So my MAF sensor has been going out for a little while. Got a new one in UPS today, but yesterday on the way to work my car started lurching when I got on the gas. Then on the way home it was sputtering, lurching and almost stalling. It felt as though the valet mode was on to describe it a little bit but it wasn't the same on the rpm scale and the behavior. I barely made it up the mile long hill on the road to my house, couldn't maintain over 30-35 mph and had to keep shoving clutch in and switching back and forth between gears just to keep the car moving while revving in neutral to keep car on.
Got home and found out that the aluminum mesh screen in the MAF sensor had come out, It was badly warped from the day I bought the car but it finally came loose and was bouncing around inside my air filter and causing all kinds of hell with the reading of the MAF from such extreme changes in airflow. Well I reshaped the screen and reinstalled it and it drove great until i got on the gas again and it started all over. I had to stop at a buddies house on the way home to remove it and I just left it with him for scrap metal . Car runs much better now but still needs new sensor. Will have that installed once i get off work and in the near future I will be switching to speed density. I'm sick all the crap I've had to deal with on my MAF.

Would it throw a code for that or just run like crap?

my car is really inconsistent too. i tapped my maf when my car was running and it just died!

i think im in the same boat as you man!

Just ran like crap. No codes.

Remove the maf housing from your turbo inlet piping, then look directly into the sensor, if you don't see a honeycomb metal grill by where the filter connects all the way across try shaking it a little and if it rattles you may need to take the honey comb out and time for a new MAF.
If it just idles rough it could be your MAF or even as simple as an oxygen sensor. Do you have a CEL on?