Apparently, coaches matter. You move offensive coordinators like Liam Coen and Ben Johnson, and there will be measurable changes on the field.
Those were the two notable offensive minds that switched teams in the offseason, and the results were even stronger on the first Sunday than I expected.
With Ben Johnson, he helped to orchestrate one of the league’s best offenses over the last two years, but the Lions looked like a different team without him (and also with three new OL starters).
Specifically looking at the running game, Detroit finished yesterday’s game with 22 carries for 46 yards. That’s 2.1 yards per attempt. Only once in the last two years did the Lions run for fewer yards or averaged under 3 yards per carry.
In 34 games the last two years under Johnson, the Lions ran for fewer than 70 yards only twice. So I don’t see this as a one-game blip; it will definitely not be the same running game this year.
| DETROIT RUSHING SINCE 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2023 | L.V. | W, 26-14 | 43 | 222 | 5.2 | 1 |
| 2023 | at G.B. | W, 34-20 | 43 | 211 | 4.9 | 3 |
| 2023 | at LAC | W, 41-38 | 31 | 200 | 6.5 | 3 |
| 2024 | Jac. | W, 52-6 | 43 | 196 | 4.6 | 3 |
| 2024 | Chi. | W, 23-20 | 33 | 194 | 5.9 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Ari. | W, 20-13 | 43 | 187 | 4.3 | 1 |
| 2023 | Den. | W, 42-17 | 28 | 185 | 6.6 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Dall. | W, 47-9 | 36 | 184 | 5.1 | 2 |
| 2024 | Min. | W, 31-9 | 31 | 178 | 5.7 | 3 |
| 2024 | Ten. | W, 52-14 | 24 | 164 | 6.8 | 2 |
| 2024 | LAR | W, 26-20 | 31 | 163 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 2023 | Car. | W, 42-24 | 30 | 159 | 5.3 | 3 |
| 2024 | at S.F. | W, 40-34 | 33 | 152 | 4.6 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Chi. | W, 34-17 | 32 | 146 | 4.6 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Min. | W, 31-29 | 27 | 144 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 2023 | at Min. | W, 30-24 | 36 | 143 | 4.0 | 3 |
| 2023 | at N.O. | W, 33-28 | 30 | 142 | 4.7 | 2 |
| 2023 | at Chi. | L, 13-28 | 24 | 140 | 5.8 | 1 |
| 2023 | G.B. | L, 22-29 | 31 | 140 | 4.5 | 1 |
| 2024 | T.B. | L, 16-20 | 27 | 139 | 5.1 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Ind. | W, 24-6 | 33 | 137 | 4.2 | 3 |
| 2023 | at Dall. | L, 19-20 | 31 | 125 | 4.0 | 1 |
| 2024 | at G.B. | W, 24-14 | 32 | 124 | 3.9 | 1 |
| 2023 | at K.C. | W, 21-20 | 34 | 118 | 3.5 | 1 |
| 2024 | Sea. | W, 42-29 | 28 | 116 | 4.1 | 3 |
| 2023 | Chi. | W, 31-26 | 22 | 115 | 5.2 | 2 |
| 2023 | Atl. | W, 20-6 | 31 | 115 | 3.7 | 1 |
| 2024 | G.B. | W, 34-31 | 34 | 111 | 3.3 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Hou. | W, 26-23 | 32 | 105 | 3.3 | 1 |
| 2023 | Sea. | L, 31-37 | 27 | 102 | 3.8 | 1 |
| 2023 | at Balt. | L, 6-38 | 14 | 84 | 6.0 | 1 |
| 2023 | Min. | W, 30-20 | 23 | 70 | 3.0 | 2 |
| 2024 | Buff. | L, 42-48 | 15 | 48 | 3.2 | 1 |
| 2025 | at G.B. | L, 13-27 | 22 | 46 | 2.1 | 0 |
| 2023 | at T.B. | W, 20-6 | 22 | 40 | 1.8 | 0 |
With Coen, he did great things with Tampa Bay’s running game, and it’s looking like he’ll be able to work some of the same magic with the Jaguars. They ran for 200 yards yesterday. That’s more than they’ve run for in the past two seasons.
Granted, they were playing against the defense that ranked last against the run last year. But 200 is a big total, and they pulled that off despite not making any big offseason additions to their offensive line or backfield. The Jaguars ranked 26th in rushing last year. Beleaguered Travis Etienne (pictured) ran for 143 yards.
| JACKSONVILLE RUSHING SINCE 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2025 | Car. | W, 26-10 | 32 | 200 | 6.3 | 1 |
| 2023 | at Buff. | W, 25-20 | 40 | 196 | 4.9 | 2 |
| 2024 | N.E. | W, 32-16 | 39 | 171 | 4.4 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Hou. | L, 20-24 | 24 | 158 | 6.6 | 0 |
| 2023 | Car. | W, 26-0 | 35 | 155 | 4.4 | 2 |
| 2024 | NYJ | L, 25-32 | 29 | 136 | 4.7 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Mia. | L, 17-20 | 26 | 128 | 4.9 | 1 |
| 2023 | Ten. | W, 34-14 | 36 | 128 | 3.6 | 2 |
| 2024 | Cle. | L, 13-18 | 21 | 127 | 6.0 | 1 |
| 2024 | Ind. | W, 37-34 | 23 | 126 | 5.5 | 2 |
| 2024 | Ten. | W, 20-13 | 33 | 122 | 3.7 | 0 |
| 2023 | Hou. | L, 17-37 | 27 | 116 | 4.3 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Ind. | L, 23-26 | 34 | 113 | 3.3 | 1 |
| 2023 | at N.O. | W, 31-24 | 26 | 113 | 4.3 | 2 |
| 2023 | at Pitt. | W, 20-10 | 30 | 106 | 3.5 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Ind. | W, 31-21 | 35 | 105 | 3.0 | 2 |
| 2023 | Atl. | W, 23-7 | 32 | 105 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 2024 | Hou. | L, 20-23 | 25 | 97 | 3.9 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Buff. | L, 10-47 | 17 | 92 | 5.4 | 0 |
| 2024 | G.B. | L, 27-30 | 23 | 91 | 4.0 | 1 |
| 2023 | Ind. | W, 37-20 | 29 | 85 | 2.9 | 2 |
| 2023 | at Ten. | L, 20-28 | 23 | 82 | 3.6 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Hou. | W, 24-21 | 30 | 81 | 2.7 | 1 |
| 2023 | Balt. | L, 7-23 | 17 | 75 | 4.4 | 0 |
| 2023 | K.C. | L, 9-17 | 18 | 74 | 4.1 | 0 |
| 2024 | at L.V. | L, 14-19 | 21 | 72 | 3.4 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Ten. | W, 10-6 | 26 | 71 | 2.7 | 1 |
| 2023 | Cin. | L, 31-34 | 25 | 71 | 2.8 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Chi. | L, 16-35 | 20 | 68 | 3.4 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Phil. | L, 23-28 | 18 | 60 | 3.3 | 2 |
| 2023 | S.F. | L, 3-34 | 17 | 59 | 3.5 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Cle. | L, 27-31 | 20 | 58 | 2.9 | 1 |
| 2024 | Min. | L, 7-12 | 18 | 56 | 3.1 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Det. | L, 6-52 | 17 | 41 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 2023 | at T.B. | L, 12-30 | 13 | 37 | 2.8 | 0 |
The team Coen left, meanwhile, missed him. Bucky Irving was the surprise rookie running back last year, but he ran for only 37 yards on 14 carries at Atlanta, which had a bottom-10 defense last year. Irving as a rookie ran for 1,122 yards while averaging 5.4 per attempt – he averaged under 3 yards per carry only twice.
Coen’s work with the Bucs last year was remarkable. He helped improve the offense from last to 4th in rushing, averaging an extra 60 yards per game. He’s gone now, and I’m wondering how much of a statistical dip we’ll see from the running game – perhaps 30-50 yards per week.
In this last chart, I’m showing not overall rushing production but only yards by running backs (I went this route because Baker Mayfield scrambled for 39 yards yesterday, making the ground game look not quite as stinky as it actually was). If we look at only running backs, Tampa Bay finished with more yards and a higher average per attempt in all but one of its games last year.
Coaches do, in fact, matter.
| BUCS RUNNING BACKS SINCE 2024 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| at Car. | W, 26-23 | 36 | 228 | 6.3 | 1 |
| at N.O. | W, 51-27 | 28 | 217 | 7.8 | 2 |
| at LAC | W, 40-17 | 37 | 198 | 5.4 | 0 |
| Car. | W, 48-14 | 34 | 182 | 5.4 | 0 |
| L.V. | W, 28-13 | 24 | 140 | 5.8 | 1 |
| at NYG | W, 30-7 | 28 | 128 | 4.6 | 3 |
| at Atl. | L, 30-36 | 19 | 116 | 6.1 | 0 |
| N.O. | W, 27-19 | 21 | 105 | 5.0 | 1 |
| S.F. | L, 20-23 | 23 | 104 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Phil. | W, 33-16 | 21 | 101 | 4.8 | 1 |
| Was. | W, 37-20 | 24 | 93 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Balt. | L, 31-41 | 24 | 92 | 3.8 | 1 |
| Den. | L, 7-26 | 16 | 91 | 5.7 | 0 |
| at Dall. | L, 24-26 | 19 | 78 | 4.1 | 1 |
| Was. | L, 20-23 | 18 | 78 | 4.3 | 0 |
| Atl. | L, 26-31 | 17 | 76 | 4.5 | 0 |
| at K.C. | L, 24-30 | 13 | 54 | 4.2 | 1 |
| at Atl. | W, 23-20 | 17 | 53 | 3.1 | 0 |
| at Det. | W, 20-16 | 17 | 40 | 2.4 | 0 |
—Ian Allan