Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is leading the NFL in one category no player at his position wants to be in.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Stafford has the fewest averaged completed air yards among starting quarterbacks in the NFL at 4.8 yards.
He just narrowly edged out Ben Roethlisberger, who is at 4.9 yards.
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This pathetic stat shows the Lions are pretty much only completing short check downs, safety valve passes and other short routes. It’s a terrible sign that my beloved team can’t stretch the field at all.
Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t have traded away Golden Tate. What a wild idea that is. Who would have guessed that dumping one of our top two receivers might not have been the greatest idea? (RELATED: Here Are The Best Moments From Week 15 Of The NFL Season)
Obviously, this isn’t all on Matthew Stafford. The man is risking his life every time he’s dropped back this season behind that line, and he doesn’t have a ton of receiving options.
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However, the Lions gave him a contract extension that included $92 million guaranteed. You can’t have a quarterback making that amount of money putting up numbers this low or running for his life whenever the ball gets snapped to him.
That’s not a winning formula at all. I don’t know what all the answers are, but I know the current situation can’t last forever. Something needs to change before we repeat the same mistakes of this horrific 5-9 season next year.
That simply won’t be acceptable.