ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Former NFL quarterback Elvis Grbac enjoys watching good quarterback play. The past two seasons, Grbac said that has included Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Living in the Cleveland area, a couple hours from Detroit, Grbac has seen Stafford play often throughout his career. What Grbac has seen the past two seasons is an improved quarterback whom Grbac believes has the backing of the Lions' front office.
And those two things can only help Stafford, a player the Lions are relying on to continue to make jumps entering his seventh season. What stood out the most is what he’s done with the Lions in final minutes of games, when he has been able to lead Detroit to last-minute wins.
Stafford accomplished it in three straight games during the 2014 season and, perhaps most notably, during the 2013 season with a fake-spike touchdown against Dallas.
“He has to have the ability to truly believe in himself,” Grbac said. “That doesn’t really matter who is really around him. He has to be able to pull whatever talent that he has in that organization offensively to really perform at a high level. Obviously, if you get more key components, that helps the quarterback.
“But sometimes you don’t have those wide receivers and you don’t have that tight end and you don’t have that running back, but if you’re consistently winning without some of those big-name guys, then the quarterback needs to have some credit.”
While Detroit’s defense was a major factor in the team’s success in 2014, Stafford and receiver Golden Tate were the two constants on a Lions offense that otherwise featured a rotation of players. Every major running back missed at least one game to injury. Calvin Johnson was in and out of the lineup the first half of the season. The tight end position was a mess. Only one offensive lineman, the since-departed Rob Sims, started every game for the Lions.
In recent years, the Lions have added Tate, running backs Reggie Bush and Ameer Abdullah and tight end Eric Ebron as receiving options for Stafford.
Seeing the Lions go 11-5 last season despite all that offensive shuffling stuck out to Grbac.
“To develop as he has and continually win and really with the turnover with the coaching staff and everything, a lot of credit really has to go to him,” Grbac said. “The way he’s really developed in the league. Especially in that division. You’ve got the Packers, which is a strong, strong team.”
At least one former NFL quarterback believes one of the areas Stafford has grown is in how he reads defenses. Todd Collins, who played for four teams in 16 seasons in the NFL, doesn’t remember which game it was, other than it was nationally televised.
But he saw a close-up shot of Stafford on a passing play. Collins praised Stafford’s arm strength and his athleticism. But on this play, he watched his eyes.
“He comes off his first progression and the camera is right there and you see his eyes, just like you do in practice, from one to two to three, go through his progression,” Collins said. “He made a great throw on his third progression.
“When you see that, going through that with the footwork and timing like that, that’s when you know a guy is comfortable in the offense and confident he knows who to get the ball to.”
Stafford's yardage and touchdown totals dropped last season, but he improved in completion percentage and threw fewer interceptions. The Lions have insisted he will have a better grasp of the offense in coordinator Joe Lombardi’s second season.
If he shows early confidence, that will be a sign of that.
