Lions' Lombardi: I still don't think Stafford is broken

Joe Lombardi was a few hours into his job as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator when he made headlines two years ago with a colorful assessment of Matthew Stafford's play.

"The good news is that he's not broken, that much is clear," Lombardi told Yahoo Sports at the Senior Bowl in 2014.

Twenty games into his tenure as Lions playcaller, with the offense woefully underachieving and Stafford on pace to tie a career high in interceptions, Lombardi isn't ready to back away from his quarterback just yet.

"I still don't think he's broken," Lombardi said today. "I think he's a good player."

Stafford and the Lions offense have struggled mightily in their 0-4 start.

The Lions rank 29th in the league in points scored, 30th in total offense, and Stafford has as many touchdowns as interceptions (five) for a unit that's gone almost six quarters without reaching the end zone.

Stafford said Wednesday that he faults himself for some of the offense's troubles.

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"I definitely look at myself with a fine-toothed comb," he said. "I'm trying to find ways maybe I can be a little bit better in some areas and make sure I'm just trying to be as good a leader as I possibly can be. Encourage guys, get guys to do the little things right, be motivated in the right way, and that's your job as a quarterback. It's not only to just throw the ball to the receivers, it's get us in all of the right plays and do all that kind of stuff and do that at a very consistent level. So I'm definitely trying to do that as good as I possibly can."

Lombardi praised Stafford for taking better care of the football, even though he's on pace to throw 20 interceptions. And he said the Lions have bigger issues on offense than the play of their 27-year-old quarterback.

"My biggest concerns are getting the run game going and getting some bigger chunks in the passing game," Lombardi said. "We had some things (in Monday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks) that were well within our control that killed drives. Whether it was a third-and-1 mental error or the penalties in the second half that knocked us off. So there's things that are in our control.

"I think Matt Stafford is a very good quarterback that we're happy to have. I don't think – of all my concerns, Matt's not the biggest one. So we've got to protect him, we've got to run the ball better. He's going to take care of his side of it."

Despite the offense's plain-to-see issues - Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu said Wednesday that the Lions "look like they don't quite understand the system yet," a charge Lombardi disputed - not everything has gone wrong for Stafford this year.

He's completing a higher percent of his passes (65%) than at any point in his career, his 106 completions leads the NFL and he’s on pace for his fifth straight 4,000-yard season.

But more often than not, Stafford's passes have gone for short, often insignificant gains, and the Lions, at coach Jim Caldwell's behest, have made a point to rein in their quarterback's big but erratic arm.

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Stafford misfired on two deep passes to Calvin Johnson in Monday's loss to the Seahawks, and in the first three weeks his offensive line rarely gave him time to take shots downfield.

Caldwell insisted today that "almost in every area (Stafford is) getting better," and he said the Lions' offensive woes are a group effort.

"It's on all of us," Caldwell said. "That's one of the things about the quarterback position gets too much credit when you win, too much blame when you lose. So it's not just him."

Lombardi agreed, and he said he expects a turnaround for Stafford and the entire offense soon.

"Look, I think one, he's played probably better than he's given credit for," Lombardi said. "His completion percentage is up and the thing that we're missing in the passing game is the big play. It's a key to scoring is getting chunks and so we've got to get more chucks and I think that'll come."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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