropriate at best. Maybe Millen was trying to be funny. Doesn’t matter.

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Even Sergeant Schultz, on Hogan’s Heroes, admitted to more problems than Matt Millen.

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All right, please send comments, but keep in mind this list is not mine. Where are all the Detroit Lions? Okay, that was a joke, but Calvin Johnson better be somewhere on that list or something is wrong.

The top two are easy, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

The next two players are less easy to guess, but more a product of the Super Bowl, Ben Roethlisberger and Larry Fitzgerald. Just the fact that the Squibster can even come close to spelling Roethlisberger is a testament to the impact of playing in the Super Bowl.

Ben Roethlisberger is number 3

Number 5 is Adrian Peterson.

5. Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings: A.D. had an incredible sophomore season, tossing the Vikings on his back down the stretch and carrying them to an NFC North title. There’s no player in the league who has greater big-play potential, and he brings that big-play potential 25 times a game. Hands down the best running back in the league, he will be in the MVP conversation over the next decade of his career.

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Oh, and Calvin Johnson, he made number 83 on the list, the lone Lion.

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Ok, all you Matt Stafford doubters out there that wanted an offensive tackle, pay attention, because Matt Stafford has been impressive in early workouts, not only showing off his rocket arm, but making some plays that show his quick release.

Coach Jim Schwartz raved about Stafford in a column posted Monday on SI.com. He said the Lions would have an “arms race” between Stafford and veteran Daunte Culpepper during the June 22-24 minicamp.
Schwartz also told SI.com: “So far, whatever the opposite of buyer’s remorse is, that’s what we have. We knew he had the terrific NFL arm. But we’ve found out his release is just textbook classic.”
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Later Coach Schwartz had to tone it down so Matt’s helmet would still fit on his head. Schwartz spoke about Stafford having to be both ready to play and better than Culpepper in order to start. Some feel that both things may happen long before the projected Thanksgiving game start time.

Coach Schwartz has to tone it down or Matt's head will swell too much

As for that quick release, hear what Coach Schwartz had to say about that.

“It’s one thing to have a strong arm,” said Schwartz, who was the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator the past eight years. “Most NFL quarterbacks have a strong arm.
“But being a defensive coordinator, being a defensive coach my whole career, the guys who are hardest to play are the guys with the quick release. What happens is, you can’t break on the ball.

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As if the 70 bazillion dollars that he signed for, as the first pick in the 2009 NFL draft were not enough, the word has leaked out the Matt Stafford has found it a little tough to get endorsements.

And he needs the money! Matt is down to his last 40 some million of guaranteed money. What is a rich young good looking NFL quarterback to do? It is not like he can go out and win the NFL Championship, better known these days as the Super Bowl, not with his team being the Lions. The Lions are the super losers of all time and current toilet bowl champs (to steal a Gus Macker term) of the NFL.

Matt hurting for his next million bucks

So Matt needs endorsements and the times are hard.

Because of the catastrophic economy, the Lions’ winless 2008 season and the specter of the failed Joey Harrington still looming over the team, advertisers locally and nationally may be leery of inking Stafford as a megadollar pitchman.

“I think he’s going to be one of the most challenged No. 1 draft picks,” said Jan Katzoff, executive vice president for sports and entertainment of San Francisco-based branding and marketing firm Radiate Group. “When you factor that in with not only the global economy but what Detroit is dealing with, you’ve got factors nobody else is dealing with.”

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In Contrast, Brady Quinn arrived last year with all kinds of endorsements like Subway and Xbox.

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This is the ultimate insult. My Lions do not have the worst owner if football. William Clay Ford tried as hard as he could to be the worst, but just came up short. What more could he do? He kept Matt Millen around forever. He kept Wayne Fontes around forever. He let great players leave rather than pay them. He destroyed one coach’s career after another. And most of all, Ford lost and lost and lost and lost and continues losing.

Alas, it was not enough. Al Davis is the worst owner in football. How sad for the once proud and powerful Raiders.

It’s hard to knock three Super Bowl titles, one AFL championship and 21 postseason appearances since Davis bought into the former AFL franchise. Problem is, the game has passed the Hall of Famer by and he seems to be the only one who doesn’t know it. Since the Raiders were blown out in Super Bowl XXVII, they’ve gone a league-worst 24-72 and have blazed through five head coaches since ‘01, including the fiasco over is-he-or-isn’t-he-fired Lane Kiffin this past season. All this ignores the real problem: that Davis is out of touch, refuses to adapt and continues to be infatuated with speedsters (this year the team inexplicably drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey with the No. 7-overall pick) instead of building a deep roster that can compete.
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Al Davis rules at the bottom

Look out, Al Davis, William Clay Ford has not given up!

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What in the world was he thinking about? Running back Kevin Smith of the Detroit Lions has publically announced that the Lions will be in the playoffs.

Let’s do the math. 0 - 16 last year and probably need 10 victories this year, so they just need, uh, just a second, uh, oh, about 10 more victories! Wonder if any team in the history of the NFL has improved by 10 wins in one season? Wait a minute, the Dolphins went from 1 - 15 to 11 - 5, of course, they had Big Tuna as their manager. But that does make is possible.

Kevin Smith better run as good as he talks

The Lions have no offensive or defensive line. New corners, new safety, new linebackers, new hot dog vendor in section 209 and problems all over the place. Now they do have Calvin Johnson, so a few wins are possible.

Here is some of Kevin Smith’s nonsense.

If Smith had stopped there, I’d have shrugged it off as homage to his departed teammate, an NFL version of a rapper sampling one of his influential forebears. However, Smith took his delusions to an entirely new level, claiming, “Believe it or not, we weren’t far off last year. Almost every game we could have won, we were one play or one player short. Except for Tennessee on Thanksgiving … they manhandled us, but nobody else did.”

It’s possible that the Green Bay Packers (48-25), San Francisco 49ers (31-13) and Chicago Bears (34-7), who drubbed the Lions in consecutive games during the first quarter of the season, might take issue with that statement. I’m guessing the Jacksonville Jaguars (38-14) and New Orleans Saints (42-7) also processed their subsequent clashes with the Lions in a slightly different cognitive manner.

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The amount of guaranteed money in Matt Stafford’s contract is incredible. Unlike others like me that struggle from check to check, you will not find me begrudging (if that is a word) the size of Matt’s contract or blaming the Detroit Lions for offering it to him.

Detroit is trying to rebuild for once and sometimes you have to pay.

Matt Stafford is number 1 and loaded with moola

Anyway, check out these salaries as shown in the Biz of Football.

Top Overall Pick QB Deals Since 2000

2008 Matt Ryan (ATL) 6yrs/$72M, $34.75M Guaranteed

2007 JaMarcus Russell (OAK) 6yrs/$61M, $29.2M Guaranteed

2005 Alex Smith (SF) 6yrs/$57M, $24M Guaranteed

2004 Eli Manning (NYG) 6yrs/$54M. $20M Guaranteed

2003 Carson Palmer (CIN) 7yrs/$49M, $14M Guaranteed

2002 David Carr (HOU) 7yrs/$46.2M, $14M Guaranteed

2001 Michael Vick (ATL) 6yrs/$62M, $15.3M Guaranteed

It is not the size of the contract that scares me. Look carefully at that list.

Vick is in jail and never won anything. Carr is a league backup and never won anything. Palmer is with an organization that does not like to spend money and never won anything. Dah, da da Dah! Eli won it all!

Smith won’t even be number 2 in San Francisco and Russell will hardly win any games.

Matt, please, copy Eli and not the others. Please.

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