
The Detroit Lions' offense was an area head coach Dan Campbell said he spent some time evaluating throughout the bye week, along with offensive coordinator John Morton.
A growing narrative over the past several weeks has been the usage of Detroit's key offensive weapons.
Players like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs are thriving, while Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and David Montgomery could be utilized more.
Detroit still sits with a record of 5-2 and has one of the more potent offenses, which averages just slightly more than 30 points per game.
Campbell reiterated his assessment the offense could look more balanced and the team's weapons would be utilized more, if the execution on third-down was markedly improved.
He indicated Detroit's third-down woes were not the result of being behind the chains, but actually needing to improve on mid-range distances.
"I know some of it has been we are not getting the plays that we normally get, because we have not converted like we should on third down. Third down is the most glaring thing right now. We have to be better. That is, it’s right there. So, those are things that (John Morton) Johnny looked at, myself," said Campbell. "And that’s been the big focus for us is making sure we find a way to convert.
"It starts there but it’s also one player here, it’s one thing here, it’s one misstep, could be the release. So, then that falls into everybody’s doing it right, one guy misses on the assignment. And then we go to the next play and now that guy got it right with the other nine, but another guy missed his," Campbell added. "And that hurts, but that’s what happens. You get in a rhythm, you get in a flow, you do your job and then pretty soon we’re clicking. So, nothing to panic over, but there’s certainly room to improve.”
Quarterback Jared Goff, speaking with Lions play-by-play voice Dan Miller, expressed the team must improve on taking advantage of turnovers.
There have been far too many drives that have not resulted in points or touchdowns, especially after the defense makes a momentum-changing play and forces a turnover.
"Off of turnovers, that’s number one to me. Our defense gets turnovers, we have to get points. We can’t come out of there with zero, we’ve got to get at least three but really we should score more often than not," said Goff. "Certainly, if they get us a turnover in plus territory we have to get points. We didn’t do a good enough job of that. I think there were a couple of instances against Cleveland where we didn’t do a good enough job of that.
"Off of turnovers, and then just overall production. Getting some more yards in a few areas, getting a few more guys involved," Goff continued. "But again, it’s hard to complain when you win, it’s hard to complain when you’re winning, you’re scoring a lot of points, but there are some things we can get better at.”
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