After a Loss to Tennessee, Coaching Staff Questions Emerge
Watching another Detroit Lions meltdown was heartbreaking Sunday. Seventeen penalties and a little help from the referees gave Detroit the loss. Questions have come out about the coaching staff in Detroit and what the future could hold. If you would like to see your questions appear here next week, comment on our Facebook post, tweet me@BKnappBlogs or call in to the podcast. Here are this week’s questions, which focus mainly on the coaching staff.
Question 1: Teryl Austin or Jim Bob Cooter, Who’s More Valuable to the Lions’ Coaching Staff in 2016?
That is a tough question as both are very good at what they do. You can’t blame Austin too much for how poor the defense has been, with injuries happening left and right, but even with everyone at 100 percent in week one they still didn’t look so good. The offense, while scoring NFL high 39 points in week one, regressed and was only able to get 13 points on Sunday.
Both of these coordinators are valuable to the team, but if it was down to one, I would pick Jim Bob Cooter. Matt Stafford has played better than ever under him, so getting rid of him would hinder our franchise quarterback and he would regress somewhat. Losing Teryl Austin would be huge, but there could be one candidate for that job and possibly more, I’ll explain that next.
Question 2: Will Jim Caldwell Last the Entire Season?
Now it’s only week three and people are already tired of Jim Caldwell after starting 1-1. They have fair reason to be, as his time management skills continue to hurt the Lions. His play calling is questionable as well. Caldwell deciding to punt while in field goal range, and if the field goal was attempted and made then Detroit wins and starts out 2-0.
If Jim Caldwell keeps making these dumb mistakes, costing his team wins along with not being disciplined, he could be out the door by the bye week this year. If Jim Caldwell can turn around the costly mistakes and make better choices, he could at least last the entire season and maybe get a contract extension.
If Jim Caldwell does go, Matt Patricia could be a candidate to replace him. He is the current defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and the Bob Quinn connection would strike again. Patricia could find a new defensive coordinator if he joins and doesn’t want to keep Austin. He would be crazy to get rid of Cooter.
Question 3: Can This Team Make the Playoffs?
Yes, this team can still make the playoffs. Sure we lost to a team that won’t come close to being above .500, but we didn’t lose to them. We lost to the Detroit Lions once again. We beat ourselves up and if we can get less flags called and not beat ourselves up, we are a way better team. Green Bay is looking shaky right now. While Minnesota is in first place in the division, losing Adrian Peterson will be big and relying on Sam Bradford might be too much. Chicago might lose Jay Cutler for a few weeks, and while he isn’t a good quarterback it still hurts their chances of winning.
Detroit can be a playoff team easily, we have the talent and a pretty good coaching staff to do so. Penalties and time management/judgement are things that need to be worked on. If we can make the correct calls, challenge plays that need to be challenged and kick when we are in range, then we can become a better team. Are we a Super Bowl winning team? That is very hard to tell right now, but the playoffs are something that could appear again for the city of Detroit.
Thanks for reading! We will be taking and answering your questions via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and even the Podcast! Don’t forget to follow me and ask me questions on Twitter @BKnappBlogs, find and send me questions on Reddit at /u/sportsguy4life. Call in to the live post-game show and ask me questions- we will be taking listener calls and share your thoughts on the Detroit Lions subreddit.
