There were not many positives from the 2008 Detroit Lions season. Bad quarteback fans gots a pleasant suprise when Dan Orlovsky (72.6) lined up as the starting quarteback for an NFL franchise on October 12, 2008. While Orlovsky managed to make it through the contest without turning the ball over (he did throw for 150 yards), he somehow managed to wonder through his own endzone while dropping back and looking for receivers. His comment sums up his place in bad quarterback history — “When they started blowing the whistle, I was like, ‘Did we false start, or were they offsides or something?’” Orlovsky said. “And I looked, and I was just like, ‘You’re an idiot.’”
Got to love Orlovsky
While Orlovsky is not competing for the job, these fine football players will get to manage the Detroit Lions in 2009.
Culpepper, Daunte (career passer rating – 89.9) - The big man struggled last year with the hapless motor town cast of apathetic talented role players. Daunte managed to be sacked 14 times in his 5 outings and found a way to throw 6 interceptions while posting a staggering career low 63.9 qb rating. He seems to be the guy by default until he is unseated by Matthew Stafford.
Stafford, Matthew (n/a) - The first pick of the 2009 draft, completed 62% of his passes at Georgia during his junior season. He got a 6 year, 41.7 million (guaranteed money) dollar contract. The learning curve will be closely monitored.
Stanton, Drew ( 95.0) - Obviously the career passer rating is a bit deceptive. What makes his stellar career very impressive is he managed to get sacked 6 times, while only attempting 17 passes. Clearly, Mr. Stanton is not familiar with the concept of throwing the ball away.
Summary of Lions quarterbacks — Clearly the quarterback position was not the only weakness for the 2008 Lions. They’ve got a new head coach and some talented skill position players to surround this cast of signal callers. They’ll make marginal strides and Daunte probably will keep them competitive, as he benefits from throwing to Calvin Johnson and new tightend Brandon Pettigrew.
