Don Drysdale
On Thursday, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was back in the news because of some comments from former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason. Esiason made it clear that he believes Stafford has not been a good leader and that he has to become that if the Lions are going to take the next step.
If you missed it, here are the comments Esiason made on The Mike Valenti Show on 97.1 the Ticket.
“Matthew Stafford is a great QB, he can throw it with anybody. But I want Matt Patricia to hold him accountable. You know, that it’s not gonna be all about you in the fourth quarter, son. I need you to be careful, I need you to be energetic. One of the reasons why I think Tom Brady screams a lot on the sideline is because I think he tries to whip himself up into a frenzy. I don’t see that from Matthew. I see a lot of Eli Manning in Matthew, like ‘oh it’s ok’… No it’s not ok. It’s your team and you have to get your guys to believe in you and that you’re gonna win. I think Matt Patricia being around Tom Brady all those years knows what consonant professional is watching the greatest of all time. He’s gotta try and impart some of that wisdom on Matthew and hopefully, Matthew will buy into it, and he’ll buy into what his coach is selling. And not be a locker room lawyer… and be a locker room leader.”
When asked about the comments from Esiason, Stafford brushed them off for the most part but made sure to make it clear that he did not give credit to anyone’s comments who does not spend time around the team.
“I respect his opinion,” Stafford said of Esiason. “Whatever he wants to say, he can say. He’s not in our locker room, not with our guys, not with me ever. So I don’t put too much credit into that. I just go about my day.
“Listen, guys. There’s people that are going to say good things, they’re going to say bad things about us every day. If I spent all my time worrying about what he said or Suh posted or (things like) that, I’d be doing a disservice to the guys in the locker room, and I’m trying to get all those and myself as ready to play as I possibly can. And worry about all that other stuff doesn’t help me do that, so I don’t do it.”
On Friday, Matt Patricia was asked about Esiason’s comments about Stafford and the Lions’ new head coach had his quarterbacks’ back.
Matt Patricia called the criticism Matthew Stafford has taken in the last couple days "ridiculous" and said: "I'm very blessed and lucky to have Matt Stafford as my quarterback" and any other team would feel the same way.
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) October 5, 2018
Now, it is not surprising that Patricia backed up Stafford, after all, he is a Detroit Lion. For a moron like Boomer Esiason to go on a Detroit radio show and call out a player that he does not spend time around makes little to no sense.
