Matthew Stafford sitting atop the NFL’s leaders in screen pass yardage should come as no surprise for Detroit Lions fans. Stafford has passed for more than 400 more yards on screen passes than any other QB since 2014, per Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo.
That’s a considerable margin. Only four other QBs are within 500 yards accrued on screen passes over that time.
It makes sense considering how frequently it seemed the Lions threw screen passes. 2nd-and-9? Odds were pretty good a screen to Theo Riddick or Ameer Abdullah was on the way. That was Jim Bob Cooter’s signature play as the Lions offensive coordinator from 2015-18.
I followed up with Palazzolo on the number of screens. It turns out, Stafford didn’t throw an inordinate amount more than his nearest yardage brethren.
Stafford attempted 368 screens in those five regular seasons. That’s the most, but it’s just 20 more than Ben Roethlisberger. Drew Brees was third with 329.
It turns out Cooter’s obsession with the screen pass was borne out of its relative effectiveness. Stafford averaged 6.37 yards per screen completion. Roethlisberger — throwing many of those to All-Pro Le’Veon Bell — averaged just 5.8. Brees was at 5.9.
It will be interesting to see how heavily the new Lions offense under Darrell Bevell utilizes the screen pass. Russell Wilson in Seattle, Bevell’s former team, is nowhere to be found on the list.
