Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions (8-7) dropped another game to an opponent they were expected to handle at home, losing 29-24 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16. With their playoff hopes on the line, the Lions were unable to perform at the level of a playoff team, made several self-inflicted errors, and moved away from many of the core concepts that have made them a successful team over the past three seasons.
Let’s take a look at how the Lions adjusted to all the moving parts on their roster by exploring how they utilized their personnel against the Steelers.
With the Lions’ rushing attack ineffective, Goff was asked to throw the ball a whopping 54 times in this game—a dozen more times than in any other game this season. While Goff nearly willed the Lions to an improbable comeback, he saw the offense commit three penalties in the final five plays, taking two touchdowns off the board, including the eventual game-ender.
For all intents and purposes, the Lions abandoned the run in the second quarter of this game, only rushing the ball one time in the second half—a Gibbs attempt that resulted in a loss of three yards. That disproportional distribution of passing vs. rushing attempts directly led to the most lopsided split of carries amongst the running backs this season.
With the running game abandoned, the Lions leaned on their wide receivers to produce. While neither of their two big-name receivers produced more than 70 yards (and neither scored), TeSlaa and Raymond each caught four passes (for 52 and 62 receiving yards, respectively) and a touchdown.
The play-calling didn’t do much to aid this group, as the offense was constantly fighting against the Steelers’ zone coverage instead of running routes to manipulate it.
For a team that abandoned the run in the second quarter and heavily leaned on their passing attack, there was significantly more tight end usage than expected. Despite being a clear weakness on the roster right now, the Lions continue to utilize three tight ends instead of giving more opportunities to more talented skill players.
