Detroit Lions Weblog

More Ted Tollner

It looks like Ted Tollner will assume the offensive play-calling responsibilities that Steve Mariucci and Greg Olson each had last season. Olson will relay the plays to the Quarterback after he receives them from Tollner. Tollner has also been brought in to revamp about 25% of their playbook. So Mariucci, who was pressured by Millen to make the offense more aggressive, plans to keep 75% of his playbook. I understand that Mariucci has quite a lot of faith in the system he has implemented, but this doesn’t appear, at least on the surface to be a hiring that will bring about a drastic change in their offensive philosophy. It makes sense that Mariucci would want to hire a coach who he is comfortable with, yet that he has enough respect for that he can accept the criticisms/conflicts that may arise from differences in philosophy.

That being said, you can bet that Tollner will be instrumental in calling plays in which Joey Harrington will be able to throw downfield more frequently than he has in the past. Most crucial, Mariucci has stated that they will utilize concepts that Tollner has learned from his experience in other offensive systems. This is where the innovation may emerge.

No matter the changes brought about by the hiring of Tollner, their are some crucial things that will have to happen for the Lions to be more successful on offense next year:
-Charles Rogers will have to remain relatively injury free and prove to be as effective as what we all envision he can be.
-The Lions receivers will have to concentrate better in receiving passes. A third season of high totals of dropped passes would be very damaging
-3rd Down conversions. They have to convert more third downs. Especially, Third Downs with long distances to go. Hopefully, Tollner will eliminate the 4-yard passes when the Lions need seven yards for a first down, like we witnessed ad infinitum this year.
-RED ZONE, the Lions need to score more TD’s in the Red Zone, as much as we all respect Jason Hanson, he needs less 20-30 FG’s and more 35-40 yard FG’s.
-Will an effective third receiver emerge? Especially one with good hands, who is reliable in pressure situations?

One concern of mine, is what will Tollner’s philosophy be for the running attack? With the emergence of Kevin Jones, the Lions have quite a weapon. If Tollner is of similar philosophy to Mike Martz or Andy Reid, Jones may be poorly utilized. Ultimately, the Lions will need to be more effective in their ground attack during the second half of games. Good teams, gain more rushing yards in the second half, controlling the clock and maintaining a lead. Too often, in close games, the Lions seemed to either be ineffective in executing their ground game or just drift away from utilizing the run, in my opinion.