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Offensively, the Detroit Lions didn’t seem as if they were in any danger of suffering a power outage after a solid Week 4 performance.
That day, the Lions put up a solid 45 points in spite of the defense falling apart. Detroit’s offense hummed along in spite of the absence of weapons like running back D’Andre Swift, wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and others.
Even with some of those players coming in and out, reality bit in a Week 5 shutout, and after the bye, the Lions were drilled again in Week 7. While the defense has seemingly played better, the offense has regressed in a glaring way.
Offensive lineman Evan Brown has some theories on why that’s the case, and even if he isn’t willing to share all of them publicly or their fixes, he does know that the issues are small in nature and things the Lions can fix by getting back to basics.
Speaking to the media on Monday, October 24, Brown talked about what the team must do.
“I think there’s multiple different things that have happened for our offensive struggles and I think it’s a lot of little things here and there that we’re missing on. I think we just need to as an offense, get back to our basics, get back to things that we do well and really lock in and hone in (to) get back on track here next week,” Brown said.
Specifically, Brown admits that the team’s focus needs to be stronger for this week and the team needs to lock in in order to get over the hump.
“I think definitely that need to we get back in there, lock in, focus up and we’ve shown that we can go out there and do it against good defenses. I think that just getting back to what we do is going to be what we need to do,” he said.
What the Lions do is run the ball effectively, then use their passing game to spread the field and make plays. With a roster that’s hurting, it’s going to be imperative for the team to find a way to get this done.
Lions Offense Suffering From Major Slump
No matter what can be done to improve things, the fact is, the numbers say the Lions need to step up and improve everything they do on the field and in between the lines.
While Detroit started the season in the top 10 of most categories offensively, their slump is now costing them that statistical start. Detroit has now slumped to ninth in the league in passing offense.
In the last two games, the Lions have put up a grand total of six points. They’ve had more turnovers than touchdowns, and the game against defensive mastermind Bill Belichick seems to have broken Detroit and Ben Johnson.
Many will wonder justly if Johnson has been figured out as a coordinator, or if this is a simple two game anomaly in a long season for the Lions. Either way, the Lions need to put up some better stats quickly to help aid in a turnaround.
Brown: Lions Must Rise Above Bad Games
Losing can have a major snowball effect in the NFL, and Brown’s best point about the Lions’ current state might revolve more around the mental side rather than the physical side.
Detroit’s offense has executed in the past, and it can do so again. As Brown says, finding a way to improve and not let the mistakes continue week to week is the biggest goal for the team at this point in time in terms of a resurgence.
“I think it’s more on the fact of you can’t let a bad start take you down. If you just take it and you go into the tank, I mean there’s in my mind no reason to do that,” Brown said honestly. “Yeah you lose games, but you go back in the next week and you look at what you did bad, you look at what you did good and you got to build on the things you did good and then take the things that you did bad and try and cut them out of your game. You just got to go back to work on Wednesday and prepare for the next opponent.”
Getting back to work and getting back to business is going to be a huge part of the Lions turning things around. At this point, that’s the goal for the team as they seek to crack the code on a stunning two week struggle.
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Gritty Lineman Calls on Lions’ Offense to ‘Lock in’ Before Week 8