Whether or not Matthew Stafford is a Hall of Fame quarterback when his career is all said and done will surely be a topic filled with various perspectives, voices and heated debates. He definitely has time to add on to his resume, though his 0-3 career record in the playoffs is something that will likely need to change sooner rather than later, be it with the Detroit Lions or with another franchise. RADIO.COM Sports' own Tim Kelly asked that very question a few weeks ago, and anything close to a definitive answer still eludes us.
But while his future and Hall of Fame status are both very, very uncertain, one thing is for sure: Stafford's counting stats continue to grow, and grow, and grow, and he added another impressive achievement to his huge collection after the Lions' improbable victory over the Falcons in Week 7.
Thanks to Falcons running back Todd Gurley's gaffe — which he said he was "mad as hell" at himself for committing — Stafford was able to lead Detroit's offense down the field with just 1:04 left on the clock and torch the Atlanta secondary for various big plays, all of which are neatly encapsulated in the below video.
This game-winning drive was Stafford's 35th since 2010, pushing him past Drew Brees (34) and putting him atop the long list of NFL quarterbacks over this span. The full list can be seen below (courtesy of Pro Football Reference).
| Game | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | GWD | GS |
| 1 | Matthew Stafford | 2010 | 2020 | 35 | 145 |
| 2 | Drew Brees | 2010 | 2020 | 34 | 159 |
| 3 | Matt Ryan | 2010 | 2020 | 31 | 166 |
| 4 | Russell Wilson | 2012 | 2020 | 30 | 134 |
| 5 | Andy Dalton | 2011 | 2020 | 25 | 135 |
| 6 | Eli Manning | 2010 | 2019 | 24 | 147 |
| 7 | Ben Roethlisberger | 2010 | 2020 | 24 | 136 |
| 8 | Tom Brady | 2010 | 2020 | 23 | 163 |
| 9 | Derek Carr | 2014 | 2020 | 21 | 100 |
| 10 | Joe Flacco | 2010 | 2020 | 21 | 141 |
He now sits just one shy of Eli Manning in the all-time rankings, the top ten of which is filled with legendary names:
| Rank | Player | GWD | Years | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peyton Manning | 54 | 1998-2015 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 2 | Drew Brees | 52 | 2001-2020 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 3 | Dan Marino+ | 47 | 1983-1999 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 4 | Tom Brady | 46 | 2000-2020 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 5 | Brett Favre + | 43 | 1991-2010 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 43 | 2004-2020 | View Game-Winning Drives | |
| 7 | John Elway+ | 40 | 1983-1998 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 8 | Matt Ryan | 38 | 2008-2020 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| Johnny Unitas + | 38 | 1956-1973 | View Game-Winning Drives | |
| 10 | Eli Manning | 37 | 2004-2019 | View Game-Winning Drives |
| 11 | Matthew Stafford | 36 | 2009-2020 | View Game-Winning Drives |
Another fun fact about yesterday's game-winning drive was that the winning touchdown pass came with triple zeros on the play clock, marking the second time Stafford had done this and putting him in the company of only one other quarterback.
Do statistics like these do anything to bolster his case for Canton? Perhaps not, as they could show as much about Stafford's skill as they do about Detroit's defense keeping games close. It's hard to deny, however, that they show a confident and determined fighter who is never willing to let his team go down despite some stacked odds — like a 1.3% of winning, for instance, which was what his Lions had in Week 7.
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