LA Rams QB Matthew Stafford – Consumer Report feature

Intangibles

As for the fourth category – the intangibles – there’s this. The LA Rams need more than a guy who shows up for a paycheck. This is an impassioned team, and everyone on the roster deserves a quarterback who is just as impassioned. But that’s a tough one to call from a distance. Who knows, who really knows a quarterback’s true mettle under fire any better than his center?

Long-time Detroit Lions’ center Frank Ragnow recently was asked about Number 9 and had this to say, per “Unrestricted with Ben Leber,”:

"“He is toughness, hard work – everything good you can say about a guy I’ll say about him. He’s taught me how to be a true professional. He’s a savant when it comes to reading defenses.” – per Frank Ragnow interview on Unrestricted with Ben Leber"

Say, wasn’t that an oft-cited criticism of Goff, stuck in the pocket in the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights pose? That he sometimes appeared to have difficulty reading defenses. . . and froze at the line, appearing indecisive, tentative, unsure. An inability to throw beyond the primary receiver when facing pressure?

Entering his 11th season under center, it’s likely Stafford has seen just about every conceivable combination an opposing defense could possibly conjure up to throw at him a time or two (or three). Maybe you can fool him a time or two with some exotic look, but he’s not going to get too flustered about it. And let’s face it, the Detroit Lions have not enjoyed success year after year. Stafford has been stranded on an offensive island against defenses that knew he was the most dangerous weapon.

Perhaps I haven’t reached any conclusions here. The proof of the pudding rests on the field. But, perhaps we are now a bit more of an informed consumer. And in keeping with the Consumer Report analogy? We have to rate Matthew Stafford a “BEST BUY”.