It's a tough argument with Stafford. Those of us who believe, myself included, simply don't have as much "concrete evidence" as the doubters do. And that's fine. I think #9 is a top 4 NFL QB right now. Behind Brady, Rodgers and Brees. Yes, that means I think he is CURRENTLY better than Ruthlessraper, Willson, Rivers, Luck, Carr and Wentz (though its damn close).
In the last 7 years, the Lions are 57-55. That is the 2nd best 7 year stretch in FRANCHISE history ('91-'97....60-52) i believe. Though it's not great, I think the Lions would be maybe 40-72 with an average qb in there. Think Jay Cutler or Josh McCown. I don't believe Stafford gets enough credit for winning here in Detroit because he's basically made some really bad teams look good. He makes guys better. He wins ball games. The only reason we MADE 3 playoff appearances in that time is because of him (and CJ).
So I'm with you Tony. He's better than given credit for. That said, fair or not, he's got to win SOMETHING to make it to the HOF. QB's simply can't get there without a few playoff wins.
Also, just for fun discussions......let's say we would have passed on Stafford in '09......assuming we wouldn't have gotten another top flight QB (because they NEVER hit the market)......here are the other options we would have had.
'09 - Other than Stafford, the only QB's drafted that year that were even decent were Josh Freeman and Butt Fumble. Would we have won MORE with them? No fuckin way. NEXT
'10 - Only QB that was worth ANYTHING is the mysterious case of Sam Bradford. Decent QB. Fragile. Likely to have missed many more games than Stafford did because of injury. And WHY do teams keep throwing money at this guy?? Never won anything....never made the playoffs. Would we have won MORE with him?? Nope. NEXT
'11 - First interesting debate. Newton, Dalton, Colin K and Tie Rod Taylor all in this class. I think we can all agree that only Newton should be in the discussion. Personally, I don't think we would have won as much with Newton. I don't think he makes ANYONE better. He wins when he has GREAT teams around him......he doesn't make them great. Dalton is a guy....thats it. Colin just wasn't a very good QB, IMO. Great athlete.....amazing arm....but would have been a terrible fit in Detroit. Do we win MORE with any of these guy. Unlikely.
'12 - Luck, RGIII, Tannehill, Russ Wilson and Kirk Cousins. Some very good debates here. Luck and Stafford have extremely similar numbers. Staffords are a tick better.....IMO. Those Colts teams werent great.....but he won some games. Russel Willson......well.....it's really hard to deny the results.....but he has been on some REALLY GOOD teams, too. It will be interesting to see what Russ does this year. The big question.....do we win MORE with any of them?? Luck - If healthy, maybe one or two more games. Wilson.....thats a hard one for me. Id say, like Luck, MAYBE we win a couple more games. Cousins? No.....he's simply not as good as Stafford.
'13 - What a shitty QB class! Geno Smith and Mike Glennon are the best here. SO........No discussion needed.
'14 - Bridgewater, Carr and Garrapollo.....No, No and we'll see.
'15 - Famous Jameis and Marriota. Nope
'16 - Goff and Wentz. Damn it, Wentz looks like the real deal. He's probably the 5th best QB in football right now.
Anyway......I was bored so I thought I'd go through the years. Not a lot of good QB's drafted in the last 10 years. I'd say its Stafford, Wentz, Wilson, Luck, Cam, Carr, Cousins, Tie Rod (underrated qb) and Bradford.....in that order (sorry Garrapollo, you've played 7 games.....lets see what a whole season looks like)