When the Lions drafted Matthew Stafford with the first overall pick in 2009, they were riding high. The team had just won its third Super Bowl title and was coming off a season where it went 12-4. But now, 10 years later, Detroit is one of the worst teams in football.
The jared goff lions are in the midst of a terrible season. Matthew Stafford is under pressure to lead the team, but Jared Goff has been unable to step up and take control.
Being the quarterback of the Detroit Lions is not easy. Matthew Stafford, who is now with the Los Angeles Rams, is fully aware of this. That’s a reality that Jared Goff is grappling with as well.
The Lions are winless so far this season and will almost certainly lose again in Week 7 against the Rams. Stafford, their former quarterback, is now in charge of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, and the Rams must be feeling like Super Bowl contenders at 5-1.
Though the two quarterbacks don’t know one other personally, they are familiar with each other’s work. They also have a camaraderie that will last the rest of their lives in the NFL. This summer, the Lions traded Stafford to the Rams in exchange for Goff and several first-round selections.
Comparisons between the two quarterbacks will always be made, but Stafford is clearly in a stronger position right now. Goff is now dealing with a disheartening scenario in Detroit, something Stafford is all too familiar with.
For the Detroit Lions, losing is all too frequent. Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff are both aware of this.
The 2021 Lions have lost six straight games, and Goff is having a bad season. He’s thrown for 1,505 yards on 159 of 238 attempts with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. He hasn’t thrown a touchdown in two games in a row, and he hasn’t thrown a score in three of his past four.
To be fair to Goff, he isn’t the only one responsible for the Lions’ dismal performance.
Detroit scores 18.2 points per game while allowing 28.7 points per game. The Lions’ running game and offensive line were expected to be strong this season, but they are only averaging 91.9 yards per game.
Dan Campbell is in his first season as head coach, and things have been so stressful that he wept following a close defeat to the Minnesota Vikings in a post-game news conference.
The Lions are having a bad season, but that’s nothing new for the team.
The Lions have never won a Super Bowl, and they haven’t won a postseason game since 1992, to make things worse. That’s 29 years of misery without a playoff victory. In 2008, Detroit became the first NFL club to go winless in a 16-game season.
Yes, losing is a part of life for Detroit, and Stafford was all too acquainted with it. He spent 12 seasons in Detroit, and while being a top-tier quarterback in terms of statistics, he had a 74-90-1 overall win-loss record and never won the NFC North.
In Detroit, Stafford and Goff have an uneasy relationship.
(L-R) Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff | Nic Antaya/Getty Images; Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
The Lions’ defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6 was unquestionably their lowest moment so far. Campbell’s teams had been chippy and gritty in defeats up to that point, but against the Bengals, they just ran out of steam. The final score was 34-11, and it was not even close. The Lions were behind by more than ten minutes in time-of-possession. They were penalized nine times and only gained 36 yards on the ground.
Despite the Lions’ apparent rebuilding year, fans in Detroit were visibly unhappy, and most of their anger was shown in the form of booing. The booing were audible, and Goff acknowledged the fans’ dissatisfaction after the game.
“I understand their anguish, dude.” According to Heavy.com, Goff said, “These fans here deserve a lot more than what we’ve been providing them, so it’s our responsibility to provide that, and there [are] dissatisfied folks all around right now.”
Stafford and his teams were no strangers to Lions supporters booing them. Though Stafford was clearly one of the league’s best quarterbacks, the talent surrounding him in Detroit was often subpar. At Ford Field, he heard his fair share of boos, and he sympathizes with his quarterback partner.
According to the Detroit Free Press, he stated, “It occurred to me there.” “It’s happened to virtually every quarterback in the NFL at some point in their career,” he says. It may be inspiring at times. Sometimes you simply don’t want to hear it and want to walk into halftime or at the conclusion of the game and figure out what went wrong and how we can improve next time.”
The Lions are likely to suffer yet another setback.
Anything can happen in sports, which is why they play them, but the Lions are a huge underdog against the Rams.
For starters, the Rams will have the benefit of playing at home. They also boast one of the best offenses in the league, with Stafford leading the way with 1,838 yards and 16 touchdowns this season (compared to four interceptions).
Of course, the emotional element of the game may throw things off for Stafford, but he seems to be confident in his ability to maintain his cool against his former teammates.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the players with whom I spent a lot of time and played a lot of important football.” However, once the ball is snapped, I’ll do all I can to play as well as I can to help our team win,” he added.
For what it’s worth, according to ESPN, the Lions are a 15-point underdog in this game. According to ESPN’s matchup predictor based on the Football Power Index, they have a 13.4% probability of winning the game.
They won’t be booed on the road, but Goff and his teammates’ ill emotions aren’t going away anytime soon.
ESPN and Pro Football Reference provided the statistics.
RELATED: Matthew Stafford’s Biggest NFL Career Regret: ‘I Wish I Could’ve Finished It’
Related Tags
- matthew stafford trade details
- matt stafford rams
- jared goff trade details
