Post by Vic on Sept 25, 2019 9:20:37 GMT -6
lionswire.usatoday.com/2019/06/24/matthew-stafford-thrived-on-play-action-in-2018/
(Play action with NO run game last year)
This season, though, Stafford has a whopping 125.3 passer rating on play action, which is the highest total in his career. The closest he has come before has been 116.8 in 2015 and 117.4 last season, but neither of those numbers compare to what he has done so far this year.
With a dominating ground game, Stafford has been able to pick teams apart in the second level, and Jim Bob Cooter seems to be enjoying having a running game to work with. That helps Stafford as a distributor, and he no longer has to wing the ball downfield, but can rather target his players confidently in the second level, which is just what he's doing.
247sports.com/nfl/detroit-lions/Article/Matthew-Stafford-Lions-play-action-pass-123803252/
Regarding facing 8 in the box:
With the increase in opportunities, logic says Johnson’s percentage of loaded boxes would decrease but the opposite occurred. In fact, Johnson faced an 8+ man front on 60-percent of his carries against the Philadelphia Eagles, the highest among all running backs in Week
So you son't think this will open up the passing game downfield?
I understand about what you meant about the play calling predictability when calling the run plays. But the Lions still need to run the ball to open up the pass.
Passing 2019: THis is what 8 in the box will do.....
The Lions did hold the Los Angeles Chargers to 10 points in a 13-10 win on Sunday. But they also allowed 424 yards in the game, and 811 for the season. That ranks 26th in the league.
But the offense has cracked the top 10, at No. 8 overall, and they’ve done it by throwing the football. Matthew Stafford currently ranks fifth in the league in passing, with 630 yards, and is one of 11 starting quarterbacks with a passer rating in triple digits (102.6).
“Two games aren’t a long time,” Stafford said, "but it’s definitely going in the right direction.”
So far, that direction has been a re-discovery of the downfield pass. Stafford’s passes are traveling an average of 11.1 yards through the air, which is nearly double last year’s average of 6.91. He ranks second only to Ryan Fitzpatrick this year, after ranking 31st last year.
The sample size is small, but that’s a massive swing in offensive philosophy.
Stafford hit Kenny Golladay with one such pass last week, connecting on a 31-yard touchdown strike that lifted Detroit to an upset of the Chargers. It was the 28th fourth-quarter comeback of Stafford’s career, which leads all quarterbacks since he entered the league in 2009.
Golladay finished with 117 yards in the game, and leads the Lions with 12 catches for 159 yards and two scores on the season. But while he’s been Stafford’s favorite target, he’s been far from the only one. In two games, the Lions have had three different 100-yard receivers. Tight end T.J. Hockenson had 131 yards in the opener, while Danny Amendola added 104.
After an offseason of talk about how much the Lions wanted to run the football, it is Stafford’s ability to spray the ball around the field to different receivers that has kept the offense afloat in the early going. They’re averaging just 3.5 yards per carry, which ranks 25th in the league.
“I’m just trying to get the ball to the guys who have got the best look on the certain play,” Stafford said. "We draw plays up and I think it might go somewhere, and it goes somewhere else in the game, or it goes exactly where you thought it was going to go. Sometimes you don’t know. I’m just trying to spread the ball around and give our guys opportunities.
"I think it’s just a testament to the guys we have on this team, a bunch of talented guys who can turn catches into big runs and big gains.”
(Play action with NO run game last year)
This season, though, Stafford has a whopping 125.3 passer rating on play action, which is the highest total in his career. The closest he has come before has been 116.8 in 2015 and 117.4 last season, but neither of those numbers compare to what he has done so far this year.
With a dominating ground game, Stafford has been able to pick teams apart in the second level, and Jim Bob Cooter seems to be enjoying having a running game to work with. That helps Stafford as a distributor, and he no longer has to wing the ball downfield, but can rather target his players confidently in the second level, which is just what he's doing.
247sports.com/nfl/detroit-lions/Article/Matthew-Stafford-Lions-play-action-pass-123803252/
Regarding facing 8 in the box:
With the increase in opportunities, logic says Johnson’s percentage of loaded boxes would decrease but the opposite occurred. In fact, Johnson faced an 8+ man front on 60-percent of his carries against the Philadelphia Eagles, the highest among all running backs in Week
So you son't think this will open up the passing game downfield?
I understand about what you meant about the play calling predictability when calling the run plays. But the Lions still need to run the ball to open up the pass.
Passing 2019: THis is what 8 in the box will do.....
The Lions did hold the Los Angeles Chargers to 10 points in a 13-10 win on Sunday. But they also allowed 424 yards in the game, and 811 for the season. That ranks 26th in the league.
But the offense has cracked the top 10, at No. 8 overall, and they’ve done it by throwing the football. Matthew Stafford currently ranks fifth in the league in passing, with 630 yards, and is one of 11 starting quarterbacks with a passer rating in triple digits (102.6).
“Two games aren’t a long time,” Stafford said, "but it’s definitely going in the right direction.”
So far, that direction has been a re-discovery of the downfield pass. Stafford’s passes are traveling an average of 11.1 yards through the air, which is nearly double last year’s average of 6.91. He ranks second only to Ryan Fitzpatrick this year, after ranking 31st last year.
The sample size is small, but that’s a massive swing in offensive philosophy.
Stafford hit Kenny Golladay with one such pass last week, connecting on a 31-yard touchdown strike that lifted Detroit to an upset of the Chargers. It was the 28th fourth-quarter comeback of Stafford’s career, which leads all quarterbacks since he entered the league in 2009.
Golladay finished with 117 yards in the game, and leads the Lions with 12 catches for 159 yards and two scores on the season. But while he’s been Stafford’s favorite target, he’s been far from the only one. In two games, the Lions have had three different 100-yard receivers. Tight end T.J. Hockenson had 131 yards in the opener, while Danny Amendola added 104.
After an offseason of talk about how much the Lions wanted to run the football, it is Stafford’s ability to spray the ball around the field to different receivers that has kept the offense afloat in the early going. They’re averaging just 3.5 yards per carry, which ranks 25th in the league.
“I’m just trying to get the ball to the guys who have got the best look on the certain play,” Stafford said. "We draw plays up and I think it might go somewhere, and it goes somewhere else in the game, or it goes exactly where you thought it was going to go. Sometimes you don’t know. I’m just trying to spread the ball around and give our guys opportunities.
"I think it’s just a testament to the guys we have on this team, a bunch of talented guys who can turn catches into big runs and big gains.”