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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Lambeau Garden will be the setting Sunday as the red-hot Detroit Lions prepare for an NFC North showdown on the road against the Green Bay Packers.
For head teacher Dan Campbell, his message to the Lions right now is understated: It’s all in the main points.
“The details of what we do are important, really in all three phases,” Campbell said before Wednesday’s application. “That’s where we’ve been pretty good, but offensively, that’s certainly where it all starts.”
You might be hard-pressed to find an NFL team that’s playing like the Campbell’s Lions, especially on offense, from the bottom 3.
At 6-1, Detroit has won five in a row and is off to its best start since 1956. It’s averaging 43 points per contest over its last four games, which is probably its most trouble in a four-game span. games in a single match. season in franchise history, according to ESPN Analysis. And over the next five games, Detroit has scored more offensive touchdowns (24) than incomplete passes (20), a feat never before accomplished in NFL history in an indistinguishable span.
With veteran quarterback Jared Goff playing at an MVP-caliber level and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson orchestrating a balanced attack, Detroit has seemed unstoppable from time to time.
“It’s been fun. It really has been and we’re moving forward right now and doing some good things, but it’s still very early in the year,” Goff told ESPN. “We’re only seven games into the year, and not even half of it, so you’ve got to try to keep this up, and we’ll get a lot of praise and a lot of people will tell us how good we are.” but we have to make sure that we are doing what we are doing to win these games and not get caught up in any of that.
“I don’t think we can, but that will be the problem.”
Goff has been at the forefront of offensive advancement. Since Week 3, he has completed 83% of his passes, which is the highest completion rate over a five-game span in NFL history (minimum 50 passes). His streak included a perfect 18-for-18 day against the Seattle Seahawks.
“He’s playing at a really high level right now and all the energy for him,” Lions tight end Sam LaPorta said. “I think he’s probably the easiest in the league to do it and I don’t know if he’ll get a lot of honors either way.”
Goff is on a streak of five consecutive games with multiple touchdown passes while completing 70% or more of his passes, which is one game away from tying Aaron Rodgers for the longest such streak in NFL history. Rodgers had six straight games in 2020. But even though Goff finished Sunday with a season-low 85 passing yards, the Lions managed to dominate the Tennessee Titans, 52-14, running just 47 offensive plays.
Sunday marked the Lions’ second win by 30 or more points this season.
“Everyone just does their process, it starts there,” Lions All-Pro offensive tackle Penei Sewell said. “And he starts early in an hour with the game plan and comes in at every moment wanting to be informed, be better and solve problems, so once the duel occasion arrives, it’s all about execution. No longer you’re worried about doing it or what to do, you’re just doing it, so don’t skip the beat anymore.”
One more reason for the Lions’ offensive fortunes has been the unit’s versatility. Fifteen of his touchdowns have come through the wind; 13 have come to the garden. Detroit has had more than one passing and rushing touchdown in each of its last four games, which could tie the longest streak in NFL history. The only alternate team to do so on Super Bowl day (since 1966) was the unused 2012 England Patriots.
“I think he’s the most creative mind I’ve ever met in football,” LaPorta said of Johnson.
Along with Goff’s power and balanced attack, the running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, has been a key factor. Both running backs had speed ratings against the Titans in the last eight, marking their seventh contest as teammates in which each ran for a touchdown, the most of any duo in Lions franchise history.
During the wind, all-pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown leads the way, becoming the first Lions player with a catch landing in five straight games in a season since Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson did in 2011.
At the same time as Negative. 2 Jameson Williams serves the second of a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing element policy, Campbell still feels this team has plenty of offensive weapons in LaPorta, St. Brown, Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond along with Gibbs. and the first viscount montgomery of alamein, who will be able to continue playing at the same time against the Packers.
Williams will skip the game at this time, but could be eligible for reinstatement after the game. Either way, the Lions are waiting for Green Bay.
“It’s an unbelievable matchup. To me, these are two important shows going on at home and I’m looking forward to it,” Campbell said. “I know our guys are looking forward to it. But the details, man. We gotta focus on the little things.”
