ALLEN PARK -- Jim Bob Cooter has been praised throughout the season for his role in the rise of Matthew Stafford.

Now he's experiencing his first serious bit of scrutiny, in the wake of the Detroit Lions' 17-6 loss Sunday against the New York Giants.

And he doesn't disagree with it.

"Should have been better," the playcaller said of his game plan.

The biggest complaint seems to be Cooter's reliance on the run game, especially on first down. And there's some merit to that argument. Detroit ran the ball on every first down during the opening quarter, and 11 times for the game, even though Dwayne Washington and Zach Zenner were gaining only 2.5 yards per carry.

After gaining 16 yards on their initial two first-down runs, the Lions gained just 19 yards on the other nine. But Cooter stuck with it anyway, setting up a litany of second- and third-and-longs.

Why did Cooter stick with the run, even though it wasn't working?

"I think it's important you don't get into the mode of, 'Here we go guys, the next quarter and a half is all passes,'" Cooter said. "I think defenses have the ability to make that extremely difficult on you. Sometimes it is frustrating when maybe the average isn't what you would like it to be, and you're staring at a fourth quarter, or maybe a quarter and a half of calling runs that have not yet been successful in the game. But I do think it's important that you don't abandon that thing -- you keep hammering at it a little bit.

"Sometimes those things start going. Couple weeks back, I think we didn't have a great first half rushing the ball and then we did have a good second half. Had I abandoned the run at halftime of that game, I think that game may have turned out differently. We wouldn't have been happy with the results. You're not going to get it perfect all the time, you're not going to get every call right, that's for sure. But I do think it's important to have balance."

The challenge of striking a balance will get no easier this week. Dallas is even better against the run than New York, yielding a league-best 80.9 yards per game. Cooter says he'll have to figure out a way to pick his spots on the ground, while also trying to find ways to attack the Cowboys' weakness against the pass.

"I think that's part of my job -- quite frankly, one I've got to do better," Cooter said. "We've not performed the way we would like to, especially last week. Didn't get as many points on the board to help our team win the game. We'd like to do more of that, do that better moving forward, and I think the kind of run-pass ratio is a big part of that thing.

"At the same time, like I said, we're striving for balance. That's the ultimate goal -- well, the ultimate goal is winning the game. But, balance I think helps you on your way there."

Cooter has received a bunch of credit this year for his work with Stafford. The quarterback was middling at best under former coordinator Joe Lombardi, and turnovers were a huge issue. But Stafford has been lights out since Cooter took over the playcalling last year, completing 67.3 percent of his passes for 42 touchdowns, 12 picks and a QB rating of 99.5.

He's also guided eight fourth-quarter comebacks this year, a league record in the modern era, and has entered the periphery of the MVP discussion.

But while Cooter has been a hit on that front, the Lions offense has had some issues. They rank 22nd in total offense and 20th in points. They failed to score an offensive touchdown in two games -- both losses -- and are 30th on the ground.

Cooter, though, says it's important to stick with the ground game, especially in the red zone, where Detroit has struggled to score touchdowns the last three games (just three TDs in 12 trips).

"There have been some nice games where it's been more consistent and better. Just hasn't been consistent all year," he said. "Running the ball is a big part of the thing in the red zone, as the yardage gets decreased, as kind of everything gets a little tighter. Sure is nice to run the ball more effectively, more consistently down there."