The Lions have won the three biggest blowouts of this NFL season, the largest of which was Sunday’s 52-6 win over the Jaguars. Backup quarterback Hendon Hooker has played at the end of those three blowouts, but he has only thrown nine passes so far this season.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson says it could be valuable for Hooker to throw the ball more in a game situation, especially after he didn’t play at all as a rookie last season. But Johnson also doesn’t want to call too many passes after the game is already in hand, for sportsmanship reasons.
“I think it’s invaluable for him, going out there, you’ve got the lights shining on you, you’ve got people looking at you, it’s not practice setting,” Johnson said of Hooker playing in games. “Now we’re at a spot where he’s been able to get a few in games this year, and the challenge for me is I do want to get him some passes but also don’t want to be disrespectful to the opponent as well, so it’s kind of a balancing act when it comes to that.”
As Lions head coach Dan Campbell said this week, deciding how to handle blowout wins is a good problem to have. And it’s an issue no coaching staff in the NFL has to think about as much as the Lions.
