Top-five fantasy quarterback Matthew Stafford had one of his most miserable games of his young career last week against the Chicago Bears, getting picked off four times (two returned for touchdowns) and throwing just one touchdown pass. Stafford wore a glove on his throwing hand for the first time in his career in order to improve his grip that is suffering due to a fractured index finger.
If the real reason for Stafford's struggles was a result of the wind in the Windy City and not the glove, playing in comfy Ford Field against the very mediocre Carolina Panthers should produce different, much better numbers.
According to Numberfire.com, Stafford is projected to be a top ten fantasy play this week, currently predicting he will put up about 245 yards passing and just under two touchdowns.
The Panthers are worse against the run, so if the Lions can establish any sort of running game, that should make things much easier for the Stafford-to-Calvin connection. Carolina is fairly good against the pass, though, so it's not a lock that the Lions' pass attack will rebound to form. But it won't be worse than last week -- it can't.