Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford’s throwing mechanics have been called into question as long as he’s been in the NFL, and as he threw away Detroit’s division lead with 12 interceptions over the last six games, those questions about his throwing motion intensified.
But Stafford doesn’t think that’s anything he needs to work on over the offseason.
Asked if he would spend time next year learning from a quarterback guru like George Whitfield, who has had good results in private tutoring sessions with several NFL quarterbacks, Stafford said he doesn’t believe that’s what he needs.
“Probably not,” Stafford said. “It’s not something that I feel would be my style or beneficial to me.”
But the issue is that Stafford needs to change his style. The Lions have devoted a huge chunk of their salary cap to Stafford for years to come, and they simply can’t afford to have him play the way he’s been playing. It could be a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new quarterback coach or a private quarterback tutor, but someone needs to get Stafford to play better than he played while the Lions went 1-5 down the stretch.
Stafford did say he knows he needs to get better.
“Any time you don’t achieve the goals you want, individually and as a team, it can do one of two things,” Stafford said. “It can pull you down or it can motivate you to have a more successful season, not only individually but as a team as well. I know I’ll take it that way.”
Whatever motivates Stafford through the offseason, the Lions will be in bad shape in 2014 if he doesn’t play better than he did in 2013.