This is a bit esoteric topic, but it came from a discussion on a forum. Darrell Bevell is the new Lions Offensive Coach, after over 15 years experience with Green Bay, the Vikings and Seattle. What kind of profile does this guy have? Is he a run first coach, or pass first? Does he have (as a forum punter put it) have a "low volume passing history"? Or does he always go for the run in his second season, as this article put it?
https://sidelionreport.com/2019/05/04/detroit-lions-post-draft-2019-roster-predictions/
Here are the years of Bevell as Green Bay Quarterback Coach; he took this role in 2003 (after being the assistant).
https://sidelionreport.com/2019/05/04/detroit-lions-post-draft-2019-roster-predictions/
Here are the years of Bevell as Green Bay Quarterback Coach; he took this role in 2003 (after being the assistant).
I took a couple years before, and a couple years after, to compare the numbers. Bevell did not cause significantly lower passing volume, except in 2003, which was a bad year for Favre. The next year however, Favre ranked #1 QB in the league (when you could still be #1 with 4000 yards).
After GB, Bevell went to the Vikings, where he coached Brad Johnson, Travaris Jackson, Gus Frerotte and then finally Favre again in 2009/2010. Hardly exceptional QBs, with the exception of Favre in his final years.
In case you wondered, 2003/2004 was Culpepper, and 2004 was his career best year. Again, the passing volume was not great, but neither were the QBs.
Then Bevell went to Seattle, where he worked with rookie Russell Wilson:
In 2011 - 2013 Wilson started off his first couple years around QB #31 in passing yards, which is low. Note that 2008 however with Seneca Wallace and Matt Hasselbeck was even worse. I think you can defend that usage; but in any case, they were low. However, these were also the years they reached the Superbowl (and won one), so I think it was a justified choice.
After that the yardage picked up (and the results went down). In 2016 Wilson was the league's #16, which I guess is still a bit disappointing if you are a fan, but it's how they played him, and Caroll in 2018 got even fewer yards out of him.
So to me, "Bevell and his low volume passing history" is not correct. Maybe he's no wizard, but it's also not as if he always kept fantastic QBs to terrible numbers.
What does it mean for the Lions, Stafford and Golladay? I think they'll be an average offense. Nothing spectaculair, but with Patricia going into his second year they should be better than 2018.
Edit: Maybe I'm just wrong. Here's another look at the passing (and rushing data) from a different perspective:
After that the yardage picked up (and the results went down). In 2016 Wilson was the league's #16, which I guess is still a bit disappointing if you are a fan, but it's how they played him, and Caroll in 2018 got even fewer yards out of him.
So to me, "Bevell and his low volume passing history" is not correct. Maybe he's no wizard, but it's also not as if he always kept fantastic QBs to terrible numbers.
What does it mean for the Lions, Stafford and Golladay? I think they'll be an average offense. Nothing spectaculair, but with Patricia going into his second year they should be better than 2018.
Edit: Maybe I'm just wrong. Here's another look at the passing (and rushing data) from a different perspective:
The chart shows 2 lines; the ranking of his offense among NFL offenses (1 is best, 32 is worst) for rushing and passing. Clearly then you can say that in most of his seasons, his Offenses passed below average (bottom third even), with a couple exceptions:
- Favre in 2009
- Wilson in 2016/2017
His rushing offenses seem to have been near the top quite often though, which could be promising for Kerryon Johnson in 2019.
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