Anyone who watched the Detroit Lions passing offense in 2021 knows something just wasn’t right. All those checkdowns and short passes left the Lions largely impotent on offense and too easy to defend.
A blurb buried in a recent ESPN article lays out just how unusually bad the Lions passing offense was last season.
The disturbing truth from Seth Walder of ESPN,
The Lions threw short of the sticks 65% of the time last season, higher than any other team by a mile (the Panthers were next at 54%). Getting more aggressive in that department will be one of many areas needed to turn this team around.
Between the lack of downfield weaponry, Anthony Lynn’s bland offense for the first half of the season and Jared Goff’s relative timidity at attacking, it led to throwing short of the required yardage for a first down an absurd amount of the time. Being that much of an anomaly is something the Lions must remedy in 2022 if they want to escape the basement of the NFC North.
Fortunately, the Lions improved upon the terrible rate once Lynn was replaced as the offensive coordinator by the combination of Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson, who is now the offensive coordinator. Adding DJ Chark and Jameson Williams as speedy receivers can only help, too.