Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw four interceptions against the Jets on Monday night. That was nothing new for him.
Stafford now has five career games with at least four interceptions, the most of any quarterback in the NFL since he entered the league in 2009.
Counting the playoffs, Stafford has played 129 games in his NFL career. To throw four interceptions in five of them, or about 4 percent of his career games, is an ugly tally. Consider that Drew Brees has played 264 games -- more than twice as many as Stafford and has only thrown four interceptions three times. Joe Flacco has played 41 more games than Stafford and has only thrown four interceptions twice. Matt Ryan has played 40 more games than Stafford and has thrown four interceptions twice. Cam Newton has played almost as many games as Stafford and has only thrown four interceptions once.
And Aaron Rodgers, who has played 167 games -- 38 more than Stafford -- has never thrown four interceptions in a game.
The Lions have paid Stafford a fortune in his NFL career, first as the first overall pick in the 2009 draft under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, which instantly made him one of the highest-paid players in the league, and then with two big contract extensions. They’re now in Year 10 with Stafford, and they still haven’t won a playoff game since they drafted him. If the Lions are ever going to turn things around, those four-interception games are going to have to stop.