I completely DISAGREE!! Just play the best man. (Probably, Stafford) Chances are not good that any of them will last very long without injury. Play the game with the best guys who got off the bus. Quit screwing around with "lets protect this guy or lets protect that guy." We'll just lose until everyone is healthy. :nerd2::nerd2:
It seems to me we should follow the Eric Hipple model. I believe he sat the first season and started midway through the second.
What the he** did Eric Hipple get us?? Talk about "cash for clunkers." If Stafford ends up like Hipple, we're in big trouble. We need to use a very different model!!!
That's right!! The "Toban" Rote model. I saw him play for the Lions. (it was 1958,I think.) He was much better than anyone we've had since then. He was big, tough and not afraid to play. Like Stafford??
Besides the two excellent ones that you mentioned, here are a lot of other potential models to follow: Chuck Long Rodney Peete Dave Krieg Charlie Batch Erik Kramer Scott Mitchell Bob Gagliano Gus Frerotte
Now ya talkin'.. remember the QB sneek that went for 90+ yards? A true competitor with a good touch... I also liked Eric Hipple. BTW, My Dad worked with Bobby Lane (after retirement) in Dallas... he had some gr8 stories to tell... Lane's best games were after getting drunk the night b4... Bobby was the leader of two championships for the Lions (on his way to a 3 peat when he broke his leg late in the season)... B.L. was a HOFer. In 1958, the Lions traded Layne to the Steelers. At that time Layne ws pissed and said "the Lions would not win for 50 years," (The Lane curse)... As of the end of the 2008 season, it has been 50 years since the trade, and indeed the Lions have not won a championship in that time. Interestingly, the final season of the curse concluded with the worst season in Lions' and NFL history, at 0-16, and shortly after the season free agent and Lions' player from 2006-2008 Corey Smith died in the Gulf of Mexico, and former QB Jeff Komlo died in a car accident in Greece. During this 50 year period, the Lions have accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the NFL history... Don't mess with a winner :^)
Personally, I would have liked to have seen Mark the Bird Fidrych be the qb. Jumping around all excited, patting everyone on their helmets, every time they got a first down. Talking to the football on his way back to the huddlle after a quarterback keeper. Good times.
I think Kramer holds a bunch of Bears records. I wish we had stuck with him. That three headed Peete/Ware/Kramer deal never worked. I knew Garcia would be special when I saw him play in 95.
I went to USC so I'm a Sanchez fan but Stafford played really well in the opening pre-season game. Man does he have some arm. Yeah he threw an interception but that'll change as he grows in the league. Good pickup for the Lions
