On Saturday, news broke that the Detroit Lions are trading Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Goff and a trio of draft picks.
On Tuesday, Lions legend Barry Sanders weighed in on the trade and he said thought it was ‘monumental’ and that it was a “we’re-really-turning-the-page (kind of deal).”
“Oh, I was wowed man,” Sanders said during a Zoom call on Tuesday. “I was wowed by the trade. It was, like a lot of people (thought), just a monumental, blockbuster (deal). It’s like we’re really turning the page here, right? We’re really turning the page, and I guess we’re really writing a new chapter — starting a whole new book, basically. Because you look at the GM, the coach, the starting quarterback who has been here for over a decade, there’s going to be a lot of new faces. Hopefully, (Dan) Campbell is coming in and putting his personality on the team. We could talk for a long time about what Matthew meant to the franchise. So we wish him well.
Football is like a giant game of chess. The coaches control the pieces/talent and must have the right plays for the right situations, every single play. Because so few plays make such a huge difference in most games. Which is why Andy Reid is the best. How many wins would a Patricia led team get with Mahomes, Hill, and Kelce? Many less. The play calling and coaching is so important…coaches need to have about 5 schemes in their pocket come game day and the players need to be trained on how to carry out the coaches vision within those 5 schemes (5 on O, 5 on D). Meaning probably hundreds of plays, some with just minor adjustments, but just different enough to work. Check out why/how Tennessee lost to Baltimore in the playoffs this year. And the changes need to come rapidly, like hopefully by the end of the 1st quarter. Cant wait till halftime. So it’s a high wire, super intense thing to be able to perform better than other pro football teams. I hope our new coaching staff can be patient and instill a system that works. I hope they are innovative amd figure out how to fully weaponize with the talent at hand. And I hope they know how to draft future men. Not flash in the pan cancel culture p******. It’s also super important that should one key guy go down, the entire team doesn’t go down. That is why the Lions need to collect as many 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounders as possible with their 5 upcoming 1st round picks in the next 3 drafts. To put together a whole football team, to train them together with a consistent and winning philosophy. I think what makes a winning team is the brightness of the coaches, the depth of the line-up (it’s football, someone’s going to get hurt badly, and by the super bowl, half the team is going to be at 75%), and the mentality of the team.