Detroit Lions film review: Jeff Driskel did some good things, OL let him down

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Detroit Lions continue to mishandle Matthew Stafford injury; what's the future? Lions playoff hopes dead after loss to Bears, team continues to mishandle Matthew Stafford injury situation. What's the future? Filmed Nov. 10, 2019.

It’s not a huge surprise, but that doesn’t make it any less striking.

With Matthew Stafford at quarterback the first eight games of the season, the Detroit Lions had one of the deadliest deep passing attacks in the NFL. With Jeff Driskel at quarterback last week against the Chicago Bears, the Lions didn't push the ball nearly as much downfield.

Stafford, who missed his first game since 2010 last week because of a back injury. leads the NFL in both air yards per attempt (10.7) and air yards per completion (8.3).

Driskel, in his first start as a Lion, ranked in the bottom third of the league among last week's starters at 7 air yards per attempt and 5.2 air yards per completion.

Stafford has one of the strongest arms in the NFL, and as an 11-year vet with complete command of the offense, naturally the Lions are going to let him take more deep shots downfield. And playing against a ferocious Bears defense, the Lions might have been a little more conservative with their game plan no matter who was at quarterback.

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But after watching the all-22 film Tuesday, it’s clear the Lions didn’t abandon their deep passing game. But they didn’t take advantage of the shots they had drawn up. And for that, the blame does not fall totally on Driskel.

For this week’s film review, I went back and watched all 83 offensive snaps the Lions played against the Bears, with an emphasis on their eight series through the first three quarters.

When the Lions took over down 20-6 with just under 11 minutes to play, they were in catch-up mode and had to open up their offense.

Driskel finished a respectable 27 of 46 passing for 269 yards. He threw one touchdown, telegraphed one interception, and opened the game with a couple quick throws designed to get him some confidence.

The Lions called a bubble screen to Danny Amendola on their second offensive snap and rolled the pocket right on the next play to give Driskel an easy read on a flat route to Kenny Golladay.

While the Lions didn’t take any true deep shots on their opening drive, Driskel did complete a 22-yard pass to Marvin Jones on third-and-8, when he let the play develop so Jones could get open rather than take what would have been an easy check down to Ty Johnson.

It helped, of course, that the Bears had only 10 defenders on the field.

That 22-yard pass to Jones was one of two pass plays that went for 20 or more yards Sunday, the other being a 47-yard touchdown to Golladay late in the fourth quarter.

But the Lions did have several other potential big plays dialed up.

• On the first play of the Lions’ second offensive possession, both Jones and Golladay ran double moves on the outside, with fullback Nick Bawden running a streak down the middle of the field, against single-high safety coverage. Driskel threw to Jones, who appeared to be his first read on the play, and would have had a big gain if Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller hadn’t wisely taken a defensive holding penalty to obstruct Jones' release.

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• The Lions had another deep shot called later in the same series. On second-and-5 from the Chicago 38, Jones and Golladay again ran deep routes against man coverage with a single safety deep. But when the Lions’ missed a blitz pickup on linebacker Danny Trevathan, Driskel was forced to leave the pocket and check the ball down to Bawden.

• Protection issues foiled two more potential big plays in the third quarter. On the Lions’ second offensive possession of the second half, Driskel had the speedy Marvin Hall one-on-one against a safety in what has been an optimal down, distance and field situation for the Lions to throw deep: Second-and-short on their opponent’s side of the field.

Hall, the only receiver on the field in “22” personnel — two running backs, two tight ends — was the deep route on a three-layered option down the right sideline. But Driskel had barely finished his play-action fake when Nick Williams beat Joe Dahl into the backfield for an easy sack.

• One snap later, on third-and-12, Driskel hit Amendola on a deep crossing route for a would-be 27-yard gain, but the play was wiped out by a holding penalty on Taylor Decker.

On third-and-22, with the Bears dropping eight into coverage, Driskel had no choice but to take a check down and the Lions were forced to punt.

• Driskel did have himself to blame on a few missed downfield throws. He overthrew an open Golladay on the Lions’ second-quarter field-goal drive on a play that should have gone for an easy 20-yard gain. He opted to check the ball down to J.D. McKissic earlier in the same drive, when the Lions had four vertical routes called, though that decision was influenced by pressure from Khalil Mack against fill-in right tackle Tyrell Crosby. And earlier in the second quarter, he didn't pull the trigger on a deep ball down the numbers to Jones, who was one-on-one against Fuller with safety help inside. I'm not sure Driskel could have made the throw necessary to complete that pass, whereas Stafford might have seen it as a risk worth taking.

Overall, Driskel did his part as a game manager. He made one critical error, throwing that third-quarter interception that led to a Bears touchdown, and extended several plays with his feet.

Going forward, I don't expect the Lions to do much different on offense, but if they don't get better protection — and if Driskel isn't a touch more accurate — they'll end up with the same result.

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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.