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“How Teddy Himes is the perfect QB for the Lions
Hello viewers and welcome back to the YouTube channel where we look at various players, coaches, and personnel and talk about how they are a perfect match. To day I want to look at QB Teddy Himes and his Lions’ness.
Teddy Himes was arguably the most iconic draft pick of GM D’Avignon, as any time you draft a QB early in the first round, they became a big part of the media circus. Himes wore that mantle fine, and was started immediately after he won the training camp battle against QB Carson Griffith. Since then, he has started three years, and been the first high QB Taken by the Lions to actually do what they setout to do in just his third year in the league – win the Super Bowl.
Himes is not your normal signal caller. In his first year he only had 12 TD tosses to 14 Ints and he just tossed 2290 yards. That ain;t great, right? Year 2, he had just 13 TDs to 9 Ints, despite learning a lot from a year of starting, and 2843 yards. And while that was an improvement, 13:9 isn’t really where you want to be. Meanwhile, in year three, he grabbed just 21 scores with 3316 yards, although he reduced his interceptions to just two and had the fewest picks of any starter by far.
That’s important. Himes has developed into a very reliable passer very quickly. And that’s important because the Lions aren’t the biggest offensive juggernaut. They don’t have a single wideout for whom you would say is in the Top 20 wideouts in the league or maybe not even the top 30. So being smart with the ball when you know you are one of the main weapons on this offense is very important. It’s also good when compared with the great defense the Lions have.
Of course, we know that’s not the full Himes story. He’s a scrambling QB. Only Himes and Lamar Jackson have the skillset to be true duel threats in this league. They have battled each year Himes entered the league to see who has the most rushing yards. Lamar Jackson’s numbers this year are: 3279 pass yards; 24:14 TD:Int; 563 yards rush, 4 rust TDs. That gives you a real sense of where Himes really is. He finished with 586 this year and 4 more scores. Since he joined the league, Jackson has more than 3000 yards rushing in 5 seasons. Himes has 1800 even in 3. Himes feels like Jackson in a lot of ways, save for one. He’s a more reliable passer than Jackson.
This year, teams would often play the run against both Himes and Jackson. That was valuable as each has strong run games outside of their QB, as each team finished with more than 3000 rush yards on the season, and each team having a a 1200+ yard RB. But Himes played better in those games as his passing game is better, despite Jackson having a better receiving corp. Himes just tossed 2 picks on the season, both at times when he was forced to pass to win. But Jackson had 14 picks on the season, most in similar situations. You can beat the 2022 Ravens by forcing the pass. You cannot beat the 2022 Lions by doing so, you are just beat in other ways by Himes’ passing.
In addition, the West Coast offense they put together this year allows the passing game to resemble the rushing game, and has people thinking of Himes already as the next Steve Young, who had a similar skill set and mastery of that offense.
That makes Himes the only, true dual threat in the league right now, and scouts put him around 9th or 10th as the best QB in the league overall. He just won a Super Bowl at 26. He could be in this for a long time, and with a nasty defense, ground game, and the best Offensive line in football, he could be looking at more Lombardy trophies very quickly.”
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