ALLEN PARK -- Matthew Stafford was sacked a career-high 47 times last season. He was supported by the worst running game in the league. And he was still a top-six quarterback by every major measure.

It was enough to save his offensive coordinator.

But it was not enough to save his quarterback coach.

The Detroit Lions parted with Brian Callahan, a popular assistant who was well-liked throughout the organization and by his quarterback. George Godsey replaced him.

And while most of the staffing moves were left to incoming coach Matt Patricia, this one was executed at the urging of GM Bob Quinn.

"Things being continuous on the coaching staff is good, but maybe too much of it would be hard," Quinn explained to MLive in a sitdown a few hours after Wednesday's pomp and circumstance in Allen Park. "There were a lot of hard decisions I had to make without having a head coach here."

Quinn originally interviewed Patricia on Jan. 5, and the meeting went so well it wasn't long before Quinn knew he wanted to hire his old Patriots pal. They met again during the Super Bowl bye week, during which time they discussed the future of the staff.

Most of the staffing decisions were left to Patricia, including the future of Jim Bob Cooter. Patricia had never worked with him, but people he trusted vouched for the playcaller. Ultimately he decided the best path forward offensively was the one of least resistance.

But Quinn thought a voice in leadership was needed in the quarterbacks room. So with Cooter back, it was Callahan who was out. Quinn said it was a tough thing to do because he respects Callahan deeply as a coach.

"I think Brian Callahan is a really good coach," he said. "I think Brian had some other opportunities that might have been better for him long term, and I didn't really want to tie him down to a place with a new coach. He went to Oakland, which is where his dad was. There were a lot of roots there. So sometimes those things come up, and you don't want to just hold him back."

Patricia says he was comfortable with the move because he knows Godsey well. Matter of fact, they go all the way back to Patricia's first game as a Division I coach. When Syracuse faced Georgia Tech in the 2001 opener, it was Godsey who started under center for the Yellow Jackets.

Godsey's offensive coordinator by the way? It was Bill O'Brien. Small world.

Godsey wound up beating Syracuse 13-7 that day, finished his career as the most accurate passer in Georgia Tech history and years later found himself reuniting with O'Brien in New England. First he was an offensive assistant in 2011, and then became the tight ends coach from 2012-13.

Quinn brought Godsey to Detroit last year to lend an offensive perspective to the defense, and now has put him in control of the most important player in the city.

"George is a really good football coach, (judging) from my time with him in New England," Patricia said. "Very smart. Was a quarterback himself. I think it's something that Bob thought was a good situation."

Stafford passed for 4,446 yards last year, which was third in the league, and did it while maintaining fabulous efficiency numbers. He completed 65.7 percent of his passes, threw just 10 picks and finished with a career-high QB rating of 99.3.

But he did fumble 11 times, a league high, and Quinn said he wants him to become more disciplined in his decision-making.

"I think Matthew is a really good player," Quinn said. "Is he going to be the No. 1-ranked guy in every category? I don't really care about that. As long as he helps us win, his QB rating can be 22nd in the league and I won't care. No one is going to care, if we win.

"Everyone knows Matt has the physical skill-set. Everyone knows he's one of the toughest guys on the team. I know he's one of the smartest guys on the team. So I think Matt, we go to do a better job putting better players around him, and he has to do a better job of not trying to do too much. Because sometimes he tries to win the Super Bowl on every play.

"That's a great quality to have as a quarterback. That's what you want. But you got to temper it just a little bit, you know what I mean? Because you love it when it works -- like it worked a lot in 2016. But this year, he had some fumbles. I don't think he has a fumbling problem, I think he just needs to know, 'OK, let's move on to the next play.'"