Stafford acknowledged the complexity of OC Jim Bob Cooter's offense, but believes the Lions' offense will be "dangerous" once players are able to fully learn the system, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Calvin Johnson's retirement signaled the end of an era in Motown, and the Detroit front office presumably understood the team can't employ the same offensive game plan anymore. Hence, the Lions installed a "newfangled, whiz-bang, up-tempo, no-huddle offense" this spring. Fundamentally, the idea is to tire the defense as well as limit the other team's ability to both substitute players and call plays to counter the offense. However, the scheme's watchword is communication, as Cooter devised a way to allow Stafford to realign the offensive formation and call plays with a system of simple commands. In the past, simplicity has benefitted Stafford, most recently when Cooter took control of the offense in the midst of the 2015 campaign. Here, Stafford did not experience an increase in attempted passes, but rather an increase in per-clip efficiency. Case in point, Stafford's final eight games in 2015 extrapolate to a highly-efficient 4,358-yard, 38-touchdown, four-interception stat line across 16 games while his first-half numbers project an underwhelming line of 4,166 yards, 26 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Those two sets of numbers could very well represent Stafford's ceiling and floor entering the 2016 campaign. Regardless, Stafford appears poised to continue on his current trajectory and resume his late-2015 efficiency come the start of the regular season against the Colts' injury-marred secondary.