Detroit Lions: Fans continue to be baffled by Darrell Bevell hiring
By Robert Jones
For comparisons sake let’s take a look at the Lions offense this past season. It was sort of run, run again, then throw a short pass into the flats, if Stafford wasn’t sacked first. Wow, talk about excitement.
I think you all get the point.
Which leads us to Matthew Stafford, the ‘game manager’. This was an ironic complaint I heard from one fan, ‘They can’t win with Matthew Stafford at quarterback and now they’ll just run the ball all the time’.
Am I the only one who saw what an oxymoron that statement was?
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I realize there are many fans out there that have lost faith In Matthew Stafford, but when you complain that you think the Lions will take the ball out if his hands in the same breath that you say you don’t believe in him, it kind of implodes your whole case.
I also believe that fans are a little misguided in what the Lions offense will look like next year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lions run the ball 50-55% of the time depending on game situations, but that still leaves 45-50% of the time that Stafford will be putting the ball in the air.
One of Bevell’s strengths as an offensive coordinator is putting players in a position to utilize their own particular skill sets. Stafford won’t be asked to do what Russell Wilson does or Tarvaris Jackson did as highly mobile quarterbacks, but it wouldn’t be unusual to see some play-action roll-outs and moving pockets to help get Matthew more time to throw the ball.
And I would be extremely surprised if Bevell doesn’t take advantage of Stafford’s strong right arm. Unlike the nothing but short passes we saw all this past season, we should expect to see the Lions playbook actually employ intermediate to deep passes.
That doesn’t mean the 45-50% of the time the Lions will go to the air will all be deep balls, but they should be a more regular part of the offense than they were during this disappointing season.
Which brings us to the whole Matthew Stafford conundrum.