One of the biggest reasons the Detroit Lions are 0-10-1 entering Week 13 is the lack of success in the passing offense. It’s been a rough season for almost everyone involved, from quarterback Jared Goff to his wide receivers and even the play designs of coordinator Anthony Lynn.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell has taken over calling the plays in the game, but it hasn’t really helped. The team failed to top even 80 net passing yards in regulation in either Week 10 or Week 11.
Campbell was asked during his Monday press conference about how the offense can specifically improve over the final six games.
“The details of what we do in the pass game we’ve got to drastically improve,” Campbell immediately replied. “Believe it or not, there has been improvement over the last couple of weeks on some things. But, we’ve just got to grow from there. Just every little thing from the splits to the depth, they make all of the difference in the world to what we’re doing, particularly when you play some of these teams that are playing zone like we’ve faced.”
Tight end T.J. Hockenson echoed his coach’s sentiment in his own press conference, which followed Campbell’s.
“Just some routine details that we need to hone in on,” Hockenson said. “There’s still those little things that kind of creep their way up on the tape. I don’t think that’s something we should be doing Week 13 now that we’re in the season. It’s one of those things were we’ve got to hone in our ourselves and know the playbook. That kind of comes across on each guy and how we’re perceiving it. Some of the routes we have, some of the guys see them differently than others. We need to get on the same page.”
Campbell offered a more specific example from the Thanksgiving loss to the Chicago Bears.
“We’ve got plenty of ammo, but it’s like, man, when you are where we’re at, that split of where you’re at and that route depth makes all of the difference,” Campbell continued. “In that route, that hook route that’s supposed to be 18 yards and it’s 16 and then I’m two yards inside of where I should be, you just covered yourself. Just little things like that.”
The Lions get a chance to show any improvement on Sunday against the visiting Minnesota Vikings. Detroit threw for just 180 yards in the first meeting, a 19-17 loss in Minnesota in Week 5.