The Detroit Lions have dropped two of their last three games and own a 6-4 record. The offense has been a topic of discussion throughout the season, and is only under the microscope more now that Dan Campbell has taken over as the team's playcaller.
In the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the offense managed to score nine points, which isn't good enough to get the job done on the road against the caliber of opponent Detroit will have to top in the postseason. Despite their struggles, the defense did their part, holding the Eagles to 16 points.
While some defensive coordinators would suggest the opposite, Kelvin Sheppard spoke to the media on Thursday by stating that he loves the offense's fourth-down aggression because the defense has confidence to put out fires, no matter the position they are put in.
"We're the firefighters on this team," Sheppard said, via Colton Pouncy of The Athletic.
While it's great that this defense has that much confidence in themselves, it should ring an alarm for the offense to start picking things up.
Lions Offense Needs to Pick Things Up to Match Detroit's Defense
Despite the offense still being ranked near the top of the league in several categories, there are still strides the Lions need to take. Earlier in the month, Amon-Ra St. Brown said that the offense needs to get into a flow. There have also been problems with David Montgomery not getting enough carries, which led Campbell to state that they need to get him more involved.
There have been several changes on the offensive side this year, including coaching departures and tweaks to the offensive line. Regardless of these moves, the offense needs to find a way to be more consistent.
The defense has dealt with plenty of injuries itself, but continues to come out fighting. In the secondary alone, Detroit has missed games from Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, and Kerby Joseph. Add in the missed games from Marcus Davenport and Josh Paschal, and Detroit would have every excuse to have folded on defense at this point. However, largely thanks to the leadership of Sheppard, that hasn't stopped the defense from being an effective group.
Entering Week 12, the Lions are fifth in total defense (291.8), and eighth in pass defense (192.1) as well as run defense (99.7). Detroit is also 10th in scoring defense (21.6). Sheppard is getting the most of his unit, but the offense has to pick it up if they want to make a serious push.
We will quickly reach a point where the defense won't have the ability to continue being firefighters and put out the chaos that the offense creates. For this team to hit its ceiling, the offense is going to have to hit its stride, and they know that.
They have the collection of playmakers to do it, but something has been off this season. Now, Campbell and the offensive staff need to find out what it is as soon as possible.