Lions want to be less reliant on passing game in 2015

PHOENIX - Matthew Stafford was in exclusive company last year as one of six quarterbacks to attempt more than 600 passes on the season - company Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell hopes he doesn't keep again.

Caldwell said at the NFL owners meetings Wednesday that he wants to become less reliant on a passing game that features Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate, and win with a balanced offense and the same tenacious defense that helped the Lions reach the playoffs last year.

"Here's the thing I want to make certain that you guys understand and see what I see just in terms of a vision," Caldwell said. "When I tell you that we're not going to throw the ball any more than we threw it (last year), that's a fact. We're probably not going to throw it (more). If we do throw it more, that means we're behind, we're struggling, we're not winning, we're not a very good football team, plain and simple."

The Lions ranked 11th in the NFL with 604 pass attempts last year, including two fake punts, and just four of the 10 teams that threw the ball more made the playoffs.

Stafford's passing numbers have been in decline the last few years, since he set an NFL single-season record with 727 attempts in 2012, and his 602 attempts last fall - he completed 363 passes and took another 45 sacks - were the lowest in a season in which he played in all 16 games.

Left tackle options limited for Lions in draft?

While research is mixed on how pass-heavy teams fare in today's NFL - the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots were one of the teams to throw the ball more than the Lions last year - Caldwell's desire to scale back the passing game is grounded in reason.

Aaron Rodgers, the best quarterback in the NFL, has never thrown more than 552 passes in a season, Peyton Manning has done so just twice in his career (including once when Caldwell was head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2010), and the Lions, even without Ndamukong Suh, expect to have one of the league's best defenses.

Caldwell said the Lions still will lean on Stafford plenty this fall, but he cautioned the ball will "be distributed maybe a little bit different."

Hopes still high for 'impressive' Eric Ebron

"But I don't anticipate those numbers changing, when you look at it overall, a significant amount," Caldwell said. "So maybe where (Theo) Riddick might have caught a few more balls, what do you do, take that ball out of Riddick's hands and put it into (Brandon) Pettigrew's? Or (Eric) Ebron? You got to spread the numbers around like we have.

"Maybe Golden doesn't have 99 (catches) next year. Calvin was out quite a bit (this year and that's part of) the reason why he had 99. And what you guys will do is probably you'll look at it and you'll say, 'OK, Golden ended up with 65 catches, what happened?' Calvin missed quite a few games. He didn't get as many balls. So the fact of the matter is when you look at it, as you're analyzing this thing, we're not going to throw the ball a whole lot more than what we threw it, it'll just be distributed a little bit differently and we try to get it in the hands of the guys that'll be able to help us."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.