After being sacked 22 times in 2013, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has been sacked 17 times through the first five games in 2014. Stafford and coach Jim Caldwell have said the offensive line needs to do a better job protecting the quarterback, but it seems Stafford deserves some of the blame as well, according to MLive.com.
Stafford is holding onto the football longer this season than last. Stafford is waiting at least 2.6 seconds to throw the ball on 47.1 percent of his dropbacks, which is up 9.1 percent from last year, according to ProFootballFocus. He's taken 16 of his 17 sacks when he's held the football at least 2.6 seconds.
"You get sacked as many times as I got sacked, you can find ways to get the ball out quicker," Stafford said. "Find open guys and just make sure I'm taking as few hits as I possibly can. And that's something I'll continue to work on."
Caldwell said Stafford has been slow on some of his reads, but also added some plays are slow-developing by design in coordinator Joe Lombardi's scheme.
"There may be a few more of play-action passes that require holding the ball a little bit longer, to make certain that we get the proper depth of the route for the timing," Caldwell said. "Some of those things are there and in place. But it's a variety of things, I think, so we're crossing the entire gamut in that regard."