Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions opened their new season at the home against the New York Jets — as 7-point favorites, mind you — anddddd got absolutely whooped. Just utterly destroyed.
Stafford threw four picks as he was outplayed by his rookie counterpart Sam Darnold, the Lions defense gave up close to 50 points, and the running game generated 34 yards (at the time of this writing). And this was all after Sam Darnold spotted them seven points as he threw a pick-six with the first pass attempt.
Needless to say, it was a disastrous debut for Matt Patricia and the rest new Lions coaching staff. While Twitter was quick to bury the Lions as a whole, the internet particularly critical of Stafford (and his paycheck in particular):
https://twitter.com/coolghost101/status/1039330284364165120
https://twitter.com/erincoscarelli/status/1039329126547636225
https://twitter.com/EricLloyd/status/1039334047921659904
https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/1039327370191220738
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1039324956054704129
https://twitter.com/MojoInTheMorn/status/1039328121458225152
https://twitter.com/FanDuel/status/1039327850107744259
https://twitter.com/notHunterCoombs/status/1039325976013021184
https://twitter.com/SheaInIrving/status/1039327266470289410
https://twitter.com/scottzolak/status/1039328517677301761
https://twitter.com/B1ackSchefter/status/1039325499921784839
https://twitter.com/Steve_OS/status/1039327261823037440
https://twitter.com/jasonffl/status/1039327267925590017
https://twitter.com/casspa/status/1039335028025688064
https://twitter.com/CryingJordan/status/1039331160357187584
Despite their pitiful showing, the Lions weren’t even the worst performance of the night, as the announcing crew ESPN had on the game — Brian Griese and Beth Mowins — was just awful.
The Lions will attempt to pick up the pieces next Sunday at the San Fransisco 49ers, while the Jets host the Miami Dolphins.