Is Matthew Stafford primed for a breakout season?

[DBSoT]

That question may seem odd, especially with Calvin retiring and with this being Stafford's 7th season in the NFL, but look at the below stats.

Since Week 8 of last season:
Passing Attempts: 332
Pass Completions: 236
Completion %: 71.08%
Total Yards: 2519 (280/Game)
Total TDs: 22
Total Ints: 2 (This one shocked me)
Avg QBR: 72.1

So his numbers seems to show progression, but what about the team's record. They were 7-9 last season (not great). They had to go 6-2 in the 2nd half of the season to get there. This came after the change in offensive coordinator to Jim Bob Cooter (hehe). They missed a wild card spot by 2 games, but that includes the hail mary loss to GB and the batted ball issue in Seattle. Could the change in offensive scheme have massively helped Stafford?

Next let's look at Stafford's next 7 opponents: Tenn, At GB, At Chi, Phi, LA, Wash, At Hou and At Minn. Houston and Minnesota are clearly the biggest tests in terms of defensive talent. Chicago, Philly and Washington are lacking defensively. Tenn, GB and LA are right in the middle.

Finally, let's look at Stafford's final 8 opponents: Jags, Minn, At NO, CHi, At NYG, At Dallas and GB. In term of defenses this schedule is lighter than the first half. Minn is the best of the bunch, but the Jags and Green Bay are just behind. New Orleans, Chicago, New York and Dallas all have defensive issues, especially in the secondary.

So I ask, could this be Stafford's breakout year? There is a lot of football left, but it seems to be laid out in front of him. Out of the 15 games remaining, only 3 of them are against elite defenses and only 6 of them are against good/great defenses.

[Messiah]

What would you call 2011?

Unless you mean breakout into being a consistently top tier QB (as in top 12/10), which is possible. Stafford is better than people give him credit for and Detroit's offense has been getting slept on this entire offseason just because Johnson left. They have a LOT of weapons. Abdullah, Riddick, Tate, Jones, Boldin, Ebron, none of them are elite guys but all capable of making plays and they mesh really well together.

[Everlong]

Yeah I was going to say, 2011 was his breakout year, but he's been unable to live up to that standard since then.

I'll believe it when I see it out of Stafford when it comes to consistency. He hasn't really earned the right to be considered a top flight QB yet, despite showing hints of a "breakout" just about every year. Would I be surprised if he's one of the league's better QBs this year? Not really. But I'd be equally unsurprised if he ended up having a middling to subpar season, also.

[Messiah]

You jinxed him.

[DBSoT]

He didn't play well against Tennessee, but he did also have 3 TDs passes called back on penalties. So his completion % would still be shit, but he would have had at least 2 more TDs. The game ending INT was a disaster though. I want to focus my anger on Stafford's play, but I don't have any left after my complete hatred for all things Jim Caldwell. What a doofus of a coach.