Detroit Lions practice - Oct. 16, 2014

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi directs quarterback Dan Orlovsky (8) during practice at the team practice facility in Allen Park Thursday, October 16, 2014. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

(Mike Mulholland)

ALLEN PARK -- Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi is still finding his way in his new role. The rookie play-caller will tell you he's made some questionable decisions on early downs, including having an offensive guard run a route in the red zone, and he still working on finding the right set of plays to put his quarterback in a position to succeed.

But it has been far from a total disaster to start the season. Lombardi likes the way his unit has protected the ball, minimized mistakes, and done enough to help the team get off to a 4-2 start that has the Lions atop the NFC North heading into Sunday's contest against the New Orleans Saints.

"Our first goal is to not beat ourselves," Lombardi said. "We've had a couple games where we've had too many turnovers, but for the most part, I think we're starting to minimize some of those things. That's the thing we're most encouraged by is we're not beating ourselves. Now it's time to pick it up and start beating people."

For the Lions to start putting away opponents with their potentially high-powered offense, they'll need to start finding ways to more consistently move the chains and put points on the board. The team currently ranks 14th in total offense and a dismal 27th in scoring at 19.7 points per game.

While injuries to Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, LaAdrian Waddle, Joseph Fauria and Joique Bell have been a factor, Lombardi feels he's contributed to the issues by making some aggressive play calls on first downs that have backfired and put the team in a hole on later downs.

"I feel like I've made certain calls in situations that has put us in some tough (spots)," he said. "We've had unusually large amounts of second-and-longs and third-and-longs. Certainly I'm not going to take the blame for all of that, but there have been some, I guess you could say, aggressive play calls that if I had back, maybe you call something a little safer."

Lombardi highlighted the trick play he called last week as a example.

Nursing a 10-0 lead in the third quarter against the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit's struggling offense worked its way into the red zone for just the second time in the contest. That's when Lombardi decided to dial up a pass play for 330-pound guard Larry Warford, hoping to surprise the defense.

Instead, the play resulted in a sack and a loss of four yards. After another sack on third down, the Lions settled for a 44-yard field goal attempt that kicker Matt Prater missed off the left upright.

"It sure seemed like a good idea in practice," Lombardi said. "We call that an outhouse-or-castle play. You're either in the outhouse or (the castle). It turned out to be an outhouse play. There have been a few of those, whether it's a bad play call, bad execution, bad luck, that I'd certainly like to have that one back."

The end of that drive highlighted another problem Lombardi has struggled to correct -- the amount of punishment quarterback Matthew Stafford has taken this season. He's already been sacked 21 times.

Against the Vikings, the Lions simplified their run blocking to get the offensive line back on track with that aspect of the game. Lombardi admitted he's working on something similar to help keep Stafford off the ground.

"Pass blocking, we certainly have a number of protections, but I think it's more the timing of the routes, making sure the quarterback is getting the ball out of his hand on time and calling some plays that develop a little bit quicker," he said. "Some of it is me having a better feel for understanding what (Stafford) is comfortable with so I'm not calling these plays in my mind are like, 'Hey, these are great ones,' but sometimes a quarterback has a different feel for different plays. It's us coming to understand exactly what he's comfortable with, communicating with him, and making sure we're getting him in the right situations."

Lombardi will look to get the Lions offense humming against the team that employed him as their quarterbacks coach the past five seasons. New Orleans comes into the contest ranking 25th in total defense and 28th in scoring defense.

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