Anyone who watched the Detroit Lions preseason opener against the New York Giants knows that quarterback Nate Sudfeld did not have a good night. Sudfeld, battling with Hendon Hooker for the backup job behind Jared Goff, got the start in New York on Thursday night.
No. 8 was off from the very start of the game. Witness Detroit’s first pass play, the second offensive snap of the game.
The play design is straightforward. It’s 12 personnel, with TE Parker Hesse (No. 43) playing fullback in front of RB Craig Reynolds. It’s a designed play-action bootleg, a scripted play the Lions run in every practice — often on both the opening walkthrough/warmup and then in team drills. This is a Ben Johnson staple scheme, one designed to get an intermediate crossing receiver open and also an option to take a deep shot if the DBs botch the coverage.
The first part of the play is very well-executed by almost everyone, including Sudfeld with the play fake. TE James Mitchell (No. 82) leaves a little early and it tips off safety Dane Belton (No. 24 in blue), but the Lions offensive line, Reynolds and Hesse all do a great job selling the run fake.
Wideout Antoine Green (No. 18) from the bottom of the formation) shows good patience in waiting to cross the field. In the practices we’ve seen, he is the primary option on this play. When the Lions starters run this, it’s Amon-Ra St. Brown in Green’s role and Jameson Williams as the top receiver, which is Daurice Fountain (No. 12) on this rep.
As the play progresses and Sudfeld spins outside to his left (by design) to where he can throw, Green is streaking across at the 24-yard line. Mitchell winds up being effectively covered, but the Giants defender whose responsibility is Green here (No. 31, Tyler Nubin) is still behind the 30 and running around a (legal) pick with Fountain starting to pull away from his coverage up the seam.
This is exactly how the play is supposed to work. Sudfeld has the option here to hit Green on the cross, or hold a half-count and throw it up for Fountain on the deep shot. No defender is within seven yards of Sudfeld. We’ve seen Sudfeld connect on both throwing options here many times in practices, just as Jared Goff and Hendon Hooker routinely do in their reps.
Not this time.
Sudfeld refuses to pull the trigger on either option and eventually gets sacked near the sideline at the 11-yard line. As the play progressed, Hesse also came open in the middle of the field as an emergency outlet, albeit a very risky throwing option, by smartly flowing with the play.
None of the offensive linemen are in place to help Sudfeld because he’s supposed to throw the ball. They’re selling the run fake and did so very well, notably center Kinglsey Eguakun (No. 65) and left tackle Dan Skipper (No. 70). Again–that’s the precise design of the play that we see them practice multiple times in every session. There are some variants off the base formation, too, but this is the primary “choose your best adventure” script for a quarterback in Ben Johnson’s playbook.
This isn’t a coverage sack. Fountain wound up getting 2-3 more yards of separation on his defender. Green remained an open target for another two steps before Nubin finally got within arm’s reach of him. It’s a rapidly closing window but that’s the NFL. Quarterbacks who don’t think they can make that throw typically don’t stick around the NFL very long.
Give the Giants linebackers, notably Dyontae Johnson (No. 54), credit for quick reactions. Johnson bags the sack on Sudfeld, who isn’t unathletic (he’s slightly more mobile than Goff) but is never going to scare a defense with his legs. But this is a money-making play for the Lions offense if Sudfeld decides to write the check and throw the ball.
This one play is a great nutshell of why Lions fans, media and even head coach Dan Campbell were so hard on Sudfeld on Thursday night.