The Detroit Lions have high hopes for their offense during the 2020 season, but none of those hopes may amount to anything if the team’s offensive front cannot help out Matthew Stafford.
Last season, Stafford was elite when he got any semblance of protection from the pocket. As Pro Football Focus explained, Stafford was graded amongst the NFL’s elite with a gaudy 92.9 rating when his pocket was clean. That was right near the top of the league through Week 9 of the 2019 season.
Passing from a clean pocket is one of the most stable metrics for a QB
Matthew Stafford was among the best last season before his injury when he was kept clean
Except, the problem remains the fact that Stafford wasn’t always protected. He was crunched in a midseason hit and ended up missing time with a back injury. For a pair of consecutive seasons, Stafford has had back injuries cripple him. For a quarterback that needs to stay in the game and stay upright, this is a troubling trend.
In order to reach their goals of a turnaround, the Lions need solid play out of tackles Taylor Decker and Halapoulivaati Vaitai. They need Frank Ragnow to play at a Pro Bowl level, and they will need a pair of rookies to step up and solidify the guard spots quickly. The line needs to come together and help the team play winning football for arguably the first time in Stafford’s tenure.
Anything less than an elite season from the front, and the Lions will likely have more questions to answer at the end of the year.
Darrell Bevell Excited For Lions Nasty Offensive Line
Recently, Darrell Bevell, the team’s offensive coordinator, spoke with the media at length about the coming season and one of the most interesting takeaways was the fact that he feels as if the offensive line is going to be much tougher this coming season thanks to who they added in the draft.
Speaking in a piece by Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com, Bevell explained why he thinks the players the team just added should be able to change their mindset in a major way.
Bevell said:
“If I think back to what (center) Frank (Ragnow) maybe was talking to you guys about that toughness and when you look at those guys with Jonah and with Logan and those guys, I think they bring that mentality,” Bevell said.
“You really want those tough, nasty grinders because that’s what it is in the run game. It’s a grown man’s type of game and I’ve always talked on here that’s something we really hang our hat on and we weren’t able to do it as well as we wanted to last year. So, hopefully some of these additions will be able to help us do that.”
Detroit’s line has been lacking in toughness in recent history, so if Bevell is right and the team’s mindset changes, that will be great news for the team and their offense moving forward. Obviously, Stenberg and Jackson will be a big reason why in the end.
Stafford and the Lions need the line to be this nasty to have a chance.
Consistent Defense Also Helps Matthew Stafford
Not only is the team’s offensive line a key to quarterback success, but so is their defense. Over Stafford’s career in Detroit, much has been made of the quarterback’s checkered record in terms of wins and losses and especially playoff wins. But a deeper look at some stats proves that Stafford hasn’t gotten much help from his defense through the years in order to help engineer winning.
Jon Poole crunched some numbers and came to the realization that Stafford has a gaudy 41-14 record when his defense allows 20 points or less. The only trouble? That rarely happens.
Matthew Stafford is 41-14 when the #Lions defense gave up 20pts or less
This offseason, much was made of the team’s desire to stick with Stafford for the future. It’s obvious the reason why the team believes in the quarterback has everything to do with the notion that if they improve the defense, Stafford will be significantly impacted in a positive way and do more winning. They’ve hired a defensive coach to do this in Matt Patricia. The problem? It hasn’t worked just yet.
It’s obvious the Lions are committed to building up the defense in the hopes they might finally give Stafford a group that can help him win games. Fixing the defense and getting solid play from the offensive front may be the best way to help Stafford over the top to give him a winning record in the future.
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Offensive Line Play Key to Matthew Stafford’s 2020 Success