Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions (8-6) and Pittsburgh Steelers (8-6) will square off in a Week 16 matchup at Ford Field, the final regular-season home game of the year.
“Steelers, man. Got a lot of respect for this team, got a lot of respect for Mike Tomlin, been doing it for a long time, hell of a coach,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said earlier in the week. “Their brand of football; same style, always competitive. And once again, they’re in the race for this division over there. They do it the right way, they do it the hard way, and they make you try to earn it at the end of the game. So, we know this’ll be one of those physical battles. We’ve got to play smart, take care of the football, and be very efficient.”
If the Lions want to get back to their winning ways, they’ll need to follow the keys to victory laid out in this week’s Honolulu Blueprint.
For a detailed look at the opposing scheme, make sure you check out our complementary breakdown piece: Lions Week 16 preview: Breaking down Steelers’ offensive and defensive schemes.
One of the ways the Steelers have been vulnerable this season is their inability to sustain drives. Entering this game, they’ve failed to achieve a first down on 41.8% of their drives and maintain the lowest offensive time of possession in the NFL (45.74%).
With their defense having to play nearly 10% more snaps than their offense, they’ve been fighting uphill battles all season. However, they’ve also struggled to get off the field, allowing teams to convert on third down 42.42% of the time (27th in the NFL) and on fourth down 75.76% of the time (31st). As a result, they currently allow 363.3 yards per game (28th in the NFL) and 5.4 yards per play (18th).
While the Lions are middle of the road in the NFL in time of possession (50.59%, 14th), third down conversions (38.37%, 17th), and fourth down conversions (55.56%, 20th), they haven’t had any trouble putting up yardage, registering 379.9 yards per game (4th) and 6.2 yards per play (2nd) — 6.8 yards per play (1st) since coach Dan Campbell took over play calling in Week 10.
The Lions’ offense is having a lot of success heading into this game, and Detroit will need them to keep playing well and control the game if they hope to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Last week against the Rams, the Lions got caught in the third quarter trying too hard to establish the run, which put their offense in a bad spot and eventually cost them the game. With the Lions surely wanting to establish the run in this game in order to maintain control, they’ll need to make sure to establish it early in the game.
“The scheme is there, it’s good. We just have...
