i think stafford will be fine and his #s are not reflective of his play so much. First off he was a rookie, hard enough to succeed, not to mention being one on a shitty team. secondly, what o line did he have? and calvin johnson was hurt most of the year, as was stafford.
now, to address the question the lions have zero chance of making the playoffs. i was highly critical of their draft outside of suh because they really didnt address their major needs, lord knows they have a ton of needs. ford is more concerned with picking players that sell tickets.
qb- stafford is young, should be fine, but will still have growing pains
rb- kevin smith---coming off injury mo morris-career back up, serviceable situationally ...best-3rd down back, will make some big plays but will struggle in pass protection and wont tote it 20 times plus with much success
wr- best position on offense if calvin stays healthy this year, burleson is way overpaid by team but decent, bryant johnson is an underachiever
tight end- pettigrew coming off injury, but will be good, scheffler is like a big wr, known to not block
o line- major problem....backus is a liability and needs to be replaced or moved to the right side or guard...nothing addressed here in the offseason besides journeyman sims and an injured project in fox at tackle. cherilus has been an underachiever and raiola is decent...one of the worst o lines in football, just watch jared allen and clay matthews run circles around backus last year
dline- strong suit with the addition of suh and williams at DT, vandenbosch was overpaid but still an upgrade, they like avril as a speed rushing force, i dont
linebackers- pathetic, banking a lot on levy, otherwise this unit is probably or is the worst in the league
defensive backs- pathetic, trying to find two corners out of 5, when none are that good is going to be a disaster again, houston or spievey have the most potential, one has been a bust and the other is a rookie...it will be a lot of long sundays for this unit...delmas is a stud, best safety they have had since bennie blades and will be better than him.
all in all they are banking a ton on the dline to provide pressure and only vandenbosch has done that in his career...should be decent against the run but no backers to really help out....teams will throw all over them.
no upgrades at o line to protect which should be a passing offense..nothing the lions have done have made it appear they plan on grinding out games and being conservative, they dont have that personell...best, burleson and scheffler will help aide stafford and calvin to score points, which sell tickets...should be some high scoring games when they suit up, 5-11 tops, schedule is nasty with afc east out of conf.
rb-