Matthew Stafford became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards in a season this year.
Of course, three were able to do it in 2011 alone. Eli Manning topped 4,900. Aaron Rodgers would have had a shot to break 5,000 if he played in the final week.
Add it all up, and NFL Network analyst Marshall Faulk isn’t overly impressed with Stafford’s achievement.
“Throwing for 5,000 yards in the NFL right now is nothing,” Faulk told MLive.com (via NFL.com). “I don’t want to take anything away from it. As much as people throw the football now, you better have 5,000 [yards] if you have Calvin Johnson.”
The comment has attracted some attention in Detroit, but we agree with the sentiment. 5,000 yards doesn’t mean nearly what it would have meant even a decade ago.
Stafford had a great season, but anyone that watched every Lions snap would admit he was up-and-down for much of the season until a scorching finish.
2011 represented a huge step forward for Stafford and an unbelievable year for such a young player. But he wasn’t even one of the best five quarterbacks in the league last year.
The fact that a quarterback could throw for 5,000 yards and not be among the game’s truly elite proves Faulk’s point.