| 07 September 2009
What's with the Lions constantly making news on the long Labor Day weekend? No rest for the weary blogger, I guess.
Once again, I was away from the laptop all day. It IS a holiday, you know? But head coach Jim Schwartz decided to go and name beginning QB earlier this afternoon. In what is a bit of a surprise, turns out The Schwartz is a proponent of learning by doing. Because...
Starting for the Lions in New Orleans will be the kid from Georgia with the multi-million dollar arm, and a contract to match, Matthew Stafford. The hoary old cliche' fits in this case. The future is NOW!
The Freep's Nick Cotsonika has The Schwartz's pertinent quotes.
“This isn’t an experiment,” Schwartz said. “This isn’t an internship. We’re not asking him to go out there and practice. He’s out there to win, and that’s the bottom line in this league.”
The Schwartz is adamant Stafford as the starter is for the long-term.
“There are some guys that may benefit from sitting on the bench and watching somebody else, and those people typically don’t have a grasp of the offense,” Schwartz said. “They still need to learn what defenses do. Their knowledge isn’t up to where it needs to be yet. He was a different case there. What he lacked is playing experience, and there’s only one way to get that to him.”
Despite having a rookie under center, The Schwartz still expects to win "compete."
“I don’t expect to get beaten up and beaten down this year,” Schwartz said. “I expect a lot out of this football team, and I’m not going to concede anything. To expectations outside this building, outside this locker room, I know what we have here, and we expect to compete this year. Let’s sort of throw that out right now.”
This decision makes sense, for 3 reasons, but only one is related to what has happened on the field.
First and foremost, it's worth noting no matter who is the starter at QB, the Lions are not going win many games this season. Turning around an 0-16 NFL team is comparable to turning around a cruise ship. You can't turn around on a dime. It just doesn't happen. It takes a long, long time. So why not play for 2010 and beyond?
Second, there's the huge ass monetary commitment made to Stafford by owner William Clay Ford. Even if Stafford hadn't performed respectably during training camp, he was going to play sometime this season, and play soon. The money involved practically demanded it.
Third, there's what did take place on the field. Stafford would make more plays (good AND bad, but mostly good) in one game than Culpepper did during the entire 4 game exhibition season. The Lions were a far more explosive offensive team with Stafford at the controls. He did turn the ball over 5 times, but 2 or 3 could be explained away as bad plays by typical training camp roster filler, stone-handed wide receivers who are standing in the unemployment line today.
Going into the season, the Lions have a rotten defense, and The Schwartz knows it. His defense is not all that much better than Rod Marinelli's '08 defense, which was historically, legendarily bad. In order to win games, and break the 0-16 and 1-23 losing streaks, the Lions will have to outscore the opposition. With Culpepper dinking and dunking, checking off and swing passing his way slowly down the field, the Lions weren't going to score many points.
Stafford may make rookie mistakes, and commit turnovers at a higher rate than the veteran. But he's also going to throw the ball downfield, making better use of Calvin Johnson, and opening the field up for Kevin Smith. Ultimately, the Lions will score more points with Stafford at the controls.
Starting Stafford may not pay off with many wins this year. But it just may pay off big in the seasons following. The Lions' offense will be built around their big 3 young studs, Stafford, Smith, and Johnson. The Schwartz is going to let them mature as playmakers together.
I'd like to think The Schwartz, a very smart man, thought of the following quote when he declared Stafford would start:
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
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