ALLEN PARK -- Matthew Stafford has been sacked 339 times in his career. But nobody has hit him quite like the Minnesota Vikings. And nobody has hit him more often.
Just last year, Stafford was dropped 10 times in the game in Minnesota, and hit 17 times overall. Both were career highs.
In 2015, Stafford was sacked once in the game at Minnesota, hit eight times overall and then had to go to the postgame X-ray room at U.S. Bank Stadium. He actually needed help getting undressed after that game because he couldn’t bend over.
Detroit knew all this, of course, and tried to prepare accordingly for the rematch that season. Then Stafford was sacked seven times in that game, hit 13 times overall -- then headed back for the X-ray room once again.
The problem, of course, are these Mike Zimmer defenses. They assault the quarterback with a variety of blitzes meant to disguise and confuse, and no matter how many times the Lions have seen them, they have proved incapable of protecting Stafford reliably.
His two worst sack games came against Zimmer, and three of his top five. He’s taken 36 sacks in 10 games against Zimmer, and 85 hits overall.
That’s 8.5 hits and 3.6 sacks per game, which is staggering.
“Obviously, they have a unique pressure system that is pretty good,” Stafford said. "But at the same time, if they just want to rush four, they’re pretty good at that, too. They’ve got talent and scheme, which makes them a difficult out.”
No kidding.
Then again, perhaps this year’s matchups will be different. His protection has been better -- he’s on pace for 32 sacks, which would be a career low since 2013 -- in the new offense, and he’s playing some of the best ball of his career heading into Sunday’s game against Minnesota at Ford Field.
“I think Stafford is playing outstanding, maybe the best I’ve ever seen him," Zimmer said. "He’s throwing the ball into a lot of tight windows, he’s pulling the trigger, he’s still scrambling like he has. I feel like he’s making the right reads, getting the ball out quick. Obviously, they have some outstanding receivers. I think (T.J.) Hockenson is a really, really good tight end. The receivers they have are really good. They are running the football some. They have play-actions, they have the quick throws, they have the shots down the field. It looks really good to me.”
The running game has yet to really come around, save for a nice showing against Kansas City, but Stafford’s heady play has kept the offense afloat. His rediscovery of the deep ball has been especially impressive, averaging 8.0 yards per attempt, which is on pace for a career high. His passes are traveling an average of 10.9 yards through the air, which is second in the league.
About 20.8% of his targets have been at least 20 yards downfield, which is third in the league.
He’s done it while spraying the ball to a variety of players, too. Kenny Golladay more than anyone, but Danny Amendola, Marvin Jones and T.J. Hockenson all have 100-yard games too. And having that many targets could help him blunt a pass rush that has hammered him over the years, and never more often than in Minnesota last year, when Stafford had just lost Golden Tate and had no safety valves upon which to rely.
“I think I have a lot of room for improvement," Stafford said. “There have been some good plays, some big plays, but some plays I’d love back, too. I’d love to get us in the end zone a couple more times than we have already this season.”
While Stafford has been good most of the season, and at times very good, there have been some problems too. He has three fumbles, for example, and the Lions’ red-zone offense ranks 23rd in the league at 50%. Against the Packers, Detroit turned three early drives inside Green Bay’s 10-yard line into just 13 points.
“We’ve had our chances, whether it’s in the run game or the pass game,” Stafford said. "We’ve had chances and just haven’t come up with them. Obviously, it’s a huge point of emphasis. You have to make sure that you’re getting points, especially doing a good job of getting it down inside the 10. You do that, and that’s tough enough to do in this league.
"When you get nine chances and only come away with four of them, that’s not good enough.”