ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions aren’t sounding the alarms over some of their recent offensive struggles. But they know the offensive line play has to improve for them to be able to do what they want.
When asked about the worst part of watching the loss to the Minnesota Vikings back, offensive coordinator John Morton pointed to the protection.
“The protection, that was the biggest thing. I mean, we draw up all these plays we want, it doesn’t matter. That was the biggest thing,” Morton said on Thursday. “Winning our one-on-one matchups, that was big. That set us back -- second-and-long, third-and-long. We had a lot of third-and-longs.
“But when we did things right, we did really well. That was the biggest thing. It just -- clogging the middle up, protection. You can’t do a lot of stuff with that. And we all have our hand in that game plan, and we would do things differently next time.”
And while there has been a lot of hand-wringing and discussions concerning the third-down struggles. The Lions have put themselves in some brutal spots, going one-for-23 on the year on third-down attempts longer than 10 yards. And against the Vikings, they had 17 third-down attempts with an average distance needed to convert of 7.5 yards.
The explosive passing game and big runs from the one-two punch of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have been hit or miss. While that’s not good, and it’s even tougher to correct on the fly with left guard Christian Mahogany out until at least late December, it all comes back to the offensive line and their ability to pave holes and pass block.
Jared Goff has already been sacked 18 times through eight games this year. At that pace, the Lions quarterback is on track to set a new career-worst mark in the number of sacks taken.
And to be fair, most of the issues have come in the last couple of weeks. Goff was sacked four times in the opener, and then didn’t go down for the next three games. But he’s taken 14 sacks in the last four games, including nine over the last two weeks.
It’s limited the team’s ability to get into more manageable third downs. It’s led to the Lions running play action fewer times than we’ve seen recently. It’s taken away the ability to flex their muscle and wear teams down on the ground.
Heading into last week, Goff was using the play-action on 29.4% of his dropbacks. It’s the fourth-highest rate in the NFL, but well down from last year’s marks of 36.6%.
Detroit’s offense is averaging 4.4 yards per attempt through eight games. That matches the worst output on the ground since Dan Campbell took over as head coach, matching the numbers from 2021.
“I kind of just said, it’s protecting. The protection and all of that,” Morton reiterated. “That’s the biggest thing. I can draw up all of these plays we wanted. If you don’t protect and have sound protection so the quarterback can throw the ball, it doesn’t matter. So, that’s the biggest thing. And listen, this is fixable, that’s the beauty of it.
“This is all fixable, and we’ve addressed it.”
Campbell has pondered shifting pieces around on the offensive line. Veteran guard Kayode Awosika is expected to be the first to replace Mahogany. But Campbell is looking into everything, including more playing time for Trystan Colon and potentially moving center Graham Glasgow.
When asked if personnel changes might help address some of the issues, Morton said he doesn’t see it that way. It’s not his decision, but “if a certain guy is making the same mistake over and over, then it has to be addressed.”
Morton added that the pass protection has led to issues with the rushing attack. The first-year Lions offensive coordinator echoed Campbell’s remarks, saying that it feels like one guy making a mistake here and there, leading to the struggles.
“So, that’s just like with the passing game or anything,” Morton said. “It’s just about being consistent. We’ve narrowed things down where you don’t have so many runs or so many passes, so the guys know what to do with all the different types of looks. I think that’s important. And we’ve been doing that. Listen, we’ve been doing that.
“ ... That’s the biggest thing. We had a good scheme. So, that’s -- when you break (it) down, I mean it takes all 11, especially on offense. It takes all 11 guys, and if you don’t do it, it could be tough.”
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