Detroit Lions looking to get run game back on track

This Detroit Lions’ offense is at its best when they are versatile on that side of the football featuring both an effective passing and rushing attack.

The run game has set up the pass all season. Detroit’s the No. 6 rushing offense in the NFL (143.7) and until last week’s loss to Buffalo had recorded at least 100 rushing yards in every contest this season. They had just 48 rushing yards last week.

Jared Goff is one of the best play action passers in the NFL with 13 touchdown passes on play action and he leads all other NFL quarterbacks by more than 300 yards in play-action passing yards (1,677). That’s a direct result of Detroit’s effectiveness running the football.

But over the last couple weeks, Detroit’s run game hasn’t been up to their standard. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday that last week’s struggles against the Bills caught him off guard as the Lions have averaged less than 3.4 yards per carry the last two weeks against Buffalo and Green Bay.

“It was a combination of some poor angles, whether schematically or our guys just not taking the proper angle, we had a guy trip, we had a mis-target, so a little bit of everything showed up there with that run game,” Johnson said. “I would call it uncharacteristic of what we’ve been so far this year. So, certainly a point of emphasis going into this week.”