It’s been a very long time since we’ve been able to talk about the Detroit Lions’ offense in a historical sense that wasn’t a historically negative sense, but these are not the same old Lions. A revamped run game that has every defense on edge, in which Detroit is successfully deploying just about every run scheme known to man, sets the tone for quarterback Jared Goff — who, all of a sudden, is pretty fierce when using play-action.
Not that you need a great run game to successfully use play-action — there are far too many examples to the contrary to bend to that old canard on a no-matter-what basis — but the Lions’ case, it’s working like a charm.
The most prominent exhibit of this would be the Lions’ overall scoring success.
The @Lions have opened the 2022 season by scoring a TD in 10 consecutive quarters.
This matches the 1920 Buffalo All Americans and 1998 San Francisco 49ers for the most consecutive quarters with a touchdown scored to open an #NFL season.#OnePride pic.twitter.com/WwqvISsN45
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) September 25, 2022
The most recent exhibit of this would be what the Lions did to the Minnesota Vikings in the first quarter (plus one play) of Week 3’s matchup.
Detroit failed to convert any of its third-down conversions — they were 0-fot-4 — but they did convert all three of the fourth-down attempts they tried.
When one of Goff’s targets is Amon-Ra St. Brown, that’s generally going to be a problem for defenses. This was the first fourth-down conversion; 30 yards on fourth-and-5.
Amon-Ra St. Brown is slicing and dicing 👀
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/fRqJZ2Y6Ba
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 25, 2022
The second fourth-down conversion came with 1:53 left in the first quarter, and this was just running back Jamaal Williams blowing through Minnesota’s defense for a five-yard gain on fourth-and-1, and check out the block by St. Brown.
The Lions’ 2022 motto: “Fourth Down? So What?” pic.twitter.com/2wCOKIC5bX
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 25, 2022
The third fourth-down conversion game at the start of the second quarter. Another play-action fake, another frozen defense, and another successful try.
Jared Goff to Josh Reynolds, and another fourth-down conversion. It helps when your run game is so good that it freezes defenses when you run play-action. pic.twitter.com/js606HtDeO
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 25, 2022
The Lions came into this game with the NFL’s eighth-best offense by DVOA. At this rate, you can expect a jump for an offense that has been one of the league’s biggest surprises this season.
