There is no question about it, for the Detroit Lions to take a step forward in 2019, they absolutely had to get a new voice in the offensive room. That’s exactly what the team did by announcing Jim Bob Cooter would no longer be the offensive coordinator moving forward. Instead, head coach Matt Patricia elected to bring in veteran OC, Darrell Bevell lead Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense.
http://gty.im/160542559
As soon as the hire was made, plenty of experts hopped on social media and their blogs to point out the obvious. Bevell is a run-first OC.
Now, when looking back at what Bevell has done in his career as a play caller, it is clear he likes to establish a solid rushing attack but he has also shown that he is smart enough to play to the strengths of his team.
On Monday, during the Lions annual season ticket holder Q&A at Ford Field, Bevell was asked about what the offense will look like in 2019 and to be honest, either he is still unsure or he does not want to give anything away.
From Detroit News:
“I hope it’s one that scores points,” Bevell said Monday, at the Lions season ticket holder summit at Ford Field. “That’s the first thing we need to do. But right now, it’s still something we’re trying to build. It’s easy to say what we want to do in the run game, what we want to do in the pass game, but we need to build around our players. We’re going to do what Kerryon (Johnson) does well, we’re going to do what our wide receivers do well, what Matthew (Stafford) does well.
“At this point, to make big, bold statements, it’s a little bit early because we need to discover a little bit more about our personnel.”
Bevell acknowledged that is all starts with quarterback Matthew Stafford and playing to his strengths.
“In my conversations with him, we want to make sure we’re doing the things he’s been successful at, but I talked about with him stretching him a little bit, maybe putting him in positions that he hasn’t been before and being able to push our offense to new heights,” Bevell said.
Though the Lions offense is a work in progress, Bevell is excited to build an offense that will work around the players he has available to him.
“I’m really excited just to build this thing,” Bevell said. “I don’t even know where we’re going to go, who we’re going to be, yet, because we’re going to build this around our players.”
