Matt Patricia or Matthew Stafford: Who deserves more blame for this season?
By Robert Jones
Both have had their struggles this year and both have not received the support of the team around them that has been needed in order for the Lions to have a much better season than it has been.
But despite the fact that it is the entire franchise that is to be blamed and not just one individual for this disappointing season, the edge for this seasons poster boy of ‘Lions futility 2018’ goes to; Matthew Stafford.
Again I point out that it is certainly not all his fault and Matt Patricia most definitely carries just about the same amount of blame, but the reason for my selection is simple. Over the past few years, the Green Bay Packers have had turmoil in their receiving corps, but Aaron Rodgers found a way to make it work.
Sure Rodgers is in another class than Stafford, but while the Packers have been stuck in neutral almost as much as the Lions over the past few seasons, when he has been on the field he makes his teammates better.
Stafford has done that in the past. Just look at any of his numerous fourth quarter come-from-behind victories. He doesn’t have a lot of help right now and it wouldn’t hurt for the Lions to maybe give a player like Kelvin Benjamin a look see.
Benjamin has too much talent to not give him a chance. Sure he probably would be limited over the next couple of games with how much he could actually contribute, but in the two final games of the season against the division rival Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, that would be the real test anyway.
The Lions season, much like the Titanic, is a disaster. Matthew Stafford may be the most prominent figure on this sinking ship, but all of his teammates share in the blame for this disappointing campaign as well as Matt Patricia and his coaching staff.
Seeing what this team does over the remaining games will be interesting, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is much work to do before this franchise is ready to compete at the level that Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia expect it to.