Sweet, Merciful Release from Matthew Stafford-Lions Takes Only Days Away

Peter King, in his infinite wisdom, surveyed the NFL landscape and concluded that this would be the year of Matthew Stafford. Now free of the hellhole that is the Detroit Lions franchise (and I can say that as they've robbed me of thousands of hours better spent doing literally anything else), the new leader of the Los Angeles Rams has Super Bowl and MVP aspirations. King predicted that Stafford would win both and amass a startling 6,000 passing yards this year in Sean McVay's offensive system.

Nick Wright disagrees. He thinks the Rams and Stafford will be quite good. But not that good. Here he is delivering an upsetting dose of reality on this morning's First Things First.

Do I think Stafford is going to throw for 6,000? No. Do I think he'll win the MVP and Super Bowl this year? Also no. Perhaps next year, though. It would be great if he did and proved to everyone that he's incredible player who suffered too long in a bad situation. At the same time, it's been painful to hear again and again and again that there were no playoff wins in Detroit. And for that to be held against him. Because anyone who suffered year after year understands that it simply wasn't happening. Not with that franchise.

But it almost did. Stafford and the Lions played well enough to win at Dallas in the 2014 postseason but were robbed in nearly comical fashion. It's crazy to think what a dubious pass interference call can do to a legacy. Those who support Stafford in his future endeavors are used to that specific knock. Wright's new one, claiming that the quarterback should have achieved some sort of MVP-level play because he was paired with Jim Freaking Caldwell and, uh, Marvin Jones is both new and upsetting.

Perhaps the Stafford hype train is moving a bit too quickly and needs to slow down. As an employee on that fictional railroad, perhaps it is time to ensure the safety of all passengers. More than anything, though, the track ahead will offer the sweet, sweet relief of some new data points. Projecting failure in Los Angeles based on what happened in Detroit has always been a plainly flawed process. You simply cannot compare the two. Tom Brady could have been under center in the Motor City and they wouldn't have won anything meaningful. Stafford could have won nearly as many Super Bowls had he been playing in New England.

We're just a few days from everyone assessing Stafford, the Ram instead of Stafford, the Lion. Can't come soon enough.