Though they’re the league’s lone remaining winless team, the Lions have been competitive in most of their games this season.
That wasn’t the case in last week’s loss to Cincinnati and it had the team’s offensive coordinator taking a different tone when talking about his unit on Thursday.
As Kyle Meinke of MLive.com pointed out, when Anthony Lynn was asked in his Thursday press conference what he liked about the offense in last week’s loss to Cincinnati, he had nothing positive to say.
“Not a damn thing,” Lynn said. “Not a damn thing.”
The response made sense. The Lions finished with -3 yards in the first quarter and didn’t score until the fourth. Detroit avoided a shutout with a 35-yard field goal with 8:36 left and added a cosmetic touchdown with 2:15 on the clock.
The Lions currently rank 27th in yards and 28th in scoring. They’ve scored more than 17 points just once — the season-opening 41-33 loss to the 49ers.
Those aren’t winning numbers in the 2021 NFL, especially going against the high-scoring Rams on Sunday.
So one method the Lions are looking at to increase production is not playing those who don’t participate much in practice. Running back D’Andre Swift was limited on Wednesday. Tight end T.J. Hockenson and fullback Jason Cabinda didn’t participate in the session.
“We had some guys who didn’t practice as much last week, and it showed up in the game,” Lynn said. “So guys who don’t practice as much, we won’t put as much on their plate, regardless of who they are. That’s one of the things we’re going to do.”
Lynn also noted that the Lions haven’t played a game where they’ve had focus for all four quarters.
“You talk about this intense focus that it takes to be successful in this league, and I do believe we have a gritty group. But last week, I do believe we took a step backward,” Lynn said. “I think guys are eager to go play this week against a good football team and just see where we stand.”
Los Angeles’ defense is 21st in yards allowed but No. 9 in points allowed. But facing a team that knows Jared Goff as well as the Rams do, it might be tough for Detroit to get anything going on the West Coast in Week Seven.