Matthew Stafford's former fanbase is cheering him on as heads to the Super Bowl. So are his former teammates.
After Stafford and the Rams knocked off the 49ers in the NFC Championship, one tweet from Darius Slay said it all:
In the end, it really was as simple as Stafford changing teams. He won zero division titles and zero playoff games in 12 years with the Lions. He's a division champ with three playoff wins and counting in his first year with the Rams. It's not lost on Golden Tate, one of his favorite receivers in Detroit:
And here's another one of his favorite ex-receivers, Marvin Jones:
Gratefull 😭
— Marvin Jones Jr (@MarvinJonesJr) January 31, 2022
#9
Clearly, the Lions had a special talent on their hands. All that can be said now is they wasted him. Stafford wasn't blameless for the team's lack of success -- and he's the first to admit that -- but the organization was the larger problem. It never insulated its franchise quarterback the way Stafford has been insulated on the Rams.
Former Lions linebacker James Ihedigbo, teammates with Stafford from 2014-15, called for ownership to sell the team Sunday night:
Look, the Fords aren't going anywhere. They've kept the team through hell and high water and they aren't giving it up now. But Stafford's instant success in LA has to bruise their egos, if they weren't bruised already. It's only a source of pride for the guys who played with him, like former Lions safety Quandre Diggs:
And former Lions return man Jamal Agnew:
And former Lions running back Kerryon Johnson, who joked that he'll tell his grandkids about the time a Super Bowl quarterback told him to "STOP FUMBLING THE **** BALL" and said that watching Stafford make throws in practice was "one of the best experiences of my whole football career."
And current Lions DE Romeo Okwara:
And current Lions CB Amani Oruwariye:
And, well, you get the point.
