Doug Pederson Could Learn from Jim Bob Cooter

I remember watching pieces of last week’s Lions and Cardinals game on the Red Zone Network during commercial breaks of the Eagles and Redskins game. During one series of pitiful running attempts the analyst made mention of how committed the Lions were to the run game, even though it wasn’t working, forcing the Cardinals respect the run.

The Lions trailed the Cardinals for 3 quarters, but kept mixing in runs here and there. The Lions ended up rushing the ball 21 times for 52 yards. That was almost 33% of the Lions plays. Not exactly balanced, but they did enough to keep the Cardinals honest. For those keeping score at home, that’s a whopping 2.47 yards per carry.

Against the Chiefs, the Eagles ran the ball 13 times, about 19% of their plays, for a similar 52 yards for an average of 4 yards a carry. That’s 62% better than the Lions attempts vs. the Cardinals, yet Pederson pretty much abandoned the run because he said it wasn’t “good enough.”

Pederson’s not good enough was far better than the Lions a week earlier. The Lions stayed with their atrocious running game and ended up coming back to win the game in the 4th quarter. The Eagles abandoned their mediocre running game and lost. Coincidence?

Maybe Pederson should watch that week 1 Lions/Cardinals game and take a couple of things away from Jim Bob Cooter.

1. Wear a hat instead of a visor.

2. Stick with the running game even if it’s not working.

Something tells me we’ll see a good amount of Blount this week. I’ll set the over/under on Blount rushing attempts at 12.5.