Matt Stafford Attended the Same High School as Bobby Layne

This is so coincidental that it’s scary. Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford and former quarterback who has since passed, Bobby Layne, attended the same high school. That high school is Highland Park High School in Dallas. Both quarterbacks have something else in common: they were both great.

Bobby Layne attended The University of Texas and Matt Stafford attended The University of Georgia. Layne played 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Detroit Lions from 1950-1958. He was also a placekicker. He was drafted in 1948 in the first round, pick number three. He was a 3x NFL champion, 6x Pro Bowler, NFL 1950s All-Decade Team, and he threw for over 26,000 yards. The Detroit Lions retired his No. 22, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He also had a reputation for having a cocktail once in a while.

Now Matthew Stafford was a 2009 first pick in the first round by the Detroit Lions. He has played with the Lions his entire career. The Lions have smelled most of the time since he’s been in Motown. But, to be fair, they have smelled for the past 50 years too. He was a Pro Bowler in 2014, NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2011, has thrown for 41,025 yards and has a 89.3 Passer rating. Stafford was the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 5,000 yards in a single season. In high school, he was also the catcher for Dodger Cy Young pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

It seems unlikely that two of the best quarterbacks in Lions history would have attended the same high school, but it's true. That’s just an amazing coincidence.

And remember how I mentioned that the Lions have smelled for the last 50 years? Some blame that on the curse of Bobby Layne, which you can learn more about below.