Last season was a year of transition for the Detroit Lions. They were moving forward to the Matt Patricia era and the excitement was palpable.
The hope was that the Lions would be able to add a productive ground game to go with what had been a very potent passing attack from the previous season. Then, of course, was the anticipation to see the Lions playing Matt Patricia’s defense.
But Jim Bob Cooter’s offense got stuck in neutral. While the ground game did improve with the arrival of exciting young running back Kerryon Johnson and was fairly consistent, if unspectacular, even after he went down to injury.