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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > October > 07
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Stafford more than your average John
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — If he leaves after this season, Matthew Stafford might well be the first player chosen in the NFL draft. He’s as talented as any quarterback on any campus, Tim Tebow included, and he’s the most gifted quarterback Georgia has ever had.
But his, as we know, is a funny position. As Stafford himself said, “The biggest judge of a quarterback is winning football games,” and this quarterback is 22-5 as a starter but hasn’t yet led the Bulldogs to even a division championship. And that’s why there are some folks who suggest Stafford is overrated.
His big buddy Knowshon Moreno isn’t among them. “John is a really good quarterback,” Moreno said Tuesday, and here a listener flinched. John? John Unitas? John Brodie? John Parker Wilson?
“John is his real first name,” said Moreno, smiling now. “Brannan [Southerland] told me that at lunch, and I said, ‘That’s his new name for me.’ “
Said Southerland: “That’s pretty funny.”
Said John Matthew Stafford, clearly unamused: “I don’t care — whatever.”
Mark Richt has worked with some of the best collegiate quarterbacks of the past two decades — Charlie Ward, Chris Weinke, David Greene, D.J. Shockley — and he said he believes Stafford “is a great quarterback.” But then: “To say someone is the greatest ever, he’d probably have to have a championship.” And then: “Hopefully [you’ll] write the part that doesn’t make it seem like I’m dogging him out.”
Stafford is twice the player he was two seasons ago, when as a gifted-but-occasionally-addled freshman he seemed to keep both teams in the game. He threw 13 interceptions in 2006; he has thrown one this season, that a speculative deep ball at the end of the forlorn first half against Alabama. He completed 52.7 percent of his passes as a freshman; he has completed 59.7 percent as a junior.
He leads the SEC in passing yards per game and in total offense, and he’s third in passing efficiency. (Tebow is first.) But Stafford, for all his arm strength, has never had a 300-yard passing game. Greene had seven in his four seasons, and he led Georgia to two Eastern Division titles and an SEC championship to boot.
“I came here to win,” Stafford said. “I want to win.”
Remember the bit about it being a funny position? The quarterback is expected to lift the rest of his team, but it’s possible to wonder if Stafford hasn’t been dragged down by Georgia’s ongoing struggles to build an offensive line. Would Greene, who left school as the biggest collegiate winner ever, have won so often behind a collection of freshmen?
“He’s really developed,” said Moreno, speaking of his pal John. “You can see it in the decision he makes and the accuracy and power of his throws. … His reads [are so much better now]. He’s seeing things before they happen. I definitely see a change in the huddle — he shows that leadership.”
Surely the NFL likewise sees such attributes. Stafford has one of the truly big arms. But so did Jeff George, who was drafted No. 1 overall and who never won anything of consequence. Stafford doesn’t much care to discuss his future — “I’m playing here, trying to do the best I can, trying to help the team win” — but it would be a shame if a quarterback so skilled didn’t deliver a championship of some kind before he departs.
It’s not mandatory, mind you. As Richt said, “Was Archie Manning a great quarterback? I think most people would say he was.” But it would be nice for all concerned if John Matthew Stafford went ahead and rendered the point moot.
• More coverage: Matthew Stafford page
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