Mayhew Says Stafford Had 'Outstanding' Season, Expects More From Offense In '15
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said it does not concern him that quarterback Matthew Stafford and the offense failed to put up dazzling numbers this season.
Detroit ranked 19th in yards per game with 340.8 and 22nd in points per game with 20.1.
Stafford threw for fewer yards (4,257) and fewer touchdowns (22) than he did in 2013, but his completion percentage (60.3) increased and his interceptions (12) decreased. So did the team's number of wins.
Predictably, Mayhew said the wins matter most, and the Lions won four more games in 2014 than they did in 2013.
"I thought it was an outstanding season for [Stafford]," Mayhew said. "It was probably the second-best season that he's had here with us. 2011, obviously, was exceptional, 41 touchdown passes and 5,000 yards passing. This year was an outstanding season for him, in my opinion. It's interesting that when in 2012 and 2013 he's throwing for a lot of yards ... people are saying, 'Well, the real stat that matters for a quarterback is winning football games.' Then this year, we win a lot of games and people are unhappy with the stats, you know?
"Winning the games is the most important thing," Mayhew continued. "We had, I think, 34 turnovers last year. We had 20 this year, so there's a big change there in terms of protecting the football, being smart with the football. There's some decisions that were made, whether to take a sack or throw the ball away, that he may not get credit for making the right decision and being careful with the ball, but I think us having a 19-turnover differential between the ones that we got, being plus-five and then minus-14 on the ones that we lost, that was a big factor in us winning 11 games this year."
The number of wins also prompted Mayhew to speak highly of the job done by offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who based Detroit's offense on the system of the New Orleans Saints. The high-powered attack expected to appear never did, and the trio of capable tight ends - Brandon Pettigrew, Joe Fauria and first-round pick Eric Ebron - did not deliver as anticipated.
"I don't really have a solid answer for that at this point," Mayhew said. "I thought we'd get more catches from Pettigrew. I thought we'd get more catches from Ebron, and obviously Joe Fauria was injured, which is why we couldn't get as much from him. But you look at what Golden [Tate] did, you get excited about that. Calvin [Johnson] had another solid year. We used our backs a lot in the passing game. Theo [Riddick] had a big year for him, really breaking in and really getting an opportunity to play some offensive football. He did a really good job for us.
"The ball was spread around a little bit differently, but I do think when you implement a new offensive system, there's a lot that goes into that," Mayhew continued. "One of the things, I think, is the quarterback being familiar with all the receivers and trusting all the receivers and knowing where they're going to be, and the coordinator, being familiar with all the offensive skill players and what those guys are capable of doing, what they're good at and trying to figure all that stuff out. So I think it's a process, but I do believe that the second year of it, of our offense, is going to be better than the first year."
In addition to the implementation of a new offense impacting the production, Mayhew attributed some of the struggles to health problems along the offensive line. The Lions saw several players miss multiple games with injury, and that left the Lions using rookies and free agents to fill the roles, particularly in the first half of the season.
"We only had one guy that started every game," Mayhew said. "We had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup. I think that affected us offensively. You saw we had more sacks this year, which was an issue. We didn't run the ball quite as well this year. I'd like to get guys healthy. I assume that we'll be healthy next year, but to lose Larry [Warford] a couple different times, to lose [LaAdrian] Waddle a couple different times, multiple times during the season, lose Riley Reiff for a period of time, it makes it tough. So I think the health of our offensive line impacted our offense."