This is driving me nuts too. If you can’t run the ■■■■■■■ ball for the first three quarters why is Bevell expecting different results running the ball in crunch time?
3rd and 10 is very difficult to get, especially with receivers who have trouble getting open.
Let me follow up on this with another observation
In the final 14 minutes, the Lions ran 9 plays in Eagles territory:
You guys said he should have ran the ball vs Arizona, even if it didn’t work. Hell, one guy said we should have even just kneeled the ball down. “You don’t pass the ball…period. Everybody knows that!!!”
It’s disgusting , it really is. Matt has been asked to throw 33 times on 2nd & 3rd and long (10+ yards) when he has been money throwing on 1st down .
We need to pass to open the run up , our run game is just not ready to give us the 4-5 yds needed on 1st down runs .
Philly had a good run D, but ya still got to run to keep them honest and at the same time try to get the run game going and wear them down. It’s the penalties and blocked FG that bothered me.
Eh…that’s what you do when you have a 2 score lead and your trying to eat clock.
The best possible thing would be …
Run for 3 yards
Run for 4 yards
Run for 4 yards
Over and over again
But we got stopped an had to throw on 3rd down.
I do think on the second series it was ripe for the 1 time a game Stafford Read-Option. On one of the runs Stafford handed off and the end was coming down hard. If Stafford had kept it there was nothing but turf in front of him for a long time.
You can’t go all “air raid” and throw it all over just because the fans will say your pulling a turtle, but I would love to see a play action when they are stacking the box on 2nd down sometimes to keep them honest
Agreed but I expected more from Bevell with Stafford in regards to miss direction and rolling out ( Like Wilson ) …Stafford is under utilized in the aspect of athletic ability and his legs.
I mentioned in another post in regards to the run game , I really wonder if we have a “tell” taking place in the run game , maybe with Ragnow or Decker .
Not late in the 4th quarter when a 1st down increases the chance of victory by 80%.
That’s when I would abandon the run. Do a run fake, and then throw a wide receiver screen.
It’s like Bevell is stubborn and continues to try and place a square peg into a round hole, despite facing an 8 man front.
Ridiculous!
I get that in an ideal world you run out the clock with a great run attack. That’s not looking at the reality of the situation, and what your personnel is capable of doing.
Yes, run out the clock with the lead if you have Dallas’s O-line with Beastmode or Adrian Peterson lined up in the backfield.
I am a believer that you take advantage of the situation. If we were a good running team and could impose our will it is a different story. The one area that is difficult for fans to see is how tired the defense is at that point in the game. It may have been an issue in the heat there. I do prefer if the team runs short passes or misdirection to catch an over aggressive team like Philly off balance. If they are irrationally all up on the LOS I do believe you have to burn them over the top. Running up the middle makes it much tougher to move the ball to move the chains and finish the game. Athletes perform better when they are allowed to play aggressive. Things have been accentuated here by the bad special teams play.
To typecast Bevell as this type of playcaller or that is not accurate. He’s shown he can be aggressive late in games. Players have to execute no matter what he calls. The Eagle D was tired and playing it “safe” by running a couple downs was more like, let’s see if we can make a hole here for Kerryon. They didn’t. Had they thrown a pick 6, geez would this place have gone nuts. Stafford made a bad throw to Jones and there were other failures in execution. I’m pleased with Bevell thus far.
It drove me batty when he called a run right into the 8 man front two straight times prior to the two minute warning with Philly having 3 timeouts. It was basically handing the ball back to them. You do that under two minutes when the opposition has 2 or less timeouts. It’s that afraid to lose mentality that I can’t stand. It’s not even the run calls that bothered me, it’s running straight up the middle twice. Mix it up a bit, move some players around with misdirection, spread it out a bit. That wasn’t a run out the clock situation, they needed a first down or two.
I knew the second they stopped Wentz on 4th down and the idiot announcer said “this is the game right here” that the Lions would go super conservative and give the ball right back. This is why I preferred a more offensive minded coach. Somebody who is more innovative and willing to grab the victory even with more risk instead of hoping the other team hands it to you.
This is about it. Now, frankly, I would like to hear an explanation of the thought process, and I’m sure it would be very valid. Let’s face it, you guys are running 20/20 hindsight, and Wes is right that if they were passing and not succeeding, you would be complaining about that.
