any official word on Stafford yet?

[SatchDork]

I agree. I am sure Calvin would do just as well with Staff as he would with Hill. That is my main point. To me Calvin has shown throughout his career that he will get his regardless of his QB. Again the guy had 12 TD's two years ago with no real QB. And he did VERY well with Hill (and a little Stanton) as his QB this year. So I just don't see the "oh no Staff is out there goes Calvin's value" mindset.

 

To me the Bears game bothered me, but to be honest the Jets game bothered me more. YES Revis is great, but man they didn't even test him.

 

Calvin is a 6'5" beast and they don't even try anything?

 

Run it down:

 

pass 1 was the first play of the game. Long bomb knocked away by Revis. No harm no foul. Calvin could have made a play. Revis knocked it away.

"fake" pass 2 was a 15 or so yard gain on a slant on the 1st drive. Caught by CJ. Called back by penalty. He beat Revis there.

"real" pass 2 was a 13 yard completion on a slant also on the 1st drive. He beat Revis there.

pass 3 didn't come until early in the 2nd Q. A pretty useless 3 yard pass on a 3rd and 5 that Revis knocked down. Revis won that battle, but even a catch would have left them short.

pass 4 didn't come until AAAAAALLLLLLLLL the way early in the 4th Q. And CJ caught the pass, but his 2nd foot was out of bounds so no TD.

 

Now maybe you can say the coaches said look elsewhere, but my frustration was he didn't even try IMO. Look at the chart above. Anything crazy or bad there that would make you say "guess we can't throw to CJ today"? Not in my opinion.

 

I feel pretty confident that if Hill were in there would have been more shots to CJ. Just my opinion.

 

But at day's end I stand by my main point that to me CJ will do pretty much the same with Hill or Staff at QB. I truly feel that way, and I think CJ's history shows that to be the case also. He's been a stud with guys like CPep and Orvlovsky at QB.

 

Completely agree with you on the analysis of Calvin and the QBs, but disagree about Revis. It seems that due to the holdout and early season injury that people have forgotten just how good this guy is. Last season he held Andre Johnson to 4 for 35, Colston to 2 for 33, Mike Sims-Walker (when he was good) to 2 for 23 (his 26-yard TD was against Lito Shepphard), Steve Smith CAR to 1 for 5, Roddy White to 4 for 33, Reggie Wayne to 3 for 33, Chad Ochocinco to nothing (4 total completions for the Bengals, in fact), and Randy Moss to a combined 9 for 58 in two games. Moss is the only one of the group to score a TD against Revis, but that was on a quick hitch where Moss strolled the 4 yards into the endzone before Revis could close i.e. Moss didn't really "beat" Revis for the score. Speaking of the Pats: In the game the Jets won, Julian Edelman caught 8 for 98 and, in the game the Pats won, Welker caught 15 for 192. The Falcons, Saints, and Jags also beat the Jets by simply avoiding Revis and spreading the ball around elsewhere. Here are some reminders of what happens when you "test" Revis:

 

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009092005/2...@jets#tab:watch

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009112905/2...@jets#tab:watch

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009112905/2...@jets#tab:watch

 

Does it take a play like this before you DO say "guess we can't throw to Calvin today" (i.e. after it's too late)? Or do you sort of start out with that assumption and see if you can get something going elsewhere before you start forcing things?

 

Considering all this and especially the fact that Revis was back to his usual, healthy self last Sunday, the Lions gameplan makes sense. They took one shot with Calvin (albeit on the first play) and it didn't work out, so for the rest of the game they took what the Jets gave them in the passing game; namely Burleson, Best, and the TEs. The plan worked to perfection for about 58 minutes. Ultimately, I think it's pretty clear that the Lions lost that game thanks to poor coaching (clock management) and bad defense (missed tackles, especially on final drive of regulation; blown coverage on Edwards and Holmes), NOT because they didn't force feed Calvin the ball. You do that too much and Revis will make you pay by killing drives, stealing possessions, and possibly putting points on the board himself. It's not so much that you CAN'T throw against him, but your chances are much better throwing to a lesser WR working against a lesser CB. If you can win by avoiding Revis (like the '09 Falcons, Saints, Jaguars, and Patriots did and the '10 Lions essentially did), then avoid him. I know fantasy and Madden players don't like this, but it makes good, solid, NFL sense.

 

I gotta' think that, had the Lions pulled out the win, the only people bumming about Calvin's lack of use/production would be his fantasy owners.

Edited November 11, 2010 by SatchDork

[SatchDork]

Now, let me try to un-hijack this thread. Today, Matt Stafford did not practice, Jim Schwartz was his typical, uninformative self, and the Lions DID NOT place Stafford on IR. Maybe I'm reading the tea leaves wrong, but that seems to me to indicate that Stafford will NOT miss the entire season. They sent the info out to Dr. Andrews Tuesday and I would think something like this goes right to the top of his "inbox" (meaning the turnaround should be fairly quick). If Andrews recommended surgery or even just shelving Stafford for the rest of the season (prescribing extensive rest/rehab, but not surgery), I would think the Lions would move him to IR quickly in order to free up the roster space to bring in someone else (not necessarily a QB) and get that player up to speed as much as possible before Sunday.

 

So, lack of solid information aside, I am predicting that Stafford is NOT out for the season. Am I off my rocker here?

 

*disclaimer: I am a Stafford owner and Lions fan, so I may be optimistically biased in my assessment*

[damageinc]

There hoping that Stafford is only out a few weeks and can be back for maybe the last game or two. No use for fantasy purposes but the team wants to see more of him and have nothing to lose trying to get him back by say week 15.

[SatchDork]

No use for fantasy purposes. . .

 

Au contraire. Allow me to present my goofy league and crappy team. First of all, our play-offs run from Week 15 through 17 and the Lions' schedule is @TB, @MIA, and vMIN, so there's some potential there. I have Stafford, Fitzpatrick, and Favre at QB so a warm cup of soup would get serious starting consideration on my team. Finally, my league involves very little roster movement. In fact, rosters are now set for the rest of the season: no trades, no waiver wire, no free agent bidding, nada. My biggest mistake of the season was thinking that Stafford would actually stay healthy down the stretch and dropping Hill for WR depth at the final opportunity.

 

I am currently tied with this week's opponent for #1 in the division (we're both 5-4 and I have a slight points advantage). I shouldn't have too much trouble making the Play-offs one way or the other, but having a healthy Lions QB the rest of the way would have been really helpful (that felt really strange to type). On the other hand, if Stafford's going to be out for the season, I'd rather know about it now and get over it than find out 4 weeks from now.

[damageinc]

Thing is if the rumors are true and its the worse shoulder speration. he would be lucky to be back by week 16. The recovery would be atleast 6 weeks. not sure I would be starting a guy back from 2 shoulder injuries in a championship game.

[BrooklynCrew]

Thing is if the rumors are true and its the worse shoulder speration. he would be lucky to be back by week 16. The recovery would be atleast 6 weeks. not sure I would be starting a guy back from 2 shoulder injuries in a championship game.

 

 

ding ding ding

[SatchDork]

Thing is if the rumors are true and its the worse shoulder speration. he would be lucky to be back by week 16. The recovery would be atleast 6 weeks. not sure I would be starting a guy back from 2 shoulder injuries in a championship game.

 

Me neither, but if the Fitzpatrick train comes to a screeching halt and Favre finally disintigrates, Stafford would be my only option. Really, really, really screwed up by not holding on to Hill.

[damageinc]

Cant blame yourself. Hill broke his arm. Who knew he would be back so fast. and who knew Stafford would mess up his shoulder again.

 

Me neither, but if the Fitzpatrick train comes to a screeching halt and Favre finally disintigrates, Stafford would be my only option. Really, really, really screwed up by not holding on to Hill.