One Lions Offensive Stat That Must Be Improved Quickly
Through the first quarter of the 2021 season, the Detroit Lions have, to say the least, experienced issues scoring the football.
The Lions are presently tied for 29th in first-half points through four games, with an average of 6.8 points in the opening half of play.
There's also this: Detroit has been held scoreless in the first halves of each of its past two games -- against the Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears, respectively.
If that doesn't scream to you that the Lions have issues on offense, then I don't know what will.
The simple solution: Jared Goff and Detroit's offense have to reduce the number of self-inflicted wounds that have derailed scoring opportunities for the team early on in 2021.
For example, Detroit marched easily down the field on its first possession last week against the Bears. However, what was an 11-play drive resulted in zero points, after Goff had trouble with a snap from center Frank Ragnow and fumbled the football.
Squandered chances like above caused the Lions to have to play from behind in Week 4, and ultimately took Detroit away from its bread and butter as the game progressed: the ground game.
It's why Goff & Co. have to get off to a much quicker start Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings and the rest of the way this season.
And as Goff told reporters Thursday, he and his teammates can't afford to put themselves "in a hole" for a third straight week, when they take on the Vikings.
"We’ve put ourselves in a hole two weeks in a row and have crawled back," Goff said. "But close, but no cigar, right? We just haven’t been able to finish it. Being intentional about, ‘Hey guys, we have to start fast,’ and even with the younger group we may have, making sure they know how important that is and I think we do. It’s just a matter of being ready and executing.”
Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn echoed the sentiment Thursday that better execution is key to a fast start for his offense.
"(Where) we turn the ball over, those self-inflicting penalties and things like that, it just kills the drive," Lynn told reporters. "We have yet to play four quarters of focused football, and that's what we're trying to do right now."
The onus is now on the Lions' offense to clean up its mistakes, according to Lynn.
"We just need to learn to focus more and whatever that takes to do it for four quarters," Lynn said. "Some of the mistakes we've made, I feel like we have to put those behind us and move forward and not repeat those, and learn from them."
Lynn heaps praise upon Jamaal Williams
Jamaal Williams, a free-agent acquisition of the Lions this past offseason, has been one of the organization's biggest bright spots to start off the '21 campaign.
The former Green Bay Packers running back has averaged 4.5 yards per carry through his first four games in Honolulu Blue.
Additionally, the 26-year-old is coming off a week during which he produced a season-high 14 carries for 66 yards. He played in a season-low 30 percent of the team's offensive snaps, though.
It begs the question: Is it time to feed Williams a heavier dose of touches?
"I’m all about riding the hot hand, and Jamaal (Williams) ran really well last week. I probably should have used him more, to be honest with you," Lynn said Thursday. "I’ve been looking at the tape the next day, like, ‘That man ran his tail off.'"
Fair to say, the BYU product has earned the right to be more actively involved in the team's weekly offensive gameplan.
Now, it's time for Lynn to make it a reality.
