Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions (7-4) and Green Bay Packers (7-3-1) will face off for the second time this season, this time inside the comfy confines of Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day. In their first meeting, the Packers took care of business in Week 1, executing a well-thought-out game plan and walking away with a convincing 27-13 victory.
“Nobody likes losing. We don’t like losing,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Monday. “But you open the year, and we go out to their place, and they gave it to us pretty good. And a division opponent, you don’t want to start that way. […] That’s one of the blessings of playing somebody in your division twice: you get another opportunity. And so, we’ve got another opportunity in front of us at our place on a short week, and we’re looking forward to it.”
While the Lions look forward, we are going to look back at our Week 1 Keys to Victory article to see whether the Lions followed it, whether it worked, how things are different, and what adjustments need to be made for Week 13.
For a detailed look at the opposing scheme, make sure you check out our complementary breakdown piece: Lions Week 1 Preview: Breaking down Packers’ offensive and defensive schemes.
Did it work? Nope
In Week 1, the Lions struggled to run the ball, telegraphing their running back usage. When David Montgomery was on the field, the Lions ran the ball up the middle on seven of his 11 attempts, gaining just 13 yards. Jahmyr Gibbs was consistently deployed outside the tackles, rushing outside on seven of his nine attempts, and he gained just seven rushing yards on his two attempts inside.
As a result, the Lions’ rushers were hit behind the line of scrimmage on 73% of their attempts, with both backs being hit behind the LOS on eight of their attempts. On those 16 carries, the Lions managed just 1.6 yards per carry.
What’s changed? The Lions run inside more and with greater success
Since Week 1, when rushing between the tackles, Gibbs has averaged 54.9 rushing yards per game, with a 7.96 yards per carry output, while Montgomery is averaging 23.7 yards per game, with a 4.9 yards per carry average.
Adjustments? Feature more Gibbs runs in between the tackles
Despite needing to rely on Kayode Awosika at left guard, the Lions have continued their success inside. Since turning to Awosika, the Lions average 3.5 yards BEFORE contact when running inside—most in the NFL.
Most of that success can be attributed to Gibbs, who has a league-leading 423 yards before contact, per Next Gen Stats. Now, some may point out that these numbers are a bit skewed by Gibbs’ 69-yard touchdown in overtime vs. the Giants and his 78-yard touchdown vs. the Bucs, both of which he was untouched. But as Next Gen Stats points out, even if you remove those...
