The last time the Lions ran the ball like this, Matthew Stafford was throwing passes in the Dallas suburbs. Around the corner, Dan Campbell was playing for the Cowboys. Kevin Jones was a rookie in Detroit, where the Lions averaged 4.4 yards per carry. They're at 4.3 yards per carry this year, their best mark since 2004. Too bad they can't carry it more.
Second half deficits have forced the Lions to pass, against their better judgement. Anthony Lynn said it last week: he should have stuck with Jamaal Williams in Detroit's loss to the Bears. Williams plowed through Chicago's defense in the first half, only to get two carries in the second. And Campbell said it more simply Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show: the Lions have to stop abandoning the run.
"It gets hard because you can get impatient and you start to feel like you need to generate something, which you do," said Campbell. "But at the same time, we have to hang on a little bit more to our run game because it’s been there for us and it’s the most consistent thing we have offensively. So man, I think we do need to run it a little bit more, because look, the strength is still this offensive line. And those guys up front have proven."
Absent Taylor Decker and now Frank Ragnow, who's reportedly done for the year, Detroit's O-line hasn't been the force it was expected to be. Pass protection has been a problem. But the Lions have paved a steady path on the ground, even with backups at right tackle and center and a rookie at left tackle.
"I thought Evan Brown stepped in and did a nice job (against the Vikings)," Campbell said. "And Matt Nelson has been pretty steady, man. He’s gone in there and been a staple for us. And then with these two backs we’ve got, I think we can do some damage."
On the interior, Halapoulivaati Vaitai is coming off arguably his best game of the season, and Jonah Jackson continues to grow. Jackson delivered the block of the game against the Vikings by clearing out four-time Pro Bowl LB Anthony Barr on D'Andre Swift's go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Swift made a point to tell Jackson as much after the score: "Him getting up to that backside backer just made my job easier, so I expressed that to him."
Detroit ranks 12th in the NFL in run blocking, per Pro Football Focus. It ranks 11th in yards per carry. And it ranks 25th in carries per game. The Lions are still getting the ball to their backs through the air, which is why Swift sounds happy with his workload. But they're leaving behind yards on the ground.
"I feel like me and Jamaal, two of the playmakers on the field, they do a great job of rotating us and giving us opportunities to make stuff happen," Swift said Monday. "Can’t complain about anything at all. I feel like we’re doing a great job of managing what we’re getting."
Williams and D'Andre Swift combined for 21 carries in the first three quarters against the Vikings, and three in the fourth. They combined for 21 carries in the first three quarters against the Bears, and one in the fourth. Again, this is the reality of playing from behind. It's an especially harsh reality for the Lions, who lack the receivers to stretch the field. They rank 29th in the NFL in net yards per pass attempt.
The return of Decker will help. He could be back Sunday against the Bengals after missing the first five games of the season due to a finger injury. And Detroit's defense can help if it keeps playing the way it did against the Vikings. The Lions allowed just six second-half points and entered the fourth quarter within one score for the first time this year. Just imagine if the Lions ever enter the fourth with a lead.
And it was yet another strong rushing performance, 24 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown. Forget 2004. Detroit has rushed for at least 90 yards in each of its first five games for the first time since ... '84. Don't look now, but the Lions might have discovered a ground game. Now they just have to use it.