Matt Stafford Shows Guts in Glory

Cleveland Browns vs Detroit Lions, sounds like a nightmare we should all wake up from. But it turned out to be a game for the ages.

Rookie quarterback Matt Stafford who has been the only bright spot in this very dreadful Lions teams showed lots of heart and even more guts when he took a crushing hit at the end of what could have been a crushing loss for the Lions. His left shoulder was injured. He was grimacing in pain. He was on his back on the sideline.

But he got up. He had led the Lions to a comeback once already Sunday and was determined to do it again. He eluded the doctors, ran onto the field and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Pettigrew with no time left, lifting the Lions to an inspiring 38-37 victory.

There’s not much else that can be said when a player leaves it all on the field and gives he’s team a chance to win.

Stafford while on the sideline just after the injury recalls; “I heard time-out over the loudspeaker and knew that was probably my only chance of getting back in,” Stafford said. “It was my left shoulder. Don’t really need it to throw.”

Stafford said he told the doctors to help him up. When they didn’t, he insisted.

“Once one of them helped me up,” Stafford said, “they weren’t going to stop me.”

No one had a chance.

“He popped up, and all the team doctors said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,’ ” coach Jim Schwartz said. “I said, ‘What does he have?’ They said, ‘We don’t even know.’ ..It’s a good thing our team doctors didn’t play on the varsity, because Matt had to work his way onto the field there.”

Stafford took the snap and quickly fired the ball to Pettigrew, the player the Lions drafted right after him in April, 20th overall. Touchdown.

It was Stafford’s fifth TD pass of the game, most by an NFL rookie since Ray Buivid threw five for the Bears in 1937, according to STATS. Stafford threw for 422 yards, most by a Lions quarterback in a victory.

“I was in some good pain, but the play goes on,” Stafford said afterward, his left shoulder wrapped in bandages and ice. “It didn’t feel good, but I didn’t care. It was one play. I knew I didn’t have to play too much, just one snap, and try to throw a TD.”

Cleveland Browns vs Detroit Lions, sounds like a nightmare alright, but this was definitely a beautiful nightmare.

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