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Rams_81
The bottom line is this. The book on Stafford is:
Toughness
Athletic
Competitive
Good Arm
But accuracy is questionable. He has to find a way when he isn't on his best game to make plays. In today's NFL, especially the way this Rams defense is heading, you have to sometimes match the opponent bullet for bullet and you just can't do it with the 3 yards and cloud of dust approach to stay up with a team like the Cardinals. Either Stafford can pull it off 3 times in the playoffs where he is on or we are not winning a superboal so we might as well see how he can fight back from adversity on days he doesn't have his best stuff.
I know this: You don't win at the first time of trouble, waiving the white flag and putting your best offensive player in the deep freeze because they are covering him closer. I am not saying Kupp has to get every look, but he should get the majority of them.
This game Stafford really reminded me of John Elway. Instead of just taking what the defense would give, he kept trying to play hero ball. That's what used to frustrate me with Goff. As someone already point out, Stafford is developing Kupp tunnel vision, which is maddening. This offense is LOADED with personnel and opportunities and it's a waste for Stafford to key in on just one guy so often. Kupp, just like any of the other receivers, should be targeted because of scheme and mismatch. If Stafford is just going to force it to him, then Stafford is no better than most QB's.
Yesterday, on the heels of a shaky first quarter the week before, was very disappointing. The expectations of Stafford in terms of production are probably unreasonable at this point but it was a real gut punch seeing him fall so quickly into bad habits and tendencies. The knock on him was that he zeroed in on his favorite receivers and I was sure that was due to circumstance in Detroit. That he's doing the same thing as a Ram has me crestfallen.
That Stafford has consistently been underthrowing open deep shots is also disheartening. When Elway lost his fastball, he actually became a more rounded, better QB. It would be nice if Stafford did the same. Too much early success has him greedy right now and making poor decisions. Warner used to do that. These guys get so used to explosive plays and long strikes that they start to go to the well too often.
Stafford's inaccuracy is concerning too. The other things I mention are bad enough but if Stafford can't even put the ball where he wants to put it, I don't know what to think. But this is two weeks in a row that he's been launching scuds. Hopefully it's a learning curve and he's just not comfortable but I'm starting to get concerned.
