The Lions had one of the most dominant performances of the season against the Cowboys on Sunday and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s creativity was a big reason for it. Detroit’s 47-point effort highlights this week’s best coaching performances of Week 6.
There are also kudos for the Buccaneers as quarterback Baker Mayfield is playing mostly great football but his coach had to reel him in against the Saints.
On the negative side, Deshaun Watson is also a quarterback who needs reeling in — all the way into the bench. The Raiders unfortunately made the wrong side of this list again, but it’ll be the last time, I promise.
Take a bow, Ben Johnson
The Lions averaged 2.03 yards before contact with a rushing success rate of 50 percent Sunday. Their offensive line dominated a light Cowboys front but not just on the ground. Jared Goff had 315 yards passing on just 25 attempts (12.6 yards per attempt). This was the third straight game Goff completed over 70 percent of his passes. In this game, his high completion percentage wasn’t just because of his accuracy — he actually missed a few passes and had a potential explosive touchdown dropped by Jameson Williams — but because Johnson has been getting receivers wide-open with his scheme. The Lions could have put 60 on the Cowboys, but they missed a few opportunities and then took out offensive starters early in the fourth quarter.
On the second drive of the game, the Lions ran the ball six times in a row for 43 yards. Johnson called well-designed vertical shots when he needed to against loaded boxes and, of course, no Lions game is complete without a few fun trick plays.
FLEA FLICKER TO LA PORTA! TOUCHDOWN @Lions!
📺: #DETvsDAL on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/qrPoPtCmo4— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
Johnson started to get really imaginative in the third quarter when the Lions were up 34-9. He was determined to get one of his offensive linemen a touchdown.
7:49 remaining in the third quarter, first-and-2
On this play, the Lions came out with two extra offensive linemen, two backs and a tight end. Fullback Parker Hesse initially lined up behind running back David Montgomery before motioning out to wide receiver. Left tackle Taylor Decker had one of the extra offensive linemen lined up inside of him so he could bump out to tight end. Hesse cleared out the corner for Decker running a vertical inside. Unfortunately for Decker, the Cowboys didn’t fall for the ruse and knocked down the jump ball thrown to him.
0:54 remaining in the third quarter, second-and-8
At the end of the third quarter, with the ball in the red zone again, the Lions called a fake tunnel screen with a lateral to right tackle Penei Sewell. Sewell’s job was to fake like he was blocking the corner before looping underneath the receiver for the lateral. The play worked, but Sewell was tackled at the 1-yard line. Unfortunately for Sewell, he went too far upfield when he was faking his block and an illegal man downfield penalty was called.
4:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, fourth-and-3
In the fourth quarter, the Lions shifted sixth offensive lineman Dan Skipper out to wide receiver but unfortunately for Skipper, he was just a decoy for the shallow cross concept inside. Still, anytime you can force a corner to cover an offensive lineman, you have to do it.
These plays are fun and although they were unsuccessful, it shows how much the Lions value their offensive linemen. Johnson knows this team’s success starts with his big guys up front and wants to design ways to glorify them. The plays didn’t work but I’m sure they’re appreciative of the effort.
Coen saving Mayfield from himself
The Buccaneers got off to a hot start against the Saints, quickly building a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. Mayfield has been mostly excellent this season but still has some recklessness in his game. He threw interceptions on three of the next four Buccaneers drives.
12:37 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-2
Here, the Saints had a safety lined up directly over receiver Mike Evans, which either indicates a corner blitz or bracket on Evans.
After the snap, it was clear the Saints were bracketing Evans. Mayfield saw it but he thought he could sneak a ball in because corner Paulson Adebo, who was underneath of Evans, had his head turned away from Mayfield.
However, Adebo had tight coverage and got his head around in time to intercept the ball.
Mayfield’s third interception wasn’t entirely his fault. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but it was clear the Buccaneers passing game was out of sorts. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen sensed it and took the game out of Mayfield’s hands. According to TruMedia, in the second half, Coen called runs on 73.1 percent of plays and when he did call passes, 66.7 percent were at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Coen understood that Mayfield was spiraling but found a way for the offense to create explosive plays and the Buccaneers ended with 51 points and the win.
Time to sit Watson
The Browns sold their souls for a franchise quarterback but didn’t even get the fleeting moment of happiness that melts away that typically comes with these pacts. Watson was never good as a Brown. He was a shell of his former self when he got to Cleveland and progressively got worse.
We’ve arrived at a point where he’s lost the athleticism to be a dangerous dual threat, his deep balls are coming up short, and at times, it doesn’t look like he can read a defense.
His offensive line has been decimated by injuries and certainly plays a factor in his poor production, but even in the areas that he could control, he’s near the bottom of the league in nearly every category. He has five sacks that are charged to the quarterback and not blocking which is second-worst in the league. He’s 29th in average depth of target, yet 18.2 percent of his passes are off target. He averages 5.2 yards per attempt — only the Panthers’ Bryce Young is worse. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell compared Watson’s numbers to quarterbacks in the last 20 years and he’s near the bottom in several categories.
8:59 remaining in the third quarter, third-and-10
With the ball backed up near their own goal line, the Browns came out in an empty formation. In an empty set, the quarterback has to be cognizant of the blitz. Watson didn’t see the safety move toward the numbers to get on top of the slot — a big indicator of a slot blitz.
Eagles nickel Cooper DeJean blitzed, but Watson was looking at the opposite side. The Eagles were in man coverage and the Browns had a rub route called. Running back Pierre Strong was open in the flats, but he would have been likely tackled for a short gain so Watson didn’t throw the ball.
Watson tried to look in the opposite direction but got sacked. That just can’t happen when you’re backed up near your goal line.
The offensive line is short-handed, but Watson has weapons and a well-respected play caller in Kevin Stefanski. Even if you believe that he’s the victim of circumstance, he’s being paid way too much to produce this poorly regardless of other factors. Ultimately, no matter what Stefanski says, I refuse to believe that he has the power to bench Watson. So this criticism is more on the franchise.
Sit Watson down. They can’t cut him this year or next because of his dead cap figure, but that doesn’t mean he can’t sit. It’s not ideal sitting that type of salary on the bench, but they need to see what have in second-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. And if he doesn’t pan out, get ready to draft another quarterback. Watson just isn’t the answer. Begin the process of starting over now so you could be in a better situation when can finally rid yourself of him.
Raiders played not to lose but lost
This will be the last time this season that the Raiders make the negative side of this column even though they will inevitably deserve to be back on at some point. All week, head coach Antonio Pierce talked about limiting turnovers and that they are a reason for the switch from Gardner Minshew to Aidan O’Connell.
Antonio Pierce’s marching orders for new QB Aidan O’Connell: “No turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers.”
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) October 11, 2024
All week, Pierce drilled into O’Connell’s head to be careful with the ball, which I don’t think is the best approach with a young quarterback. And after the game, he was critical of O’Connell not taking more downfield shots.
“There were some calls for some shots down the field. Obviously, we didn’t take them,” Pierce said. “The quarterback, early on, I thought was doing a good job of getting the ball out of his hands. … When you’ve got shots down the field, a lot of things have got to play into it. You want to get the look and then, sometimes, you’ve just got to let it rip.”
But it wasn’t just O’Connell who was conservative, the play calling was downright cowardly. Early in the game, when the Raiders had a third-and-11 on their 24-yard line, a run was called. It netted 7 yards and the Raiders went three-and-out. On the Raiders’ first drive of the second half, they got the ball near midfield and were called for holding. On first-and-20, they ran the ball twice for 3 yards and threw an incomplete short pass on third down. They essentially decided to punt after getting called for holding. The worst part is the ensuing punt got blocked.
I’m not sure if the conservative play calling is offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s doing or Pierce instructing him to call games this way. The Raiders are coaching like they have an elite defense, but they don’t — it wasn’t deep coming into the season and has been decimated with injuries. Sunday’s loss to the Steelers is just another in a long list of reasons that Pierce may not be ready to be a head coach in this league. There’s more to the job than simply being liked by the players.
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(Top photo: Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)
