The Detroit Lions possess one of the NFL’s top QB-WR duos
The Detroit Lions passing game has long been the offense’s strength, and NFL.com noted as much in their rankings of their top QB-WR duos.
The high flying passing game of the Detroit Lions has been rolling ever since quarterback Matthew Stafford was drafted back in 2009.
Earlier this month, NFL.com’s Matt Harmon ranked the top quarterback to wide receiver duos from the 2017 season using Next Gen Stats data. His first sentence when talking about the Stafford to wide receiver Marvin Jones connection says a lot about this duo.
"“The football world at large didn’t give enough credit to either Matthew Stafford or Marvin Jones for their incredible seasons,” Harmon wrote on NFL.com."
This isn’t too surprising for Lions fans. After the departure of franchise star wide receiver Calvin Johnson, most of the attention has been on how the passing game in Detroit would survive. But Stafford has continued his success as a signal caller and found a new legitimate deep threat in Jones.
"“Stafford was one of the best tight-window passers in 2017, and Jones was his top weapon,” Harmon continued. “The Lions wideout led the league by a country mile with 529 yards gained on tight-window receptions, with no other player clearing 300.”"
The stats Harmon dug up were good enough for the duo to be placed just outside of the top 5 at number six in the league. Ahead of the Lions were a few obvious connections such as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown as well as the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Bress and Michael Thomas.
Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks in heavy passing offenses will easily get some attention. The other teams ahead of the Lions were the Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs. As a testament to how important the passing element is in today’s game, the Chargers were the only non-playoff team in the top 5.
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The Detroit Lions are certainly hoping the success of their passing connection in 2017 continues into 2018. With other threats in the receiving game including receivers Golden Tate and Kenny Golladay, it remains the strong point of this offense. An offense that should only get better with a presumed to be improved running game.