As TBO and myself as publicly stated many times, the Lions QB battle should have never been a competition to begin with; Stafford should always have had this job.
I can point to a handful of examples where the rookie took the reins and ended up doing well (Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning) and you can rebuttal with countless of examples of the rookies sitting on the bench and watching the proven veteran (Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Steve Young) However, I am still under the contention that if you feel you have a franchise QB, why not play him? As good and serviceable as I'm sure Daunte Culpepper is, what good does his presence do? The Lions just came off of a 0-16 and have lost their past 17 in a row. They're garbage and they're not going anywhere.
So why not let the young kid develop? Peyton Manning went 1-15 his first year. Hell, is Stafford did that, he's Detroit's newest hero! There is absolutely no expectations for the Lions to win. Sure, Culpepper would probably give this team a better chance of winning NOW, but who cares about now? This team needs to look to the future and let their young guys fulfill their potential. If you were a Lions fans (first of all my condolences), what would you rather have Stafford to start developing now so in 2-3 years he'll be a star or wait 2-3 years and THEN watch Stafford develop just to get a win now and then. While that fan base might be anxious for just a freaking "W", I think rational fans would rather have the former.
The only logical argument I've heard for benching Stafford, if that that Lions O-line fucking blows, so if Stafford starts, he'll get sacked so many times that it will stunt his growth. Now that's extremely valid and one can point to David Carr for the best example. Since the Texans were so new, Carr's o-line sucks and he get sacked more than anyone. But when he left Houston, he still sucked. I think he was just a shitty pro player to begin with. Hell, even when he had Steve Smith to throw to (the good one), he didn't look all that hot.
I think it's best to get thrown out there in the fire. In most jobs I had, I had little to no training yet I was flung out there to work anyway. Sure, I fucked up in the beginning, but through experience, I became a better worker for it. I think the same should be true for Stafford. Sure, he's going to suck to begin with. He's going to get tackled and sacked and beat up. But over time, I think he'll start to get a better feeling for the game and he'll start learning to avoid sacks and order his offensive line what to do.
Plus having Calvin Johnson to throw to doesn't hurt either.
I think they key here with Stafford is all about development. Does he start making better decisions, learning his players better, does his accuracy improve? it's better to get this out of the way now so in a few years, the Lions can say they have an elite QB.
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