Tag: Darrell Bevell

Week 13 snap counts: Lions roll out 4 down DL under Darrell Bevell

Breaking down the Detroit Lions snap counts after their Week 13 victory over the Chicago Bears.

There’s not a lot you can do to the physical makeup of a roster in a week, and for interim coach Darrell Bevell, he needed to rely on the scheme put in place by Matt Patrica — with a few twists mixed in.

On offense, there weren’t a lot of changes, which isn’t overly surprising considering he likely had some weekly influence on how much players played, but on defense, there was a noticeable change up front.

The most notable change was the use of the Lions’ base defense ends Romeo Okwara and Everson Griffen.

Over the last two weeks, the Lions relied on their linebackers to create pressure off the edge, but in this game, Bevell and defensive coordinator Cory Undlin went back to their strategy against Washington and used bigger bodies on the edge.

Okwara was on the field 96-percent of defensive snaps, while Griffen saw 65-percent of his own. Each player did rush from a standing position at times, but the idea of getting bigger up front suits this team’s strengths — especially when Trey Flowers, Austin Bryant, and Julian Okwara return.

That, and more in this week’s snap count review.

Darrell Bevell pulls off an anti-Matt Patricia victory in first game as interim coach

Welcome to the Darrell Bevell era in Detroit. The Lions still have their flaws, but the team is noticeably different than they were under the previous regime.

Welcome to the Darrell Bevell era in Detroit.

The Lions still have their flaws, especially on defense, but this team is noticeably different than they were under the previous regime. From the team’s approach leading up to the game to how they closed out the victory, this was the antithesis of most things former-Lions coach Matt Patricia has preached for three years.

When Bevell took over last weekend, he said he was going to change some things. While not all those changes were made public, there were notable changes in practice: ranging from music aimed at a younger generation to an adjustment of the player’s schedule — players reportedly complained to Bevell they were feeling run down under the Patricia schedule — and the energy level went up a notch.

Consistently, players were reported to be looser and more relaxed in the locker room and it matched Bevell’s approach of allowing them to have more fun during the week.

Once the game started, Bevell — who is still calling the plays — was aggressive on offense, opening the playbook up a bit more, especially the deep pass, as noted in Matthew Stafford’s pass distribution chart, courtesy of NFL Next Gen Stats:

The Lions managed sixty yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but they were by no means married to it as something they had to “establish”.

Additionally, the defense failed to stop the run today — another phrase we have heard every week for the last 1,000 days — and while that led to a double-digit deficit, the late-game playcalling didn’t force the team into a meltdown.

Make no mistake, the defense is still bad, there’s only so much you can change in a week, but the demeanor and attitude that surrounds this team has been altered.

In today’s post-game press conference, worn-out all-too-common phrases — like “We didn’t execute well enough. We’ve gotta coach better, I’ve gotta coach better. And we’ve gotta play better.” — were nowhere to be found. Instead, Bevell introduced thoughtful and raw insight.

Here’s a sampling of the best responses from Bevell’s post-game presser:

“We had a windshield and no rearview mirror.”

“They continued to play, you know, for 60 minutes.”

On his halftime speech: “Play just until there’s no time left on the clock, and continue to play with the joy and the enthusiasm that we wanted to play with and we’ll see what happens at the end.”

“That’s what I asked them to do, just keep playing and keep playing and good things would happen at the end, and it did.”

“My mentality was that, like if I’m going to lead these guys, I gotta have that same belief.”

“We kind of let him (Stafford) play today, and he just responded in a big way.”

“I think we just probably had a little bit more focus on them (big plays) this week, and Matthew (Stafford) responded in a good way.”

“Matthew Stafford presented (me with) the game ball in there (locker room). It was just — I mean I can’t even describe it, just amazing.”

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Lions Week 13 Studs and Duds: Darrell Bevell’s offense leads the way

Reviewing the Studs and Duds from the Detroit Lions Week 13 victory over the Chicago Bears.

The Detroit Lions, under the guidance of interim head coach Darrell Bevell, came back after trailing the Chicago Bears by 13 points in the fourth quarter to pull off a Week 13 win in the Windy City.

There were plenty of struggles on defense, but overall there were a lot of things for Lions fans to be optimistic about.

Stud: Darrell Bevell’s offense

There was a different kind of energy on the field — one that Lions fans haven’t seen in a long time.

Stafford walked out of the tunnel with a smile on his face, presumably knowing he’d have his best game of the season under interim head coach Darrell Bevell.

The offense looked much more comfortable under Bevell. Stafford was able to let loose and make some deep plays. The Lions used just about every weapon at their disposal to move the ball, and move it quickly.

The up-tempo feel to the offense was a breath of fresh air watching this team come back from a double-digit deficit.

Bevell may not be the head coach after this season, but at least he got the bad taste of Matt Patricia out of everyone’s mouths.

Dud: The defense

It’s clear that the Lions will have a lot of rebuilding to do on defense. The unit was so bad against Chicago that it was difficult to pinpoint individual players for the “duds” list.

Penalties were everywhere, with Romeo Okwara and Darryl Roberts assisting Chicago’s offense due to their errors in the first half. Everson Griffen had a neutral zone infraction turned a third-and-six to a convertible 3rd-and-one.

In coverage, everyone struggled. There were holes everywhere, allowing Mitchell Trubisky to look like a Pro Bowler while carving up the defense with passes to Allen Robinson.

And then there’s the run defense that allowed three touchdowns in the first half. The Lions’ front-seven simply could not do anything to contain David Montgomery or Cordarrele Patterson in the run game, allowing over 100 yards in the first half by the duo on their 18 carries.

Tackling proved to be an issue throughout the matchup as well. On one of David Montgomery’s touchdowns, two Lions defenders missed tackles on the young running back before Duron Harmon was able to get his hands on him. Unfortunately, Harmon wasn’t able to bring Montgomery down before he crossed into the end zone.

At the end of the game, the defense bent, and nearly broke, as they tried to prevent Trubisky from coming back in the final seconds. Allowing first down after first down and a horse collar penalty from Jayron Kearse, the defense was able to make a fourth-down stop to ice the game for Detroit.

The defense just didn’t play well, and MLive’s Kyle Meinke summed up their struggles best:

Stud: Matthew Stafford

Bevell’s playcalling has allowed Stafford to do what he does best — throw it deep. The quarterback was making tight-window throws and heaving some accurate deep passes, including one really impressive one to rookie Quintez Cephus — his first career touchdown.

His communication was on point with the young receiver, signaling for him to continue running his deep post and make the touchdown grab.

Stafford hasn’t looked this comfortable in the pocket in a long time, and it showed with the throws he made. He did have one brutal interception on a screen pass in the second half, but overall he balled out.

The quarterback played strong throughout the game and delivered a victory with a 402-yard and three-touchdown game.

Dud: Jonah Jackson

The rookie offensive lineman was bailed out three times in the first half, but that doesn’t excuse his blunders.

Jackson allowed a sack on Stafford by Khalil Mack that would have forced a punt if not for a penalty by Bears slot cornerback Buster Skrine that gave Detroit a first down. Later in the first half, Jackson had a holding penalty that was offset by a Chicago defensive penalty.

To finish off the first half, Jackson also committed a false start penalty. Luckily, Stafford was able to get a first down on the following play.

Stud: Adrian Peterson

The future Hall-of-Famer looked better than he has for most of the season and his late-game performance helped propel the Lions to victory.

His final stat line was 16 carries for 57 yards. He scored Detroit’s first and last touchdowns of the game. His goal line score at the end of the fourth quarter is what sealed the game for Detroit.

Dud: Marvin Jones

This may be an unpopular decision given that Jones finished with eight receptions for 118 yards and a score, but he had some glaring issues in this game. Despite making some solid first down receptions, Jones looked slow on several deep balls from Stafford and then later failed to hang on to a Hail Mary that could have gotten the Lions a walkoff touchdown for the first half. in the second half, he got his hand on another ball that he was unable to bring in.

Jones did help the Lions catch up late in the fourth quarter, but his struggles outweigh his successes in this one. If he was able to hang on to those balls and get separation from the defenders on those plays, the Lions would have been up by a few scores against Chicago.

Stud: Matt Nelson

Tyrell Crosby’s backup has not gotten enough credit throughout this season. When asked to fill in, the former collegiate defensive lineman held his own as Detroit’s right tackle while Crosby was sidelined with an ankle injury.

He didn’t have the best game, but he really put in his best effort against a scary Chicago front-seven.

Stud: Jamie Collins

Collins was a lone bright spot on the Lions defense. The veteran linebacker had two tackles-for-loss on run defense despite the unit struggling as a whole.

Stud: T.J. Hockenson

Despite gaining any yards after the catch on his seven receptions, the former first-round pick came through as one of Stafford’s top targets. The young tight end made some crucial and athletic catches on deep throws and finished the game with 84 yards.

Stud: Romeo Okwara

Okwara came out of the gates early, blocking the PAT after Chicago’s first touchdown. Though he was quiet for almost the whole game, he made his presence known late in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble on Trubisky and giving the Lions the ball at the seven-yard line with less than two minutes to go in the game.

D’Andre Swift misses Friday’s practice with illness

Swift cleared concussion protocols but is now battling an illness

It doesn’t look good for Lions running back D’Andre Swift to get a chance for personal redemption against the Chicago Bears in Week 13. Swift missed the Lions’ practice sessions on both Thursday and Friday with an undisclosed illness.

Swift has been out with a concussion, though interim head coach Darrell Bevell noted for the second consecutive day on Friday that Swift was cleared from concussion protocols. Bevell stated that the rookie RB’s illness was not COVID-19-related.

“So he’s no longer in the concussion protocol,” Bevell said of Swift in Friday’s pre-practice press conference. “He was here a little bit yesterday, and he started not feeling well, so went ahead and sent him home before practice. Let’s see. So as far as the concussion protocol, he’s no longer in it, and has been something that is not COVID-19-related but is still having some issues.”

As for Swift’s availability on Sunday?

“So he’s not going to be out there at practice today, as far as it goes, we’re going to continue to take this through the end of the week. We’ll see how he continues to react to things, and then we’ll be able to give you an update for Sunday.”

Swift played well overall against the Bears in Week 1, but he dropped the game-winning touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford in the end zone. Getting another chance to prove himself would be a welcome opportunity for Swift.

Bevell also noted Friday’s practice session was pushed back due to a delay in COVID-19 testing results.

Darrell Bevell wants to change up the Lions offensive tempo

Mixing in a drive of hurry-up or unexpectedly going with a fast snap count are ways Bevell can use tempo as a weapon

If you’re looking for an area where greater authority could enable Lions interim coach Darrell Bevell to have an impact, watch the offense and the game tempo.

In his press conference on Thursday, Bevell talked about a desire to mix things up with the pacing and tempo on offense. It’s an effort to keep the defense guessing and not be as predictable on offense.

There’s definitely a pace we want to have,” Bevell said. “There’s a pace you want to have when you’re changing personnels, so you’re going to be on-and-off the field, in-and-out of the huddle, we talk about that. But then also, there is change of paces whether it’s a huddle that you break quickly, whether it’s no-huddle, so just different style of tempos. But we are always preaching pace, and always preaching tempo.”

The Lions have been fairly quick overall in terms of neutral-situation game tempo in 2020, according to Football Outsiders. Bevell is talking more about mixing in a drive of hurry-up or going with a quick snap count unexpectedly during a drive more than an overarching philosophy, and that could indeed turn the tempo more into a weapon for his offense.

 

 

Could Darrell Bevell win his way into the Lions head coaching job?

Bevell views his interim gig as an audition

Darrell Bevell sees his appointment as the Detroit Lions interim head coach as an opportunity to keep the job full-time. It’s the offensive coordinator’s first-ever chance to be a head coach.

Could he really parlay a five-game interim gig into being the next head coach of the Detroit Lions?

Bevell hinted at that possibility in his Zoom press conference on Monday, his first interaction with the media as the interim coach. But he also hinted that it’s a broader opportunity for both himself and his players with all eyes around the NFL on how they handle the end of the Lions season.

Here is Bevell’s full quote, and it’s important to peruse the full quote in the context he presents it rather than just cherry-picking a sentence or two,

“I hate the circumstance at which it happened, but it’s an opportunity. You have to take full advantage of opportunities that you’re given, however they come your way. Like I told the players, I’m jacked. I’m excited. I get a five-game audition to show what I’m capable of. But I also told them that everybody is watching them, whether it’s our team, whether it’s other teams, whether it’s the opportunity for them to continue to play – people are watching them. So how we react in this moment, and how we’re able to bring out our best in these next five games, is going to tell all. Regardless – no one cares about the circumstances, how I’m doing this head coach-thing, but they’re going to judge me on those five games. So I want to do my best in that.”

Bevell is right on his full assessment here. He’s got a five-game audition to prove he can handle being a head coach in adverse circumstances. He’s not only auditioning for the Lions but for the other 31 teams. The chances he wins out and impresses owner Sheila Ford Hamp, president Rod Wood and the search committee are quite low, but Bevell showed in his answer he understands how the game is played.

If the Lions win out and somehow seizes the final playoff berth–it’s still mathematically possible–then Bevell has at least earned the opportunity to interview for the position after the season with the search committee. That’s exactly what happened for Gregg Williams in Cleveland when the Browns markedly improved under his interim coaching in 2018 after Hue Jackson’s departure. The defensive coordinator led the Browns to a 5-3 finish after a 2-5-1 start under Jackson.

Williams didn’t get the job despite the impressive performance, and that was with the Browns keeping the same GM (John Dorsey) in place. He’s now the defensive coordinator for the winless New York Jets.

So it seems quite remote that Bevell will remain as the permanent head coach of the Detroit Lions. It’s much more likely he’s auditioning to remain as the offensive coordinator under the new head coach, or putting some feathers in his cap for when he interviews for gigs elsewhere after the new Lions GM thanks him for his effort and sends him on his way after the season.

Former Packers QBs coach becomes interim coach of Lions

Darrell Bevell, the first NFL QBs coach of Aaron Rodgers, will be the interim coach of the Detroit Lions.

A long-time assistant coach with ties to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers is the new coach of the Detroit Lions.

Darrell Bevell, who worked in Green Bay for six seasons under Mike Sherman, will be the interim coach in Detroit after the Lions fired Matt Patricia on Saturday, according to Tim Twentyman of the team’s site.

Bevell, 50, was previously the Lions offensive coordinator, a job he held in Detroit for the last two seasons.

Prior to coming to Detroit, Bevell served as the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks for seven seasons, winning Super Bowl XLVIII.

Patricia was fired as Lions coach after going 13-29-1 over nearly three seasons, including a 4-7 start to 2020.

Bevell has 14 seasons of experience as an offensive coordinator but has never been a head coach at any level.

A four-year starting quarterback for the Wisconsin Badgers, Bevell’s first NFL job came as an assistant quarterbacks coach with the Packers in 2002. He was promoted to quarterbacks coach by Sherman in 2003 and remained in Green Bay through the 2005 season.

Bevell worked with Hall of Famer Brett Favre and was the first quarterbacks coach of Aaron Rodgers, then a rookie first-round pick in 2005.

After the Packers hired Mike McCarthy in 2006, Bevell left Green Bay and became the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, where he eventually reunited with Favre for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

The Packers will face Bevell and the Lions later this season. Matt LaFleur’s team will travel to Detroit to play the Lions on Dec. 13.

Darrell Bevell named Lions interim head coach

With Matt Patricia fired after leading the Lions to a 4-7 record, the team has named Darrell Bevell as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

With Matt Patricia fired after leading the Lions to a 4-7 record, the team has named Darrell Bevell as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Bevell has been the team’s offensive coordinator during the entire three-season run under Patricia. He has never been a head coach at any level of football prior to his interim promotion.

The Lions offense has struggled with injuries to several key players in recent weeks. Bevell, 50, has tried to keep it together around QB Matthew Stafford while WRs Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola, RB D’Andre Swift, and several offensive linemen have been in and out of the lineup with injuries.

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Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell keeps going away from what’s working

2nd year in a row the Lions have a top-10 1st quarter offense and a bottom-10 in every other quarter

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Matt Patricia continues to take a heaping dose of criticism as the Detroit Lions’ head coach. And he deserves it. But he’s not the only Lions coach who is struggling with poor performances and baffling game plans.

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is also having a rotten season. And his collective work in the last two games, a 20-0 shutout loss in Carolina and a 41-25 beating by Houston where the Lions scored the final TD to make it closer, are a good example of why Bevell’s offense deserves its share of the blame.

Specifically, Bevell continues to abandon what is working early in games. The old coaching axiom of “keeping going with what’s working” is a concept Bevell clearly doesn’t understand. And it’s ruining his offense.

Take T.J. Hockenson’s Thanksgiving as an example. The Lions ran the offense through Hockenson in the first quarter and it worked great. Hockenson caught three passes on three targets, netting 78 yards in the first quarter. All of that came on the opening drive, which the Lions capped with a TD. Hockenson’s tremendous start set a Lions team record for a tight end in any first quarter ever, and it’s also the most any tight end has in a first quarter across the entire NFL this season.

Hockenson’s line the rest of the game: two receptions on five targets, 11 receiving yards. He saw exactly one pass target on the Lions’ next nine possessions after that first drive. Those drives produced more turnovers (3) than scores (2).

It wasn’t just Hockenson who faded into oblivion in Bevell’s offense. Running back Kerryon Johnson had a productive first half, becoming just the fifth in franchise history to log at least 30 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards in the first half of a game.

After the half, Johnson got three carries for 14 yards and did not see another pass thrown in his direction.

The bizarre obsession Bevell has with going away from what is working early in games is sadly not a fresh Thanksgiving turkey. It’s a leftover that’s been growing mold in the back of the fridge for far too long.

The Lions have a very telling breakout of points per quarter in 2020.

Points Scored (through Week 12) NFL Rank (through Week 11)
1st 69 8th
2nd 64 25th
3rd 47 19th
4th 72 24th

They go from being a top-10 productive offense in the first quarter to a below-average (at best) scoring offense in the remaining three, relative to the NFL’s scoring trends.

That happened with Bevell in 2019 too. Detroit ranked 6th in first-quarter scoring last season, following that up with quarter scoring rankings of 25th (second), 25th (third) and 25th (fourth). In short, this is an ugly trend under Bevell.

To twist the coaching axiom from above, it’s probably a good idea to stop doing what isn’t working over and over again. Bevell’s offensive scripting, or lack thereof, after the first quarter is one of the Lions’ bigger issues to fix.

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Lions coaches harp on consistency to help fix the defense

Patricia, Bevell and Undlin all prominently brought up consistency in their Monday press conferences

Lions head coach Matt Patricia is a huge stickler for consistency. It’s one of the biggest focuses of his coaching philosophy. It’s also a huge theme in his press conferences when talking about his team. In their first media sessions since the bye week break, Patricia and his top assistant coaches harped upon consistency, well, consistently.

Patricia brought up consistency almost right away when asked about how he is hoping to fix the pass rush.

“I think it’s everything that we said before,” Patricia said on Monday. “We have to do a better job in the run game, and we have to settle some things down there that have hurt us and play with better fundamentals and technique and just be consistent. I mean, that’s the biggest thing for us right now.

We have some good run plays on tape and just unfortunately too many bad ones. We have to be consistent with it and try to get teams in a situation where they have to pass the ball more.”

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell also broached the subject of consistency in his own Zoom session.

“…but I think the thing that we’re really looking for and the thing that I’m preaching to these guys is just our level of consistency on offense,” Bevell said. “We know what we’re capable of, we know the players that we have, the things that we can do, but there’s just things that you need to do on a consistent basis down-in and down-out to help yourself be successful”

Defensive coordinator Cory Undlin stayed consistent to the theme in his presser on Monday as well. It came up right away when Undlin was asked what the biggest issue with his defense is after four games.

“I won’t say the biggest thing, we could go around on this for a while – the biggest thing is just the consistency part of it,” Undlin stated. “I can pull off six different plays, one time it goes for zero and then the next time it goes for six and then the next time it goes for seven, whatever it is. So, the big thing is watching with the players and going back through and having those discussions and then going out and practicing, we’ve just got to be more consistent up front, in the backend, linebackers, everybody.”

Patricia ended his question and answer period by explaining the overall issues with consistency throughout the team.

“I would say the good things on film for us, just right now, are too inconsistent. I think we’d like to really just make sure that the stuff that we’re doing well, we’d like to just see it every single play. If we could be consistent from that level, that would be a lot better for us.”