ALLEN PARK — Matthew Stafford is entering his 10th season as Lions quarterback, thus entering his 10th training camp. While acknowledging he’s not in his 20s anymore, the veteran signal caller said he’s feeling quite good this summer.
“When I came into this league I was 21 years old and I felt pretty good most days, but you know, 30 now, I don’t feel bad, but it’s different,” Stafford told reporters on Thursday. “A little bit of a new normal. I feel as good as I’ve felt coming into a camp in a long time. I feel really healthy and ready to go.”
With the hire of new Lions coach Matt Patricia this offseason, Stafford will be playing for the third head coach of his career, and also a new position coach in George Godsey.
“Every year is a different year,” he said, “new players, new coaches. All that kind of stuff always happens in this league and this year is the same.”
While names and faces may have changed throughout the course of Stafford’s career in Detroit, one thing has remained the same: the Lions have not won a playoff game. Stafford has been to three playoff games but failed to advance each time. Naturally, now that the team is beginning a new season, the Lions signal caller was asked about that very topic once again.
“There is that mindset to go out there and work to prove people wrong and all that kind of stuff. I just want to prove myself right that I put this work in for a reason. I’m not doing it to prove anybody else wrong. I’m doing it to prove myself right and understand that what I do is for the betterment of this team and this organization. That’s kind of the positive spin that I put on it and it works for me.”
Lions training camp officially opens Friday morning at 9:15am ET.