Detroit Lions offense not who we thought they were
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Lions offense was supposed to be better in 2017. That has not been the case. The Lions offense remains among he bottom half of the NFL.
In the lead-up to the season, there were expectations. The Detroit Lions signed Matthew Stafford to the largest contract in the history of the league. Marvin Jones and Golden Tate combined for 2,017 receiving yards last season. Eric Ebron had shown progression during each of his three seasons in the NFL. The role of third wheel was falling to him. Ameer Abdullah was healthy after a foot injury that stole 14 games of his career in 2016.
The right side of the offensive line was revamped. Tight ends have joined the team, in both free agency and the draft. They are blocking specialists but also capable of participating effectively in the passing game.
The team drafted a big red zone specialist and deep threat in the third round of the draft. The offensive coordinator was through his first full season calling plays. The Lions offense was supposed to be better than it was last year. It is not.
Matthew Stafford
After signing his extension, Stafford opened the year with a pick six. National pundits were salivating. The “Same ol’ Lions” branch of the media and fan-base were sharpening their pitchforks, and getting torches ready.
Much to their chagrin, Stafford has not thrown an interception since, and he is tied for second in the NFL in touchdown passes. Stafford is 15th in passing yards however, and there have been a number of three an outs that resulted from three consecutive incomplete passes. In the final moments of this week’s loss to the Falcons Stafford went 1-6 for one yard.
The Falcons lack of discipline extended the drive, but Stafford could not hit a receiver to save his life. The Lions leader has an injured throwing arm. The fate of their season rests on its state of health
Tate and Jones
The Lions top two wide receivers have opposite problems. Tate can’t gain yardage, and Jones can’t get catches. Tate is averaging 9 yards per reception, and Jones is averaging two catches per game. The end result is that the Lions passing game has suffered. Tate has been fed the ball at a pace that would result in his highest catch total as a Lion, with 112. Despite 21 extra catches though, he would have fewer yards than he did in 2016.
It is not that Matthew Stafford has been neglecting Jones as a target. On deep deep balls out of bounds, chances are that Jones was the intended target. Jones current pace of production, however, would result in fewer catches than he has had since his rookie season and fewer than 500 yards receiving. The Lions dynamic duo has had a rough time getting the job done for the Lions offense in 2017.
Eric Ebron
Ebron had a bad week against the Falcons. That happens, every player has a bad week now and then. The problem is that it was his third bad week of the season. Ebron has nine catches on the year and is averaging 6.7 yards per reception. Ebron’s pace barely Exceeds 300 yards on the season. He has had a few concentration drops as well. They seem to come most often in key situations. This is not the kind of season that a player looking to cash in on a team’s fifth-year option wants to have. If Ebron doesn’t get his season back on track he will never see that money, and the Lions offense will be worse off for it.
Ameer Abdullah
Abdullah is averaging 3.6 yards per attempt. Last season the Lions offense was one of the worst in the NFL at running the ball. Two-thirds of the 2016 team’s leading rushers put up better numbers than Abdullah is right now. The Lions did nothing to bolster their sub-par backfield this off-season.
Abdullah was supposed to be the savior. He is having the worst year of his career, young though he might be. The Lions cannot continue with their current level of production. The running game is not better, the team is just not abandoning it as quickly. Abdullah was supposed to be the perfect running back to run Jim Bob Cooter’s offensive scheme. That has not materialized.
The Offensive Line and Tight Ends
The blocking has not been better than it was in 2016. Ameer Abdullah shares the blame for the Lions anemic rushing attack with others. He meets a defender in the backfield far too often. The loss of Taylor Decker put an obvious weak point on the blind side, but the middle has been an issue at least as often. Only the right side of the line was consistently doing their job.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the relative success of the right guard and tackle has actually been a problem at times. As the offensive line slides to one side or the other on a zone stretch play, the running back looks for a crease to hit. The right side has often been so much better than the left that multiple levels of defenders develop.
Players that would normally be unable to simply slide around their blocker are doing just that. That is not the fault of T.J. Lang or Rick Wagner of course. Their higher level of play should not be a problem. Unfortunately, for that particular style of running play requires a consistent depth along the line. The disparity makes the job of the defense far too easy.
Next: Detroit Lions week three game balls
The Lions defense is bailing the offense out. The Lions are currently on pace for 37 interceptions. The Ravens and Chiefs led the NFL last season with 18. It is highly unlikely that the team will keep that pace up. A regression to the mean is all but inevitable. If the Lions offense can not figure out what is wrong and fix it rapidly, the season could be about to take a serious downturn.