Matthew Stafford had a brutal game in an embarrassing 48-17 loss to the New York Jets at home on Monday night. Stafford, who has only thrown 10 interceptions in each of the last two seasons, was picked off four times in the Detroit Lions’ defeat.
Afterwards, players in the Jets’ locker room said they knew the Lions’ plays based on formations and Stafford’s hand signals.
A number of Jets defenders said they knew what plays the Lions were going to run based on formation and Stafford hand signals. Allowed them to jump routes, get five picks.
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) September 11, 2018
Stafford spoke with FOX 2 Detroit’s Dan Miller about the loss and was asked whether he thought the Jets had picked his signals.
“I didn’t feel it out there,” Stafford told Miller. “Obviously whenever you win a football game, you can kind of say whatever you like. You have a night on defense like they had, it probably felt pretty good, and rightfully so. I understand that. We’ll just move forward.”
Even if Stafford did not feel that was the case on the field, now that he’s heard what the Jets have said, he should be reviewing tape to see whether that is the case. And if he and the team do not make adjustments for next week, they should not be surprised to see a similar result.
When you combine the tipping plays charge with the report about Matt Patricia alienating players, things aren’t looking so great to start the season in Detroit.
