For 30 minutes last week, the Lions looked like themselves on offense. Jared Goff was perfect through the air, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs piled up yards on the ground and the Lions scored touchdowns on three of their four drives to take a 20-10 halftime lead over the Cardinals.
"That felt like us," Goff said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "Maybe you sprinkle in a couple downfield hits there and you’re really feeling like us and feeling good about blowing that game open at some point. But yeah, the first half was close to about as good as it gets."
The second half, not so much. The Lions failed to score a point while punting four times and turning it over twice. The defense carried Detroit to a 20-13 win. After completing all 12 of his passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, Goff went 6-for-11 for 62 yards and an interception in the second. The Lions also turned it over on downs when Montgomery was stuffed on fourth and 1.
"The second half was really unacceptable for us from an offensive standpoint, and something that we’ve addressed and need to get better at," said Goff. "There’s some urgency for us in that way. We can’t just allow our defense to have to carry us through at the end there. We gotta make it easier on them and finish that game a lot earlier."
The Lions have had one of the best offenses in the NFL for the past two and a half years. Their status as a contender has accentuated the bullseye on their back. Goff said that opposing defenses are giving them wrinkles "that maybe you hadn’t seen on film yet."
"And that’s not to say that’s because they want to beat us more than another team. It’s to say, I think they respect us as an offense and as a defense want to throw something new at you to try to beat you," said Goff.
But that wasn't necessarily the case last week. Goff said the Lions' struggles in the second half came down to their own execution more than adjustments by Arizona.
"They didn’t do much different, it wasn’t like we were doing much different. It just wasn’t clicking the same, mistakes were made. I gotta be better and we all gotta be better," said Goff. "There’s a lot of urgency this week to pick our stuff up offensively. We’d like to replicate that first half for a whole game and we’d feel pretty good."
The Lions did run the ball well throughout the game, a major emphasis after they got away from the run in their Week 2 loss to the Bucs. Montgomery averaged 4.9 yards per carry in the first half, 4.4 in the second. He and Gibbs combined for 188 yards on 39 carries, 4.8 per tote.
But penalties were an uncharacteristic problem for the offensive line, with stalwarts Penei Sewell, Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow all getting flagged for false starts. And Goff made a poor read on his interception, failing to see linebacker David Gardeck dropping into coverage and undercutting his throw to Sam LaPorta. He also missed Jameson Williams on a pair of deep shots in the second half, including one where his throw arrived late and pulled Williams out of bounds.
The Lions' offense does rank fourth in the NFL in yards through three games, but 16th in points. They were fifth in scoring each of the past two seasons, averaging about 27 points per game. They're averaging a touchdown less this season. Goff said the offense is aware "that what we’ve been maybe getting away with (while) winning, we won’t be able to get away with as time goes on."
"We know that’s the reality," he said. "We can’t continue to score 20 points and no points in the second half and expect to win the amount of games we’d like to win this year. We know that and we’ll keep improving."
"But you’re always trying to improve," Goff added. "And that’s what this early part of the season is for, for us to fix things and get on a roll at some point."
Next week will bring the Lions' toughest challenge yet. The Seahawks are coming to Detroit with the No. 2 defense -- and No. 1 passing defense -- in the NFL. First-year head coach Mike Macdonald, the former defensive coordinator for the Ravens, has Seattle dialed in on that side of the ball.
"We’ll have our hands full," said Goff.