Through five game last season – all Lions victories – quarterback 
Through five games this season – two wins – and Stafford has four touchdowns and just one game with a rating of at least 100.
He's thrown for nearly the same amount of yards, though, with 1,493 yards through five games this season and had 1,436 last year.
The dramatic difference in touchdown production, quarterback rating - and of course wins - has some searching for answers.
Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski recently said Stafford’s mechanics “seem to slip at times.”
Tim Hasselbeck, a former player and current ESPN analyst, questioned Stafford's footwork and arm angle on Monday.
Even former quarterback Phil Simms piled on this week when he was asked Tuesday on CBS’ NFL Monday QB which quarterback he’d rather have: Stafford or Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Simms took Cutler.
"I'm going to take Jay Cutler because the guy has a big arm," Simms said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. "I like the fact that he is athletic and can move around. And he is not afraid to take chances. And he does not get to play, he does not have the benefit of playing in one of those pass-heavy offenses where you can put up all of these really fancy numbers, which are not that real. But his are real.
"And let's come down to this too - and I mean this as a compliment. He's mean. He's an angry guy. And I think angry is a big part of being a quarterback in the NFL."
Stafford was asked about Simms’ comment on Thursday.
“I don’t really care what Phil Simms says,” he says. “I’m playing for the guys in my locker room.”
Stafford has missed some open receivers this year and he’d probably be the first one to admit it, but he’s also made some throws that only he and maybe one or two other quarterbacks can make. He can improvise with the best of them. Stafford can make throws back pedaling and sidearm that don’t always look pretty and aren’t “mechanically sound,” but they're unique to the gunslinger-type quarterback, which Stafford is.
Lions receiver
“When he’s off balance or in a situation where most quarterbacks would take a sack or get rid of the ball out of bounce, he has enough strength and ability to get the ball where it needs to be,” he said. “What most people call fundamental flaws are actually strengths that make him the quarterback he is.
“Just like the great quarterbacks of the past, the (Dan) Marino’s and (Brett) Favre’s weren’t always fundamentally sound. They made a living on the passes that were off schedule.”
Burleson admitted that it could also get quarterbacks like Stafford in trouble sometimes and make them miss on some easy throws, but the positives outweigh any negatives.
“It goes with the territory and I think each game there’s going to be a play or two where Matt wishes he had back,” Burleson said. “It’s just like a play or two I wish I had back. You can nitpick and pull plays out of every piece of tape. What they call fundamental flaws I call strengths because he does things most quarterbacks can’t do.”
As far as Simms taking Cutler over Stafford, Burleson said he’d like to politely disagree on the record.
“I’d take Stafford over Cutler 10 times out of 10.”
