Stafford vs Cox

Fellas, maybe I'm too hard on the kid but I totally agree with our Gator friend regarding Stafford's inability to be a leader. Yes, I saw him get fired up plenty of times the past 3 years and yes like CMR he has a more laid back personality than most so he can often come off as lackadaisical. Fact of the matter is, MS wasn't a leader. I think some of this stems from his upbringing which I don't know a whole lot about but I will speculate. Pretty sure Stafford grew up in a wealthy part of Dallas and he probably never had to struggle for much in his life. To say that wealth and leadership are mutually exclusive would be innaccurate but this Dawg fan thinks that natural leaders are more likely to come from the school of hard knocks as opposed to being one of those \"Fortunate Sons\" that one of my favorite bands ever Creedence Clearwater Revival sang about when John Fogerty belted out, \"some folks were born silver spoon in hand\".

That said, and it pains me to say this, the leadership that Tebow provides is what makes him so special and the leadership that Stafford failed to provide hurt the Dawgs badly in 08' (not to pin it all on MS, others could've/should've stepped up as well). Tebow seemed to WILL the Gators to victory after the Ole Miss loss. I also don't at all blame or resent MS for taking the $$$ and heading to the NFL and quite frankly, (said this before) I'm actually glad to see Joe Cox get a chance to shine. I think your spot on though gatorSTRONG; Stafford could've gained a ton of additional mental/leadership experience by staying in Athens for his Senior year.

I do hope MS achieves great things in the NFL, unfortunately, the Detroit Lions haven't done much but lose, in my lifetime, so it's gonna be an uphill battle if he does go #1. Poor Barry Sanders, the most exciting and unique RB I've ever seen play and he never even sniffed a Lombardi Trophy. Man was Barry a treat to watch though. Wish he could've continued to WOW us for a few more years.

Ditto here Goosedawg & 'STRONG!

GATORstrong wrote:

Your right Buc. He could not have operated as well in th UF offense. Not because of lack of talent, he has more talent then Tebow hands down. But I do think that if Stafford would have been more of a leader they could have done much more. MS has twice the pure ability then Greene had, but Greene was a leader and has an SEC championship on his resume. I feel that leadership skills in the close games is something that MS would have benefited from in a senior season.

Man. My tongue is swelling up and my stomach is turning over, but I'm agreeing with a Gator on this one. I never felt Matthew Stafford was a true leader, any more than I felt Tasha Humphrey was one. Wait. After the Oklahoma State game I thought he was a leader, but was quickly proven wrong when he looked like a lost little boy against SCarolina the next week. Never made that mistake again.

Look, you can have all the natural talent you want, but GS is right. David Greene was a far better college quarterback, and he's got the 40-10 record to prove it. That's why I want Stafford to sit a year or two in the NFL. I don't want him to turn into Ryan Leaf or Quincy Carter or anybody else of that ilk.

Then again, those are ALSO the reasons I love Joe Cox. HA HA! Watch out, SEC East!

More to support my love of hometown hero Joe Cox: myespn.go.com/blogs/sec/0-5-129/Green--I...ne-for-Bulldogs.html

The Greene/Cox comparisons are good.
I see the fire in Joe Cox's belly.