There’s simply no stopping Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who played through a painful rib injury against the Tennessee Titans this past weekend.
And according to interim head coach Darrell Bevell, he won’t stand in his quarterback’s way of finishing out the season despite having been eliminated from playoff contention.
The first of Detroit’s two remaining opponents are the 9-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by the ageless Tom Brady. And while Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians has arguably the greatest quarterback of all time at his disposal, he makes a point to watch Detroit’s Stafford during game warmups.
In fact, you can count Arians among Stafford’s biggest fans.
He’s one of my all-time favorite guys,” Arians said. “He’s tough as nails. Like I said the other day, he’s one of the few quarterbacks that I like to go out and watch him warm up, just to watch him throw, because he’s so special. I’ve always felt like he was one of the top 4-5 guys in this league for a long time. Like I said, he’s tough as nails and his guys know it. They know he’s gonna suck it up for them.
Many coaches rave about Matthew Stafford, but Bruce Arians is pouring it on here. Calls Stafford one of his all-time favorites and says he tries to make a point to get out and watch him in warmups every time his teams play the Lions.
— Justin Rogers | Detroit News (@Justin_Rogers) December 22, 2020
Playing through pain against the Titans, Stafford completed 22 of 32 passes for 252 yards with one touchdown before being taken from the game in favor of Chase Daniel.
So far in 2020, Stafford has completed 64% of his passes while racking up 3,774 yards and 23 touchdowns.
“He can make every throw from every angle,” Arians said. “He’s just so, so talented. There are only so many guys that are that talented, you just say ‘hey I’m gonna sneak out and go watch him warm up’. I’ve been a fan of his for a long, long time.”
Arians then stated his belief that Stafford deserves “a lot”, and that he’s not getting it right now.
“It’s the same old story,” Arians continued. “It’s winning. You can be a great player, if your team is not winning, you’re not going to get what you deserve, and he deserves a lot.”
– – Quotes via Jon Ledyard of Pewter Report Link – –
