ALLEN PARK -- Dan Campbell is focused on mastering the “bread and butter” before worrying about the exciting, razzle-dazzle offensive play-calling.
The Detroit Lions struggled to get anything going in their season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers. They couldn’t run the ball. They were limited to only one play of 20-plus yards downfield. They were limited to checkdown after checkdown in the passing attack. The one reverse they ran with electric receiver Jameson Williams gained 3 years.
It was the first regular-season game with new offensive coordinator John Morton calling the shots. But the main thing Campbell is worried about is improving the rushing attack, which the Lions coach believes will open everything up moving forward.
“Yeah, well, I would tell you this, first of all, I thought he did good,” Campbell said of Morton. “And yeah, there are a couple of things that he wants back, yeah, certainly. But we’ve got to master (our) bread and butter before you get to all the other stuff because otherwise you can’t -- the other stuff won’t matter if we can’t find a way to run the football more than 2.1 (yards) per carry.
“That’s where everything starts for us. If we can’t (run), then you’re out of play-action. You’re out of everything. Guys pin their ears back, and it makes it harder on some of those guys up front. So, that’s where it all begins, really.”
Campbell isn’t wrong about any of that. Sure, it was surprising to watch an offense hit only 3.3 air yards per completion. But that happens from time to time, especially when the Packers are perfectly executing their defensive plan, keeping contained and bottled.
But 2.1 yards per carry? This offense ran for 100-plus yards in 16 out of 17 games last year. They have finished in the NFL’s top 10 in yards per carry for two straight years -- both seasons with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery leading the backfield.
However, in Week 1 against the Packers, Gibbs was limited to 19 yards on nine rush attempts and Montgomery to just 25 yards on 11 carries. And in an ugly outing filled with plenty of even uglier stats, the one that sticks out is that Detroit’s ball-carriers were hit in the backfield on 16 of 22 rush attempts.
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It’s as bad a performance we’ve seen from the offensive line in quite some time. The pass protection was bad, with Goff getting sacked four times, hit nine times and pressured 19 times (!).
Tate Ratledge was making his NFL debut at right guard, with Graham Glasgow sliding into a full-time center role for the first time since 2018. Christian Mahogany was making his third career start at left guard. There were communication issues for the run blocking, and poor execution in pass protection, with the Packers creating pressure from their defensive front while everyone else dropped back.
“We just a couple of times, it’s like one guy doesn’t hear the ‘kill’ or the ‘check’ but everybody else gets it, so really there’s no excuse for that,” Campbell said. “I think it starts there, but then when you say, ‘OK man, we’ve got to make sure that we are as loud as possible passing it down and everybody’s got to get it. We’ve got to make sure everybody gets it, so everybody’s screaming at the top of your lungs.’
“That’s how you help that.”
For those worried about the lack of deep shots, Campbell said they had a couple of those called, but the chances just never came to fruition. The Lions coach also made sure to clarify that the number of checkdowns was by design and for quarterback Jared Goff not to force anything.
It was a combination of growing pains, poor communication, sloppy execution and a Packers defense that hit its game plan with a bullseye. The Lions settled for two short field goals and threw an interception across their first three trips to the red zone, so they were getting downfield, but couldn’t do anything with a couple of long drives.
“ ... We preached to Goff, ‘If it’s not there, check it down. Check it down,’” Campbell said. “And even if you’re wanting to take one of those -- because we had them called, we had a couple of times now where these things are dialed up. You’ve got to have time to get it out there. And I thought he did a good job of knowing, ‘I’ve got to get rid of this now,’ and taking what was there.
“And so, look, it becomes a boring game, and you do have to be patient. But, when you do that, you can’t miss on third downs, you can’t turn the ball over, defense has got to get you some stops and has to get some takeaways, special teams has to do their job, we’ve got to be able to play field position and we didn’t do really any of those at the end of the day.”
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