This coming Sunday, the Detroit Lions will be in California to take in the Oakland Raiders.
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On Wednesday, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden spoke to reporters via conference call and he had some pretty nice things to say about Matthew Stafford.
From MLive:
“He’s feeling it right now, no question,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden told Detroit reporters on Wednesday. “I think he’s comfortable with his receivers, I think he’s really gelled with Darrell Bevell, the coordinator. They do a lot of things now, they can stretch you with no-back formations, they’ve got some really good play-action passes and screens. Stafford’s a lot more athletic than most people think, he can scramble. They’re a handful — they are a handful.”
What separates Stafford from other quarterbacks around the league?
“Well I think the big thing that Matt does a great job of is he protects the offense at the line of scrimmage,” Gruden said. “He doesn’t get fooled often. If you blow a coverage, he shreds you. If he sees a blitz, he throws it to his hot receiver or he fixes it and changes the play. He’s sharp. His experience is very, very valuable to their success, and he plays with a really quick tempo. I mean he’s very fast mentally — forget about the arm talent, and all of the different plays and talented players they have — he’s just a very quick-minded player that doesn’t miss much.”
Gruden has always been a fan of Stafford and you can bet he will focus on stopping him in Week 9.
