Jay Cutler = Top 5 qb in the league this year?

The Oilers leading receivers over a short period.

Hill 72
Givens 60
Duncan 22
Drewry 11

Hill 66
Givins 65
Jeffires 47
Duncan 43

Jeffires 74
Hill 74
Givins 72
Duncan 66

Jeffires 100
Hill 90
Givins 70
Duncan 55

Jeffires 90
Duncan 82
Givins 67
Slaughter 39

Slaughter 77
Givins 68
Jeffires 66
Duncan 71

Jeffires 68
Slaughter 68
Givins 36
Coleman 20

Jeffires 61
Sanders 35
Russell 24
Lewis 16

 

What you'll notice is that when Jeffires emerges, the team got more balls as a whole, and as he declines, they get less and less. Nearly the same qb, and nearly the same offense.

 

Phi,
I know very little about the team at that time, but I'll certainly agree that more talent at WR can increase a teams passing productivity as a whole. The problem in this discussion is that we're looking at a VERY productive passing offense already, and at some point it gets saturated, and you just can't squeeze in much more. The lions already had two WR with over 80 catches, and a RB with over 60. I just don't think they can get a whole lot more.

 

There could be a slight effect, if everything goes really well, but I doubt it will do much. The thing is that Kitna was already fairly effective. His completion percentage was in the top ten percent. Sure, he might throw 10 less interceptions, but while that will help his QB rating, it won't generate that much more offense for the lions. He's already above 20 TDs passing, very rarely does a QB get much higher than that. Usually only 2-3 QBs in the NFL get more than 25 TD passes.

While I think it's pretty much guaranteed that the Lions will have a decent offense and generate solid stats, I think it's going to hard for them to really improve very much. A lot of things worked out very well for their passing game last season.