Lions fans shouldn’t compare Jared Goff to Matthew Stafford

There is no comparison between Goff and Stafford

The comparison of Jared Goff to Matthew Stafford was inevitable when the trade was made.

Sure Jared had accomplished much himself on a very good team surrounded by a good to really good defense, and skill players that make plays, not to mention the innovative coaching of Sean McVay.

These are the things that for the most part Matthew didn’t have in Detroit. Yeah, he had receivers like Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay, and Marvin Jones to help make the passing game productive, but the defense had usually been poor and the coaching has been mostly pedestrian at best.

Yet Matthew’s talents allowed him to keep the Lions in games and often steal victory with a late comeback drive. His ability to make whatever the Lions were doing actually work at times, was to his credit.

Today Matthew is the Lions’ all-time leading passer and one of the franchise’s best players ever. He has left behind numbers that will be hard to top.

Enter Jared Goff, the former Ram is coming off two poor seasons where he has turned the ball over way too much and not been nearly as efficient as he should be.

Goff is not without talent, but let’s be honest, he does not have the natural ability that Matthew does. As a matter of fact, Matthew has an arm that very few quarterbacks have ever possessed.

Plain and simple, it’s unfair to compare Goff to Stafford. The reason is that there is no comparison. Matthew is a rare athlete that accomplished as much as a player could under the circumstances of playing for a mismanaged rag-tag franchise like the Lions.

Sure Matthew couldn’t carry the Lions to a championship on his own, but neither could Barry Sanders and there was no denying how great he was. It’s a team game. The Lions as a franchise let both of them down as well as Calvin Johnson by not building a contender around them.

So comparing Goff to Stafford isn’t worth the time. But there are comparisons that should be made.