When it comes to rushing the football, the Detroit Lions are bad. Check that, they are worse than bad, they are absolutely horrendous. In fact, the Lions ranked dead-last in the entire NFL in 2017 as they rushed for just 76.3 yards per game, well behind the Cincinnati Bengals who were second to last with 85.4 rushing yards per contest.
Despite a non-existent rushing attack, Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense somehow managed to finish No. 7 in the league with 25.6 points per game. So just imagine if the Lions coaching staff is able to give Stafford some semblance of a running game.
http://gty.im/915493492
Fixing the run game is one of the biggest challenges Bob Quinn has faced since becoming the Lions general manager and up to this point he has been unsuccessful, despite adding offensive lineman via free agency.
Many figured Quinn and new head coach Matt Patricia would hire a run-game coordinator in hopes of improving things, but according to Quinn, that will likely not be the case.
From Detroit News:
“I don’t think Matt or I are big into titles,” general manager Bob Quinn said. “I think sometimes, when you look at other teams, you see all these titles and there’s reasons why they give those titles, to get guys out of contracts, give them more money and promotions. Matt and my philosophy is everybody will have their jobs to do.
“The running game is going to be a combination of head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, tight ends coach, running backs coach and maybe, to a small degree, receivers coach. This is going to be a collaborative thing. So I don’t perceive (adding a run-game coordinator).”
Patricia echoed Quinn’s sentiments regarding absolutely having to give titles to coaches.
“Here’s my thing that I learned a long time ago, everybody gets caught up in titles,” Patricia said. “I definitely think it’s a younger-generation thing, too. It’s hard for guys, they all want to say, ‘What’s my title?’ or ‘What am I doing?’
“I can give you a bunch of titles, but if it doesn’t mean anything, what’s the use?” he said. “I was an assistant coach in New England for 14 years. That’s all I was. I had a job, and my job changed every year. The head coach gave me my responsibilities and I did them the best I could. To me, that’s what it’s more about.”
In my opinion, Quinn and Patricia are 100% on the money. Establishing a running game is not something that should ever be on one person but instead on any coach who is involved in the offense in any way. Sounds like an obvious thing to me.
