Safe, Smart Matthew Stafford Is a Winning Recipe for the Detroit Lions

The growth of quarterback Matthew Stafford represented the fundamental divergence between the Detroit Lions' Week 16 loss to the New York Giants in 2013 and the team's season-opening win over the same Giants club Monday night.

Stafford scorched the Giants early and put the game away late, his play safe and smart in his debut in a new offense. In between, his absence of mistakes ensured that a contest thoroughly dominated by Detroit ended in victory. The Lions sent the shell-shocked Giants back to New York with a 35-14 blowout loss to start 2014.

The story had a much different ending in December of last year.

The Giants mercifully ended the Lions' roller-coaster 2013 season, coming from behind to shock Detroit in overtime in Week 16. Stafford threw two interceptions, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter that tied the game, and New York went on to win—eliminating Detroit from the NFC playoff picture—on Josh Brown's 45-yard kick.

Extra time wasn't needed Monday night. And these Lions look very much alive. 

Stafford was ruthlessly effective to begin the contest. He completed all three of his passes on Detroit's first drive of the game, including a 67-yard touchdown to a wide-open Calvin Johnson on the fourth play from scrimmage of the new season. A drive later, Stafford found Johnson in the end zone again, this time from 16 yards out. 

Both came on scrambles on which Stafford stepped away from pressure and created a play down the field, which is exactly what he and Johnson had worked on in the offseason. As Johnson noted after the game (via ESPN.com), he was prepared for Stafford's improvisation:

"

When Matt breaks the pocket, I know I have to keep working, because he can put the ball anywhere on the field. We worked out together a lot during the offseason, and we did a lot of footwork drills. You can see that it is paying off for him. He's making moves.

"

His stat line through two series: 7-of-8 for 149 yards, two touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of 158.3. The Lions were up 14 and thinking blowout just 10 minutes into the contest.  

The Giants managed to momentarily calm the waters, scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the second quarter. At halftime, the Lions—despite dominating almost every available statistic—led by only seven points. 

Familiar feelings could have cropped up in the Lions locker room. Instead, Stafford and the Detroit offense turned the page and wrote a different script. 

While New York was sloppy and Eli Manning's offense sputtered, the Lions scored on four straight possessions in the second half, turning a 14-7 game at halftime into a 35-14 rout. 

Stafford's picks were the turning point of the game back in December 2013. Manning's did the same Monday. 

	Cmp/Att	Yrds	Yrd/Att	TD/INT	Rating
Week 16, 2013	25/42	222	5.3	0/2	53.9
Week 1, 2014	22/32	346*	10.8	2/0	125.3

DeAndre Levy's interception on the third play of the second half was turned into a short field goal. Manning's second pick of the third quarter put the dagger in Stafford's right hand, and he dug it deep into the Giants' heart with his third total touchdown of the game, scrambling into the end zone from five yards out. At 27-7, the game was effectively over. 

Stafford led the Lions 80 yards to the end zone immediately after New York's response. The drive culminated with the Giants allowing Joique Bell to lunge in from three yards out to complete the final scoreline. The Lions converted three third downs on the drive, all coming via Stafford completions. The 12-play march melted over seven minutes off the fourth-quarter clock. 

Most important, the scoring drive all but suffocated the "Lions choking" narrative. 

Detroit will be a tough out when Stafford plays as well as he did Monday.

He finished the contest completing 22 of 32 passes for 346 yards, two scores and zero turnovers. He took one sack and had a passer rating of 125.3, while carrying an offense that rushed for just 2.5 yards per carry. 

That's not bad for a quarterback most were ready to write off after a second straight supbar season in 2013. 

However, Stafford's salvation was just as much about the plays he did make as the ones he avoided.

The volume stats have always been there for the Lions quarterback. In fact, Monday night marked his 24th career 300-yard game (he's made 62 career starts). But the big mistakes have usually followed. On this night, Stafford took the plays that were there and lived to fight another day on those that weren't. He didn't hesitate to throw the football away and rarely did he have a need to force the football to Johnson.

The result was zero interceptions (for just the seventh time in a game he's thrown for 300 yards) and one convincing Lions win. 

One game does not a season make. Stafford has 15 more tests awaiting him. But Monday night was about as perfect a start as Stafford and the Lions could have hoped for. 

Last year's disappointing ending—which was authored in part by the Giants—has been momentarily shelved. It took a safe, smart Stafford to make it happen. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2