(Matthew Stafford opened the 2014 season with an exclamation point Monday night, throwing for 346 yards and accounting for three touchdowns and producing a career-high 97.5 QBR in the Detroit Lions' 35-14 victory over the New York Giants. Below are his extended thoughts, as told to ESPN's Kevin Seifert.)

DETROIT -- It's nice to put last year to bed.

Matthew Stafford scrambles and finds Calvin Johnson for the team's first touchdown. Andrew Weber/USA TODAY Sports

Obviously, I didn't play as well as I could have last year. I'm not in the dark about that. I know that. I'm real with myself. I understand that there's a lot of factors that go into that, and part of that was just not playing well. It's a quarterback-driven league and you've got to play well at quarterback. I've worked extremely hard this summer to make sure I can play as well as I possibly can. Our defense set us up a couple nice times, but it was huge to get some points tonight and get our offense loose in this new scheme. On our first touchdown, I got to the line and saw the defense was in a two-shell. They rotated into single coverage, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie had pretty decent coverage on Calvin Johnson. Our offensive line did a nice job pushing guys past me, and I got out to the right sideline. Their defensive end [Damontre Moore], he was scraping over the top, and I made him miss.

Calvin Johnson dives for Detroit's second score. Tim Fuller/USA TODAY Sports

I was trying to find Joique Bell, just to complete the ball and get the first down, but then I saw Calvin was uncovering. Everyone was kind of working toward the sideline, and he just snuck out the back. I had enough time to check back and make sure no one was over there, and nothing bad was going to happen, and then I threw it. Sometimes instincts just take over when you're on the field. That's what happened on our second touchdown. This game, if you played it on air, it would look totally different. Everyone would step in and make the perfect read and the perfect throw, and everything looks great. But stuff happens in this league and when it breaks down, you have to find ways to make plays. Calvin and I have played together for so long that he kind of knew what I was thinking. I was running away from him, but I was able to put it into a spot where only he could get it. It was tough to see from my angle, and I still haven't seen the replay, but from what I hear, he made a heck of a play to keep that ball off the ground.

Stafford's 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Tim Fuller/USA TODAY Sports

I don't run a lot, and it's a fine line on when to take off. Knowing the situation in the game is a big part of it. Most of the time, I'm buying time to throw the ball down the field and get it to guys who are a lot faster than me. But sometimes, you've just got to go out and make a play, and that's what I did on the third touchdown. It just kind of happened. Pre-snap from the 5-yard line, they had a pretty good two-on-one over there with Calvin. So my first read was Golden Tate. He was there, but we had a population issue over there. If he catches it, there are too many people there. Chances are he's not getting in. Then I had Joe Fauria in the back of the end zone, but the mike 'backer [middle linebacker] was way deep in the back there. That would have been a jump ball. That's 50-50. So it's one of those things that just parted for me. I moved right, initially thinking I could find a throw somewhere. But I just kind of saw the opening and tried to run. I knew if I kept going, I was just going to get smoked. So I cut back and got in. I think a team rallies when you see a quarterback kind of stick his neck out and try to go in and get a score. It was a tough situation coming in this year, learning a new offense. It's as different as it can be compared to what we used to run. Guys have really embraced it, and I've tried to embrace it as much as I can. I want to lead these guys and it was nice to get out and put some points up.