ALLEN PARK — Amon-Ra St. Brown is apparently still thinking about the Detroit Lions’ 18-play, 98-yard touchdown drive against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3.
It was one of the more impressive drives of the season from the Lions as they bounced back from an early three-and-out on the road to march nearly the entire length of the field while converting on third down four times.
But if St. Brown had it his way, the Lions wouldn’t have anything like it again. The All-Pro receiver wants himself and the Detroit offense to move the ball faster out of their bye week.
“I’d like to be more explosive, personally,” St. Brown said Thursday. “Just less 18-play drives, more four-play drives. I think we all would want that.”
The Lions haven’t even been a team relying too much upon long drives to score this season. The 18-play drive was the longest of the season resulting in a touchdown and drives of 13 and 11 plays were the only other 10-plus play touchdown drives of the season.
Despite being third in scoring offense in the NFL (30.7 points per game), there’s still a hunger for the unit to perform at a higher level and crack larger chunk plays.
The bread and butter of the team is often to win in the trenches with their run game and punish teams with the likes of St. Brown and tight end Sam LaPorta downfield.
Detroit seemed motivated to let quarterback Jared Goff let the ball go a bit more, but he’s only attempted 13 passes this year of 20-plus yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
“Teams are playing us differently because of who we have out there. Don’t get me wrong, we have plays for shots and it’s just not there sometimes. That’s just the way it goes,” Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said.
“We’re pretty good after the catch in the league, and that’s where we’ve been getting a lot of our big plays. As the season goes on and people catch up to your tendencies, ‘Oh, this guy is getting this.’ Defenses are not dumb. We always have plays where we’re trying to take shots. If it ain’t there, we’re going to check. We’re going to be smart.”
However, a lot of the buildup to Detroit’s game against the Minnesota Vikings has included an interest in getting wide receiver Jameson Williams more involved in the passing game.
He’s the primary deep threat for the Lions, but has just 17 catches for 289 yards through seven games. The Lions have still been effective without him getting explosive catches every game and he’s one of the most active receivers in run blocking.
But the Lions could really benefit from having him touch the ball more, with his speed and willingness to deal with contact.
Detroit’s not facing a dominant secondary with the Vikings this week. Maybe this will be the game the Lions are able to punish a team over the top and help St. Brown put that 18-play drive well in the past.
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