The Detroit Lions went deep into the bag of tricks during a 42–24 blowout victory Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
With the team in the red zone, Jared Goff lined up under center with running back David Montgomery behind him. While Goff looked like he was making checks at the line of scrimmage, center Frank Ragnow snapped the ball through Goff’s legs directly to Montgomery, who picked up a nice gain (and a first down) after catching the defense by surprise. It’s one of the coolest trick plays you’ll see, and another feather in the cap of rising star offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Here’s a look at the awesome play.
Lions pull off the direct snap to David Montgomery while Jared Goff is under center pic.twitter.com/OoOkZqiSnH
— Justin Penik (@JustinPenik) October 9, 2023
Smooth.
According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, the wrinkle’s origins can be traced back to William & Mary football, which runs one of the most creative offenses in the country. But now that the Lions have brought it to the mainstream, it seems likely others will follow suit in trying out the play.
Fans clearly loved the design, using it as yet another example of why this year’s Lions group is different than the franchise’s moribund history.
Thousands of annual complaints about the Lions playing on Thanksgiving suddenly grow silent https://t.co/MhmwIsAglO
— Matthew Zickus (@mwzickus) October 9, 2023
Oh this is awesome
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 9, 2023
Ben Johnson is an ELITE OC. https://t.co/OQGrJM97Aa
I’ve said I wanted to run this my entire life and now I’ve seen it ran. I am content https://t.co/1B2m4orJxU
— BrADy fRoM CiNAttI (@b_bowling14) October 9, 2023
I’ve watched this in slow motion so many times and still no idea how they done that 🤣 https://t.co/NiAvOrrwU1
— Aff Side (@Aff_Side_) October 9, 2023
Sending this to my pop warner coach who told me this was a dumb idea in ‘06 https://t.co/5fE9mHPfNw
— felly (@___kf1) October 9, 2023
