The Facts:
Pettigrew, for all intents and purposes, was the Lions' run game last season. What they couldn't produce handing the ball off, they got from short and intermediate pass plays to Pettigrew. "He's a chain-mover," TEs coach Tim Lappano said. "He doesn't get the respect for the amount of balls he's caught the last two years because he's not getting the deep balls and the touchdowns. But we used him as an extension of our run game. A 6-yard stick route, a hook route, an angle route, a tight end screen, those are extensions of our run game and you have to take advantage of that."
Reported by the Detroit News
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
The good news for Fantasy owners? Lappano said that dimension of the offense won't disappear -- "That will never go away," he said -- it just might not be as prominent as it has been if the Lions can develop a traditional run game. But given
the current state of the team's backfield, that seems far from certain. So even though Lappano has warned Pettigrew that he might not get to 80 receptions this season, we wouldn't bet against it. Pettigrew has caught 154 passes the last two seasons. His 83 catches last season is a team record and he is the only tight end in team history to catch more than 70 passes for more than 700 yards in multiple seasons. And as Lappano summed up: "Brandon is not covered when he's covered; how do you not throw him the ball?"
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