While he's still before the snap, Frank Ragnow's mind is always in motion. His eyes are darting across the defense, identifying possible threats. The Lions' Pro Bowl center is often a code-cracker before he's a blocker, the brains in front of every smart play-call by Ben Johnson.
Ragnow is so consumed with what the defense might be doing next that even after Amon-Ra St. Brown caught the first-down pass that sealed the Lions' long-awaited playoff win over the Rams last Sunday, "I'm just thinking, 'We're in four-minute mode, what looks am I gonna get here, what could I possibly see?'" Ragnow told Fox 2's Dan Miller this week.
"And then when they told me, 'Hey, we're going to kneel this out,' I was just like, 'Oh my goodness, we did it,'" he said.
With the completion of one task comes the start of another. After grinding through six painful seasons in Detroit -- fractured throat, mangled toe, knee, back and foot injuries and worst of all, too many losses to count -- Ragnow had about 12 hours to bask in the glow of last Sunday's victory. By Monday night he was thinking about the Bucs, who will be here Sunday with one of the most aggressive defenses in the NFL. All that's on the line is a possible trip to the Super Bowl.
"It's as talented a front seven as you'll see in the league," Ragnow said. "Vita Vea speaks for himself, you can go down the line, a lot of great players. And then you combine that with the scheme and their blitzes and their pressure packages, it's a lot of thinking but also just a lot of talented dudes you gotta block. So it's an incredible challenge."
It's not just how frequently the Bucs blitz, third most in the NFL. It's how infrequently they telegraph their intentions under head coach and defensive whiz Todd Bowles. It's not always clear when or from where blitzers might be coming. Fortunately for the Lions, they have a whiz of their own up front and a quarterback behind him who's grown by leaps and bounds in Detroit in his ability to read a defense and get into the right protections. Johnson called the challenge of preparing for the Bucs "fun." He might also enjoy root canals and migraines.
"Really, our secret weapon is Frank Ragnow," Johnson said Thursday. "We put a lot on his plate, both in the run game and pass game, so he does a great job getting fronts identified for the rest of the offensive line and in the protection game with the running backs and the tight ends. He really is a key cog in what we do and I can't say enough good things about him. Experienced player that's seen a lot of football. And even when we get un-scouted looks, he can find a solution for us more times than not."
A three-time Pro Bowler who's as grounded as they come, Ragnow laughed at being called the Lions' secret weapon: "That's a first." He credits offensive line coach and former NFL center Hank Fraley for constantly "pushing me to know more and more and more" about defensive schemes, as well as his own study habits. He watches hours of film each week, and he's amassed a library of mental images over 80 games in the NFL. He can call on these at any given moment, like an answer key from a test he's already taken.
In other words, Ragnow's ability to diagnose a defense is not something he's always had.
"Nooo, no," he said. "A lot of it comes from just playing ball. This is year six of doing this, so I've seen a lot of looks and understand things. And a lot of it's from film study. I take a lot of pride in my work ethic with film study and my preparation, just remembering these looks and seeing how other teams blocked them and what not. I think that's what gives me the most success."
Almost like an encyclopedic memory?
"Hah, I wouldn't say that much," Ragnow chuckled. "But I'm trying to get to that point. Defensive coordinators will alway have something crazy up their sleeve that's tough, so you gotta do it on the fly."
Ragnow's sound technique fuels his success as a blocker, which is the main reason for his accolades. He allowed just one sack and five quarterback hits in 546 pass-blocking opportunities this season, per Pro Football Focus, and was also PFF's highest-graded run-blocker. He helped keep game-wrecker Aaron Donald out of the sack column last week, one surefire Hall of Famer against -- don't look now -- possibly another. He powered a run game all season that ranked third in the NFL in yards per carry (4.6). He's a guardrail and a road-grader rolled into one.
Ragnow has quick feet for a man of his size. It's his ability to think on them that makes the Lions offense go. His processing speed is football's version of counting cards, like Alan crunching the numbers in The Hangover. Protecting Goff is paramount to Detroit's offense. He had a passer rating of 116.3 this season when kept clean, 62.1 when under pressure, one of the widest gaps in the NFL. But consider this: Goff had a rating of 95.7 when blitzed. He didn't wilt in the face of extra rushers, largely because Ragnow helps him account for them before they arrive.
These are good times for Ragnow, after a lot of dark days in Detroit. He and his wife had their first child, a boy, last August ("It's nuts, dude," said Ragnow, "it's a lot, but it's so fun"), he's up for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his work through the Rags Remembered Foundation, which Ragnow started in honor of his late father to connect grieving children with the outdoors, he's finally playing postseason football for the Lions, and, to top it all off, Ragnow said he feels better physically than he has since the start of the season even though he puts his body -- and his "stupid toe" -- through the ringer ever week.
"Life is really good right now," said Ragnow. "I'm just trying to soak it all up."
When the Lions offensive starters were introduced before their first home playoff game in 30 years, Ragnow got a rousing ovation. The fans know exactly what he's meant to this organization. He would call the atmosphere "magical" later that night, "everything I imagined and more." He said Thursday that it was a "once-in-a-lifetime experience, yet we get to do it again Sunday."
Asked what he'd say to those fans after the Lions' landmark win, Ragnow said, "Thank you. Thank you for sticking with us through those years." They'd just as soon thank him.
