The way Jim Bob Cooter sees it, “in the NFL, throwing the football is a little bit of a sort of a race.” Offenses…
The way Jim Bob Cooter sees it, “in the NFL, throwing the football is a little bit of a sort of a race.”
Offenses are rushing to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers, defenses are high-tailing it to stop them, and you better not hold the ball too long or your quarterback will get creamed.
“Really, you look around the league, every week there’s a pretty good pass-rush threat in some form or fashion on every team, every time you step out there,” Cooter said in a conference call with Detroit reporters this week. “It’s a little bit of a race for those guys to get to the quarterback.”
The Detroit Lions, despite three springs worth of investments in their offensive line, have lost that race more often than not this year.
Matthew Stafford ranks among the most-sacked quarterbacks in the NFL for the second straight season, and this week the Lions have the tall task of stopping the one pass rush that’s pummeled him the most, the Minnesota Vikings.
Stafford took a career-high 10 sacks against the Vikings in Minnesota’s 24-9 victory last month, and he’s been sacked far more times by the Vikings (61) than any other team in his career (the Bears are second, with 46).
The Vikings, who can clinch a playoff spot with a win Sunday and a little bit of help, lead the NFL with 47 sacks.
“Top-notch, phenomenal defense,” Cooter said. “Really, really good football players kind of all over all three levels. Athletic guys, long guys, different strengths inside and outside. Plenty of really good rushers. Good cover guys. Kind of a really unique defensive scheme that creates problems with their blitzes. The challenge level is very high for us.”
Cooter confessed that he “did not do a good enough job of putting our guys in a good position to sort of play these guys” earlier in the year, but his game plan was only part of the reason the Vikings had a monster day.
