It's worth pointing out, right off the top, that the Lions are third in the NFL in total offense and seventh in scoring offense. They are fourth in yards per play. They are a top-five rushing team and a top-10 passing team. Only three other teams are top 10 in both: the 49ers, Dolphins and Bills. There is no denying that Ben Johnson's offense is one of the elite units in the NFL.
There's also no denying that, recently, his unit has slipped.
The Lions were shut out in the second half by the Bears last week in an ugly 28-13 loss in Chicago. They scraped by in the second half the week prior in a win over the Saints in which the offense scored 33 points in part because it was teed up by a pair of takeaways. And they were flattened by the Packers on Thanksgiving on a day the offense never found its rhythm.
Over the last three games, the rankings aren't so glittery as those at the top. The Lions are down to 10th in total offense and 16th in scoring offense. They are 12th in yards per play. They are neither a top-five rushing team (seventh) nor a top-10 passing team (16th). They are, in essence, just another offense.
"We always look inwardly first and foremost when the players aren’t executing at the level that we think that they are capable of," Johnson said Wednesday.
And in evaluating themselves, Johnson said he and the coaches can do a better job of installing and teaching certain concepts over the course of the week to where the players can execute them on Sundays regardless of what the defense throws at them. He also said that "if you want to look at, ‘Hey, where have we trended a little bit backwards over the course of the season?’ it’s been our base-pass game."
This can help explain the recent downturn of Jared Goff, who's coming off one of his worst games with the Lions. Goff, who's also operating behind a banged-up offensive line, hasn't been driving the ball downfield with nearly as much efficiency of late, especially in play-action. He averaged 4.6 yards per attempt last week, a low for his tenure in Detroit. He's also had a hand in three turnovers in three of the last four games.
It's not all on Goff, of course. The offensive line, as mentioned, has to be better in protection and the receivers have to be sharper with their routes and cleaner when balls come their way; even the uber-dependable Amon-Ra St. Brown dropped a couple passes he could have caught last week. They all need to be on the same page: "It’s the timing, it's the anticipation, it's the trust between him and the route runners," said Johnson.
There were a few key plays last week where Goff threw to one spot and his receiver wound up in another. He missed St. Brown on a crosser when St. Brown cut off his route and Goff threw in front of him, and he was picked off on a fourth-down throw to Sam LaPorta, his second favorite target, when the rookie tight end drifted toward the sideline and Goff threw down the numbers. Goff also failed to hit Jameson Williams on a deep ball on which Williams had to look over both shoulders trying to locate the pass and ultimately outran it; there was pressure in Goff's face on the throw.
"Some of our staples that we have been doing in spring, training camp and all season long, they showed up last week in particular where, 'God, we’re just not doing what we say, how we installed that, how we said we were going to do it, how we’ve been doing it, how we’ve got banked reps on.' And it’s come back and bit us in the rear-end," said Johnson.
Asked whether the Lions need to adjust their offensive staples or resharpen the execution, Johnson said, “A little bit of both.”
"Listen," he said, "it’s all fixable. These guys know. They know how we can get better and how we can improve, and we’re looking forward to an opportunity to do that.”
Four games remain for the Lions' offense to get back on track before the playoffs. That starts Saturday against the Broncos, who lead the NFL in takeaways. It may well come down to whether or not the offensive line can get healthy; center Frank Ragnow (knee/back/toe) is back at practice after missing last week's loss and left tackle Taylor (back) returned to practice Wednesday after sitting out Tuesday on the heels of one the worst games of his career. The Lions, especially Goff, need that unit operating at full strength. It fuels the run game, which powers the play-action pass.
Johnson said he boils down his job as coordinator and play-caller to two things. One, getting Detroit's skill players into favorable positions to make plays, and two, creating favorable matchups and angles on the offensive line.
"That’s the first thing I look at when you evaluate the film," he said. "Shoot, last week there’s a couple third-down plays where, ‘Man, there’s not a lot of good answers there for the quarterback.’ So that’s where I’ve got to take it. We try to minimize those as a coaching staff each and every week, and we take a lot of pride trying to get our primary receiver open every week."
It's not always easy to do. Johnson and the Lions offense have just made it look that way for the better part of two seasons. They have a few games left in this one to get back in a groove.