Former state stars Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford had their best day as a tandem yesterday, powering the Detroit Lions to a 37-25 win over the Washington Redskins. Stafford threw for 212 yards and four touchdowns, 101 and three to Johnson. Shutdown Corner found Megatron's performance even more impressive than Jaguars QB David Garrard's five-touchdown outburst, naming Johnson the NFL's week 8 MVP.
Stafford had missed over a month of action with a shoulder injury. During his absence, Johnson had a 146-yard game and kicked off a four-game touchdown streak, but if there's any young NFL combo just raring to put up big numbers, its the one formed by Stafford's artillery arm and Johnson's power forward presence.
The pair has been held back by the rest of Detroit's offense, with the Lions' offensive line giving up 26 sacks in Stafford's 12 career games and a lack of options allowing defenses to octuple cover Johnson. But with TE Brandon Pettigrew and RB Jahvid Best coming on as viable receiving options, we may start to see days like Sunday a little more often.
↵