I have been a Lions fan since Chirst was a corporal. And I'll tell you what, no matter who is the coach or the QB, if the cannot find someone to catch the ball or stop the other team from running screens or dump off over the mlb position they will never be more than a .500 team

Welcome jomo, it's nice to see that you have a firm grasp on the obvious. LOL

Welcome to the board jomo269! We have a number of "experienced" Lions fans on the board. I'm right there with you except it's 3rd downs on both that make me insane.

Killer was on about this stating that it is a move that makes sense in that Mooch believes in his system and really wants to maintain control and that he and Tollner are on the same page. Nothing new with that...but he did say that Mooch continually insist that he wants McMahon back That was at least interesting...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=citadel-2_346758_93&prov=citadel&type=lgns



Why God, why?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

We got a warm body for our OC so Mooch could continue to waste the talent of Roy Williams and CRog.

Of note the SF QB Rattay has a higher Passer Rating, Higher completion percentage, and only 900 less yards than joey while playing in only 9 games

Here's an article from the Free Press in case anyone missed it defining Tollner's role:


Ted Tollner's role is now defined: He will help coach Steve Mariucci rework the Lions' West Coast offense, and he will call the plays next fall.


And -- perhaps just as important -- Tollner, the Lions' new offensive coordinator, will provide an experienced, trusted ally as Mariucci makes the adjustments necessary to make the team competitive with a set of promising young players.


"The intriguing part about Ted is that he's got 27 years of experience outside the West Coast offense," Mariucci said Thursday. "So he's got a lot of systems in his mind that we could draw from if we needed to add a certain wrinkle here and there, and add a concept. He's been with a lot of good coaches -- that he worked for, that he worked with."


And when the playbook is in order and the Lions start the season in September, Tollner apparently will call the plays instead of Mariucci.


"Right now, we're going to proceed with Ted as the play caller," Mariucci said. "I'll stay with him, and Oly would be the guy who gives it to the quarterback on the field. That's the way I did it a lot in San Francisco, and I liked it better that way."


That means Tollner will call the plays from the coaches' booth in the press box, with Mariucci on the headset with him and quarterbacks coach Greg Olson sending the plays to Joey Harrington on the field.


Although Mariucci has spent only two seasons with Tollner -- as an assistant to Tollner at Southern Cal in 1986 and as the head coach at San Francisco with Tollner coaching quarterbacks in 2002 -- he clearly has a great deal of trust in him.


"He became the guy that I would lean on, on game day, for some thoughts and some ideas -- not just on offense but for time-outs and time management and game management, some of those sort of things," Mariucci said.


"You just kind of gravitate to somebody you trust, so he became the guy I would start talking to quite a bit."


Tollner was with the Lions' coaches to scout the Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., this week and will report to work Monday in Allen Park.


"We have to customize our way of offense to our personnel," he said. "What does our quarterback do best? What should we stay away from? That sort of thing, and in that system it's very diverse, very suitable to make those tweaks and changes, run-game emphasis, short passing game emphasis. It can be varied."


Mariucci has given mixed signals about the changes he plans to make in the offense, saying on several occasions that the offense needs adjusting but also defending the system the Lions are using.


In Tollner, he found someone he thinks can help work through the process and implement it when the time comes.


After reading it (as long as there is truth in it) I feel a little better about the hire. At least they are recognizing that they have to figure out how to best utilize the talent they have.

Well, then now I just hope (as I am sure many do here) that they will and do figure out how to win some more games w/ the talent we have in place now.