Stafford just won his first game as the newly minted highest-paid player in the NFL.
Matthew Stafford’s first pass as the newly minted highest-paid player in the NFL was, shall we say, a bit inauspicious: a pick-six.
Frankly, that’s a classic Detroit Lions turn of events — and something we lunatic fans have come to expect after decades of hardship.
That’s our pessimistic side. Thankfully, the quarterback with the rifle-arm turned things around, leading yet another fourth-quarter comeback, eventually throwing for 292 yards and four touchdowns at Ford Field against the Arizona Cardinals.
One was a beautiful touch pass to wunderkind rookie Kenny Golladay, who put on his red cape and leapt over a tall building with a single bound to catch it. The receiver caught a second one, on a 45-yard Stafford bomb, Golladay proving he’s also more powerful than a locomotive.
Of course, the QB’s turnaround and end-of-game heroics won’t end the debate about whether he’s worth the giant piles of cash the Lions are paying him. His recent five-year, $135 million contract extension averages to $27 million a season, with $92 million guaranteed.
Technically, per numbers-crunching site Spotrac, he’s making $16.5 million this season, averaging a million bucks and few nickels a game. (Not factored into that is the $50 million signing bonus he just received, which I believe prompted him to give up clipping grocery coupons.)
So, the question remains, did he earn his paycheck on Sunday?
