Tag: Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions announce that OC Jim Bob Cooter will not return

His contract will not be renewed

The Detroit Lions will move forward under coach Matt Patricia with a new offensive coordinator. The team announced on Tuesday that Jim Bob Cooter’s contract will not be renewed.

Cooter, who is 34, will likely get another opportunity in the NFL. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Cooter has received requests to interview.

He was originally hired by coach Jim Caldwell as the Lions quarterback coach to start the 2014 season.

In Week 8 of the 2015 season, Cooter was promoted to offensive coordinator following the firing of Joe Lombardi by Caldwell.

Cooter played a role in the Lions’ two playoff appearances during Caldwell’s four-year tenure.

The Lions offense finished 24th in the NFL averaging 327.2 yards per game in the 2018 season after ranking 13th (337.8) in the same category in 2017 when Matthew Stafford compiled a 99.3 passer rating for the season and established a new single-season franchise record.

Cooter and Stafford often said they saw the offense from the same point of view. But in this 2018 season, the tempo was slowed down and Stafford did not throw as many downfield passes as in previous years. It was his first season he didn’t reach the 4,000-yard passing mark since 2010 when he played in just three games due to injury.

In Cooter’s first full season as offensive coordinator in 2016, the Lions scored on 64 of the team’s 156 offensive possessions (41.0 percent), which ranked seventh in the NFL.

In 2015, Cooter helped lead Detroit to a 6-2 record over the final eight games. In that span, Stafford accumulated the highest passer rating (110.1) over eight games by a Lions quarterback as he surpassed the 106.7 rating registered by Greg Landry over an eight-game span in 1976.

Cooter was a backup quarterback at the University of Tennessee where he got his start in coach as a graduate assistant from 2007 to 2008. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Tennessee in 2006 and went on to receive a master’s degree in sports psychology in 2008.

Lions T.J. Lang said team went through ‘drastic’ change with Matt Patricia

Still, no excuses for 6-10 season

ALLEN PARK — T.J. Lang has played 10 years so he knows a little about how an NFL  season unfolds.

The right guard spoke at length, after cleaning out his locker on Monday. The Lions wrapped up their season with a 31-0 win at Green Bay on Sunday to finish 6-10.

In the first season for coach Matt Patricia, the Lions got off to a slow start. There was much speculation about whether the team was buying in to Patricia’s changes especially at training camp and after the Lions started the season 0-2 with losses to the Jets and 49ers.

Lang was open about the transition calling it drastic.

“I guess I wouldn’t say the buy-in didn’t exist. Just like anything, you go through a change as drastic as we did there’s going to be a learning curve,’’ Lang said. “There’s going to be some things that you have to learn how to practice different, how to prepare different, how to meet different, I think that being said I think that takes a little longer sometimes — no excuses.

“I think that was maybe an issue we had early on in the season. I would never question the guys’ effort or the guys wanting to be here or the buy-in,” Lang said, “I think it’s something that at the end of the day, obviously it’d be nice to get off to a lot faster start in the season to kind of shred some of those questions, some of those doubts. But at the end of the day everybody in this locker room is together and that’s what it’s all about.’’

Lang said it was a combination of factors at work.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys, this is my 10th season doing it. I’ve seen different coaches, different approaches, anyway you can,’’ Lang said. “It’s about adjusting as fast as you can and adapting to new way and getting rolling. Like I said there’s no excuse. I think that will be a learning experience that we can take into next year.’’

Patricia was more vague about the situation and how it should make the start of next season smoother.

“There’s always a little more comfort with familiarity when you can walk into a situation and kind of know what to expect that’s always better,’’ Patricia said. “But I certainly do believe every team is different every single year in the NFL whether there’s consistency with the coaching or not. It does change and coaches do change, things do change it’s just part of the NFL season. We’ll certainly evaluate everything and try to do the best we can to make it better from that standpoint.’’

Patricia, whose ragged beard had been trimmed, had no update on the status of his coaching staff including offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter whose contract is expiring.

Detroit Lions Matt Patricia: No decision yet on Jim Bob Cooter’s future

No timeline for staff changes

ALLEN PARK — Matt Patricia said on Monday that he has not made decisions on his staff moving forward. That includes offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter.

The Detroit Lions coach, who just completed his first season with a 6-10 record, said he wants to take time to let the emotions die down and then will evaluate which coaches and players will be a part of the equation moving forward.

“In all aspects, it’s not just coaching, it’s support staff, it’s players, it’s scheduling, it’s everything,’’ Patricia said. “We’ll definitely evaluate.’’

He was asked specifically about Cooter, but Patricia responded in generalities.

Cooter, who was originally hired as the offensive coordinator by ex-coach Jim Caldwell, is in the final season of his contract. The Lions offense went from 13th in the NFL in 2017 to 24th in 2018 based on yards per game.

Patricia said he’s not sure when decisions on his staff will be made.

“I don’t think I need to put a hard timeline on it at this current moment. But obviously we do have a time limit we do have to address with it,’’ Patricia said. “Things will come up when they come up. For the minute I’m going to take the rest of the day, enjoy the New Year, see my kids and we’ll go from there.’’

The Lions wrapped up their season with a 31-0 win at Green Bay on Sunday. The players cleaned out their lockers on Monday.