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ESPN asks if Stafford is overrated (like our rivals think) or a superstar (like the NFL thinks). Our coaching staff apparently prefers the term "The Truth."
One of the consistent knocks on Stafford is the lack of stats he has versus a guy like Tebow. UGA fans typically point to his career record as a starter of 17-4 vs. Tebow's record of 9-4.
In 2008, I think you'll see Stafford put up stats in the neighborhood of 3,200 yards, 64 percent completions, 25 TDs and 10 interceptions. This is something we've discussed before in the article "Improving Matt Stafford." But we haven't asked the question here...overrated or "The Truth."
What are your thoughts?
See Also::
-- SEC's Most Clutch Players - ESPN (doesn't list Stafford)
PWD
15 comments:
It depends on what "The Truth" means. If "The Truth" is supposed to be the most impressive college quarterback, then no. Stafford will never pile up stats like Tebow or Graham Harrell because our offense isn't set up for him to do so. And this is in no way a nod to Tebow (because I can't stand his Filipino circumcising butt and I think he will be a bust as an NFL QB -- although he might make waves as a RB)
However, "The Truth" is he could wind up being one of the great overall QB's of all time. Painful as the comparison might be, I liken him to Favre. As evidence, I provide 3 points.
1) Stafford is a born winner. If you give him a stable of top flight receivers ala Harvin or Calvin Johnson he will amass a load of victories, period. This isn't a knock on MoMass or Sean Bailey or any of our other guys per se, but if you take away alot of the senseless drops over the last two years, his stats look alot better.
2) Stafford is the prototypical NFL quarterback. If you thought Matt Ryan was drafted high after a mediocre season, just wait until Stafford goes (not that I believe for a second that his season will be anything resembling mediocre). This does not guarantee NFL success, but given the offenses that most NFL teams run, it certainly does not hurt.
3) And here's where the Favre comparison really comes in -- Stafford has the potential to be an all-time great pocket passer. Like Favre, he is fantastic moving around the pocket and escaping tackles for big completions, Also like Favre, he likes to sling the ball around and sometimes tries to squeeze it in too tight which leads to interceptions. However, great risk often leads to great rewards as Favre's records clearly indicate.
In closing, Matthew Stafford is a bonafide badass, and in the future I think most Georgia fans will be thrilled to be able to claim him as one of ours.
Stafford is the main reason why UGA 2008, despite its schedule, won't lose and will be a 14-0 SECC/MNC team. A team discussed among the greatest teams of the modern era in years to come.
Among other errors many CFB analysts and even UGA fans are making before this season is their factoring in a Stafford similar to the past couple seasons. But for many reasons (i.e. finally having a serious OL for a full season, having a 2nd-year OC, etc.), this year's version will be almost unrecognizable compared to the version of the past 2 seasons (which was already good enough to be 17-4 after true freshman/sophomore seasons in the SEC).
See Vince Young from 2004 to 2005 for a good comparison. VY in mid-2004 was still bad enough at times to be benched mid-game for Chance Mock. But around that time, he took over the team, started playing better, and Texas won out after the '04 OU loss, winning a BCS game and rolling into 2005, where VY then dominated.
Stafford and VY are far and away the most hyped QBs to come out of Texas in the past 20 years. Stafford will be similarly dominant in his junior year (even without the redshirt year benefit VY had). The stats will look a little different obviously as they are in different offenses, different conferences, have different styles of play, etc... but the dominance of CFB games when needed will be the same.
Watch.
The true test to Stafford is how good he would be if he didnt have Moreno to take the heat off of him. If the run game was to ever fail, could Stafford carry the load. Im a GT fan, and I got to watch Matt Ryan throw for about 450 yards on us when we stopped their run game! I dont think Stafford can do what Matt Ryan did to us and VT! No offense dawg fans, but I think he has great talent, but his decision making skills and leadership is questionable to me when he has to carry the load by himself like a Matt Ryan vs. VT or GT!
You can't say it much better than redcrake. So I won't try.
Anonymous @ 3:40:
Ummm... huh? Did you watch the GT game last year? GT completely shut Moreno down (as your DL gave our OL fits all day). He had only 45 yards on 17 carries.
Stafford on the other hand had a 31-yard TD run, he had a very clutch drive and TD pass before the half to take the lead and momentum into halftime, and then had a game-breaking bomb to Bailey in the 3rd quarter of a tight game.
As a true sophomore.
Matt Ryan? Seriously?
Matt Stafford is 8-1 against ranked teams as a starter, including a thrashing of a then #5 Auburn Tiger team at Auburn in his 6th start. He followed that up with wins over two top #15 teams with Tenuta and Foster calling defense for them.
The next year, he leads his team to the #2 national ranking to end the season.
Other than that, no, he's never really shown the ability to lead a team and win games.
Matt Stafford is not overated.Our Rivals won't be calling him "The Truth"...They'll be calling him "The Torch".
well yes matt had a good game against gt last year, but i think u missed the gt fan's comments. yes gt did shut down moreno, but thomas brown had i believe around 150, and moreno still had 40, so that's...200yds. stafford is a pro style qb. and probably will get drafted high. but as far as the college game goes...you must remember this was tebow's first year as the signal caller. yes he did play his freshman year, but everyone knew what he was in the game for...right up the middle qb sneak! that being said, his first year as the qb he won the heisman! stafford on the other hand's first was no comparison! yes their win/loss record is comparable, but does that count the colorado game he was yanked in his first year. if tebow was a dawg uga fans would have already crowned him the greatest qb to ever walk through sanford stadium!
I think "The Truth" is a poor moniker. What the hell does it mean?
If you look at Tebow's stats, the majority are the result of Urban Meyer running up the score and padding stats. You are telling me that Stafford could not have had much better stats if we tried to hit 70 on Hawaii like UF will likely do?
Stafford thus far has been a tough one to get your arms around. He's had flashes measured against times of, well, still being a young QB. So in most people's minds, justifiably, he seems to be over-hyped. However, Stafford's always had the immeasurable stat, similar to Tebow, he's just got that "it" quality. While David Greene was a hugely important QB for UGA, as I fan I feel more comfortable with Stafford. Maybe it's arm-strength, or size, or maybe even swagger. The guy is going to be a winner.
It's hard to even think about Staff like this when he's still our current QB. Even though we got one year of Shock, and even though he had all the negatives on him, he came out and did it, and brought us an SEC Championship (just as Greene did before him) in spite of all the "he ain't got what it takes" talk. Shock is and will always be one of my all-time top Dawgs; he waited his turn and delivered. And to hell with the Falcons for drafting Ryan.
Staff can be great in the NFL, but he needs to deliver us an SEC Championship. And this year is his year. I hope that's the truth.
Overrated until he can improve his footwork.
I think "The Truth" is simply this: Matt Stafford is a lot better than he appears to most fans. The way he leads the club (his moxie and swagger), his recognition of defenses and his ability to check us into the right play, his clutch play when we need it, and his ability to make difficult throws look easy are important factors.
And he does all this with an average WR corps and a limited OLine from last year. His weaknesses (footwork, timing, and the occasional miss) go hand and hand with the OLine & WR stuff, though that isn't 100% of it.
But he showed in high school what he can do with consistent WR's who can run tight patterns and separate. I'm beginning to think we need Green and King both to step forward if we're going to handle this schedule.
But Stafford has worked on his weaknesses, his Line should be more stable, and his accuracy is better because he's worked hard on it under normal conditions, for a change. So far this year the offense isn't tweaking the plays or the pocket to make it easier for the OLine, as we did so brilliantly last year. That must continue for us to be successful, so hopefully whatever OLine combination we end up with will be seasoned enough to allow us to be 100% normal on offense.
Stats are one of the worst ways you can evaluate a player, especially a QB. A lot of what they do goes unnoticed by most football fans.
That is the truth.
IveyLeaguer
This subject always frustrates me. I am a bit biased being a dawg fan and all of course, but comparing Stafford's and Tebow's stats is kind of worthless when you look at how each team was run last year. Stafford was a team player. He has been content to give up big numbers and just hand the ball off to Moreno or Brown or Lumpkin or whoever because that's our offense. It's not an absolute, but if Stafford had had the opportunity to throw more, then his numbers would most likely be significantly higher.
Florida's gameplan last year seemed to be "give the ball to Tebow and screw everyone else." Florida has several talented players on offense that were severely upstaged by Tebow mostly because of the sheer amount of times that Tebow got the ball. Meyer seemed not to care whether or not Tebow got hurt or other players got screwed over as long as Tebow was racking up big numbers and making the news. He kept Tebow in way too long in games where Florida was ahead by 20 points or more in the 2nd half of the game and continued to give him the ball with the same frequency. I can go on and on about that but the point is that when you have a talented player, the way the team uses him amounts to most of his success. (Don't get me started on the "coincidence" that Tebow's numbers and length of playing time happened to be conveniently and excessively high 2 days after the front-runner in the Heisman race gets hurt)
I'm not trying to say which team or method is better (although I of course think Georgia's is). I'm just saying that the comparisons of Stafford's and Tebow's stats to the degree that they are compared (as in people try to say that Stafford is overrated and Tebow is the greatest ever) are ludicrous and the media's attempt at a story and controversy because they need a story.
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