Stafford most underhonored player in NFL history?

[Zero26]

While the media can be wrong and every year is different usually a transcendent talent gets their share of honors if they have a long career.

I think Stafford only making 1 pro bowl is unprecedented given the level of production he's had. I previously considered Boldin the most underrated skill player of the modern era but he made 3 pro bowls. Stafford has made 1. He threw for 5000 yards once(41 TD's) and was one nice pass away from doing it a second time. No pro bowls in either year. He had a receiver break the receiving yard record and is possibly going to have a second receiver break the record(Kupp likely falls just short). I value average stats over totals and neither would have the record by that logic but it's not the point he had two different receivers have among the best seasons in NFL history.

Stafford is an incredble talent(I believe he is better than the entire 04 HOF trio and Ryan who have combined for about 20 pro bowls) who has received almost no recognition for said talent outside of anecdotes of people saying how talented he is. Stafford just became the fastest QB to reach 50k yards in NFL history despite his career getting off to such a rocky start he won "comeback player of the year" in 2011. Goff who people almost universally acknowledge isn't as good of a passer made 2 pro bowls, Mitch Trubisky made a pro bowl as well.

If voters were holding losing against him he missed the pro bowl in 3 of his 4 playoff years, if voters were holding playing in Detroit against him(which I'm not sure if that's the case they've been willing to honor other Lions) he's now missed the pro bowl on the Rams. While Stafford had a slow start to his career when he was throwing for 5k yards it was still a historic acheivement for QB's not named Drew Brees. Brady threw for less yards in the 07 season.

Anyway what do you think?

[RichardBak]

Having watched him for his entire career here in Detroit, I wholly agree that he's been underrated and under appreciated (at least by out-of-town media) all along. The only real knock was his inability to move his team in the playoffs (on those rare occasions when the Lions made the playoffs). It was always one-and-done. Let's see how he does this postseason. Certainly he has a better supporting cast now than he had in Motown. He's a quality guy off the field, too, and most folks here are wishing him well.

[Brian wolf]

Despite toughness and one of the greatest arms in NFL history, there is a reason why Stafford has been called Padd Statsford throughout his career; he has never been a consistent winner that would garner more accolades.

A team as a unit has to come together to win ballgames and despite talent throughout the years, the Lions could never put enough consistent wins together to threaten for yearly playoff contention. The Lion's defense and overrall coaching has to share blame as well but when a team doesn't run the ball enough, or effectively and puts too much pressure on a talented passer, the defense always faces the possibility of being worn down by the end of games.

Talented throwers like Jurgensen, Namath, Fouts and Moon have made the HOF despite flirting with .500 records but this era of defensive restrictions, higher defensive penalties, defensive breakdowns that result in cheap touchdowns and inflated numbers, make it more necessary for QBs to lead their teams to wins to stay in the national spotlight.

Stafford has a golden opportunity to change the perception this year with him now having only his 5th winning season in 13 years and a supporting cast that can win it all. Even with five winning seasons, he has only had back-to-back winning seasons once, following 9-7 seasons in 2016 and 17, never winning a playoff game in three tries. The pressure will be on him to win in the playoffs, though, with the Cardinals dropping three straight, the team would like to start off winning the division first. With RB Akers possibly rejoining the team for a playoff run, the running game will be crucial to how far Stafford and the defense can take the team.

Can HC McVay make the right moves in the postseason to aid Stafford in bringing a championship to LA in its own stadium for beleaguered owner Stan Kroenke?

[rhickok1109]

As a Packer fan, Stafford has never worried me. I just wait for him to make a really stupid play, which he seems to do at least once a game, or throw a really unnecessary INT, and hope the Packers can capitalize on it.

[RichardBak]

Interestingly, Stafford was the QB when Calvin Johnson set the receiving yardage record with 1,965 in 2012. Now, Cooper Kupp, who is averaging 115.6 yds/game with 2 games left, is on pace to break Megatron's record by a single yard.

It's fun watching the Stafford-Kupp connection, game after game. Hard to shut down.

[Bryan]

I guess in order to call Stafford underhonored, you have to believe that he is a good QB. I'm not willing to admit that at this point. Tony Romo was consistently better than Stafford, and Romo's career got a late start. I don't know what to make of Stafford's time with the Rams so far; sure, he has nice numbers, but I don't really see much difference between Stafford and Goff with the Rams. They led the league in scoring and went to the Super Bowl with Goff. People thought the Rams had built a "super team" this year, but they underwhelmed the first half of the season. Stafford is like a lot of competent QBs in the NFL...surround him with great talent, and he'll succeed. Surround with average talent, and he'll fail.

As for Stafford's career, he's had 11 seasons where he's started 10+ games. I'm not even a Stafford fan and I found this surprising; in those 11 seasons, Stafford put up an efficiency rating better than league average ONLY SIX TIMES! He's basically been a below-average QB for half his career. For comparison, Romo had 8 seasons where he started 10+ games, and every year he was above league average in efficiency rating (usually by quite a bit).

[Jay Z]

One Pro Bowl is not very much, I will grant. Andy Dalton has more, Matt Hasselback has more. So by Pro Bowls, his honors are low.

On the other hand, Stafford isn't HOF good, he isn't as good as Rivers or Ryan. Probably not as good as Carson Palmer or Alex Smith. He's been a reasonably good accumulator. Never really has the big season, teams are usually lousy. So some of it is understandable.

[Brian wolf]

Interesting looking at Stafford's win-loss record even with this winning season. Counting his postseason games his record is closer to Kerry Collins and Vinny Testeverde, two QBs who were tough but will NEVER make the HOF. I believe for him to have a CHANCE, he would have to win a SB and get his record over .500 ... he is currently 13 wins below but can change things quickly ...

[Zero26]

Strongly disagree with winning being a factor for the QB to the extent it has become. It's a team game and one player even the QB does not have responsiblity for the whole outcome. Also one of his playoff losses should have been a win on the sporting merit. Whose to say they couldn't have had a cinderella run there if they'd won that game? While you can't illegitamize a games result because of a blown call IMO it's silly to question if someone is capable of doing something they've been demonstrated capable of doing.

Of his 3 postseason games Stafford has played bad in only 1 of them. In 2011 the Saints were just a better team and in 2014 Stafford played great in what should have been a win. In terms of him padding his stats during blowouts Stafford has 41 game winning drives 8th of all time. That is over 2 and a half seasons worth of just games where Stafford had a game winning drive. He also has 33 4th quarter comebacks tied for 6th in NFL history. That's over 2 seasons worth. It is somewhat likely he will retire as the NFL leader in this stat given his age and the fact the record is 43. So I don't understand the critique that Staffords stats are empty and compiled in garbage time. Every QB is guilty of this sort of inflation to some extent.


IMO he's one of the greatest QBs we've ever seen and it makes me sad to see people view him the way he does.

[Brian wolf]

Thanks for pointing out my error Zero26 ... I meant to put postseason games, not wins in the comment, though I believe the Rams will win at least two postseason games for him this new year ... we will see