Detroit Lions Weblog

3rd Down Success Crucial for the Lions on Both Sides of the Ball

A common refrain around here has been the Lions continued terrible performance on both offense and defense in third down situations.  Pro Football Weekly’s recent  “The Way We Hear It” column highlights the relative ineffectiveness of the Lions offense on third downs.

“The Way We Hear It” attributes the Lions offensive struggles to an inconsistent ground game which leads to a lot of third and long yardage situations.   I agree, but with this caveat, their inability to resolve a clear role for each running back is at least as responsible. 

Aveion Cason is not an effective third down back, but Tatum Bell’s inability (or unwillingness) to help on special teams has forced Bell off of the field.  T.J. Duckett is not suited for this role and the team chose not to re-sign Shawn Bryson, which was mentioned as a possibility at the time of his release.  This very situation may be where the season ending injury to Brian Calhoun has hurt the team the most.

The design of the Lions zone defense also allows for a certain amount of success on third downs, since the defensive is predicated upon a incessant, productive pass rush, which if unsuccesful, opens the opportunity for Lions opponents to extend their drives. As the time of possession mounts the Lions struggle even more to get off of the field.

The Lions do have excellent weapons in Calvin Johnson, Shaun McDonald, and Mike Furrey to attack opposing defenses with on 3rd downs.  The Lions offenive line has not done a good enough job buying Jon Kitna the time necessary to find his targets in these situations.

In order to stand a chance in games against the league’s better teams, like the Packers, the Lions need to win in more of these crucial game situations, especially if they intend on keeping Brett Favre from lighting them up on Thursday.