Matthew Stafford’s 17 Total Turnovers in 2014

Fumbles

2-7-GB 7 (Q3, 5:45) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at GB 13 for -6 yards (56-J.Peppers). FUMBLES (56-J.Peppers) (56-J.Peppers), RECOVERED by GB-56-J.Peppers at GB 13. 56-J.Peppers to GB 13 for no gain (9-M.Stafford).

I think this is actually somewhat of a positive play in terms of pocket awareness for Stafford. He seems to realize that Peppers is going to be able to hit his throwing arm, and stops his throwing motion to try to bring the ball down. It isn’t quick enough, however, and Peppers is able to knock the ball out and fall on the fumble for a recovery.

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1-10-DET 23 (Q2, 1:40) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 19 for -4 yards (55-J.Hughes). FUMBLES (55-J.Hughes) (55-J.Hughes), and recovers at DET 22. 9-M.Stafford to DET 22 for no gain (37-N.Robey).

On this play, Stafford does a good job of navigating through a messy pocket. He thinks he’s escaped the pressure and is free, but he doesn’t realize that Jerry Hughes is right behind him about to lay the wood. I like that he got out of danger’s way and then looked to throw the ball, but it ended up coming back to bite him on this play because Hughes was still in the play.

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2-10-DET 43 (Q4, 14:55) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 23 for -10 yards (99-M.Dareus). FUMBLES (99-M.Dareus) (99-M.Dareus), recovered by DET-12-J.Ross at DET 23. 12-J.Ross to DET 23 for no gain (55-J.Hughes).

On this play, Stafford needs to take better care of the football. He knew the hit was coming, and he needed to brace for the impact and hold on to the football. He wasn’t able to do that, but fortunately for the Lions it didn’t end up a turnover.

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1-10-DET 20 (Q1, 2:53) 9-M.Stafford FUMBLES (Aborted) at DET 15, recovered by DET-35-J.Bell at DET 15. 35-J.Bell to DET 15 for no gain (99-T.Jackson).

This fumble is the result of a botched handoff. The QB and RB practice this exchange quite a bit, so it’s rare to see a mishap, but Stafford and Bell clearly weren’t on the same page. It’s impossible for me to know which player was in the wrong without knowing what the play call was, because the two players were going to different landmarks.

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3-12-DET 22 (Q4, 3:01) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford FUMBLES (Aborted) at DET 17, and recovers at DET 10. 9-M.Stafford pass incomplete short right to 25-T.Riddick.

This is a bad snap that Stafford wasn’t prepared for. It came sooner than Stafford expected so it’s probably on the center. Stafford is able to make sure the Lions don’t lose anything on the play, but this did bring up a 4th down.

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1-5-DET 10 (Q1, 4:26) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 4 for -6 yards (69-J.Allen). FUMBLES (69-J.Allen), RECOVERED by CHI-69-J.Allen at DET 5. 69-J.Allen to DET 5 for no gain (9-M.Stafford).

Here, the Lions’ pass protection just does a bad job and lets Jared Allen hit Stafford while he is in his throwing motion. Stafford did hitch twice so you could argue he should have released the ball sooner but really I think this is on the pass protection.

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1-10-TB 38 (Q3, 2:47) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford Aborted. 51-D.Raiola FUMBLES at TB 38, recovered by DET-9-M.Stafford at TB 46. 9-M.Stafford pass incomplete short right. Ball thrown away.

This is a really weird play because Raiola hits himself with the snap, and it goes awry. It’s not a fumble by Stafford, but I put it on here because Stafford did a great job reacting to this and made a heads up play to throw the ball away to prevent a loss.

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3-7-DET 45 (Q4, 11:12) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 39 for -6 yards (57-L.English). FUMBLES (57-L.English), recovered by DET-64-T.Swanson at DET 36. 64-T.Swanson to DET 36 for no gain (93-G.McCoy).

When you’re getting hit by multiple 300 pound men, it’s hard to hold onto the football. Stafford can’t do it here. Obviously you’d like to see him keep hold of the ball when he brings it down to his body in the pocket.

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1-10-DET 42 (Q4, 13:36) 9-M.Stafford FUMBLES (Aborted) at DET 38, RECOVERED by GB-42-M.Burnett at DET 42. 42-M.Burnett to DET 42 for no gain (77-C.Lucas).

Bell and Stafford once again mess up a handoff. This is really rare and kind of surprising it happened twice in one year. Bell just never got a solid hold on the football. This is his fault.

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2-4-DET 26 (Q4, 2:10) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 17 for -9 yards (93-A.Spencer). FUMBLES (93-A.Spencer), RECOVERED by DAL-90-D.Lawrence at DET 24. 90-D.Lawrence to DET 24 for no gain (70-G.Reynolds). FUMBLES (70-G.Reynolds), RECOVERED by DET-71-R.Reiff at DET 23. 71-R.Reiff to DET 23 for no gain (96-N.Hayden).

This was an interesting play, as both teams lost fumbles and Stafford got bailed out. He was hit as he was throwing the ball, and Spencer knocked it loose. Stafford should have braced for the hit he should have seen coming rather than try to throw the pass.

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4-3-DAL 42 (Q4, 1:00) (Shotgun) 9-M.Stafford sacked at DET 49 for -9 yards (90-D.Lawrence). FUMBLES (90-D.Lawrence) (90-D.Lawrence), RECOVERED by DAL-90-D.Lawrence at DET 47. 90-D.Lawrence to DET 47 for no gain (71-R.Reiff).

Fate was not as kind to Stafford on this play. It’s basically the same as the last one, but Lawrence held onto the football this time, and the Lions’ hopes for a comeback were shattered.

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Stafford took better care of the ball in 2014 than he had in any previous season, throwing 12 interceptions, when his previous lowest total (for a full season) was 16. While Stafford was definitely more careful last year, he is still prone to being careless with the football, and that carelessness led to a number of his interceptions. On some plays, he simply trusts too much in his arm and also in his security blanket, Calvin Johnson’s, ability to catch anything thrown within a fifty mile radius of him. He gets particularly careless on third and long, which I guess isn’t the worst thing in the world because an incompletion means a punt anyway.

It’s also worth noting that Stafford almost had a clean sheet in the short passing game and threw very few of his interceptions closer than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage. This is a good sign because it means if he cleans up his ball placement on deep passes he could become close to mistake free. It’s also worth noting that there were times where his offensive line definitely failed him, and that let to both interceptions and fumbles lost. Hopefully the Lions can maintain more continuity on that front this year as well as keep Calvin Johnson, who is still one of the best weapons in the game, on the field for the entire season.