The Detroit Lions set a modern NFL record for most fourth down attempts without a conversion (six) in Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots.
The most scrutinized of those plays came in the second quarter, when Dan Campbell eschewed a 50-yard field goal attempt with new kicker Michael Badgley to try and convert on fourth-and-9.
Jared Goff fumbled, the Patriots returned the ball for a touchdown and that play deflated any chance the Lions had of heading into their bye week with a win.
As bad as that fourth down play was, both Campbell’s decision to go for it and Goff’s careless turnover, the Lions never should have been in that situation. On third-and-2 one snap earlier, the Lions called a handoff to Craig Reynolds that might have gone for a big gain if not for a missed blocking assignment up front.
Logan Stenberg, making a surprise start at right guard, appeared to be the guilty party on the play as offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called what looked like a well-timed pin-and-pull against a Patriots defense that crowded eight players at the line of scrimmage and had one deep safety on the far hash.
Stenberg pulled the wrong way on his block, leaving Deatrich Wise unblocked at left end. Reynolds bounced his run outside to avoid Wise and was tackled for a 7-yard loss. Had Stenberg made his block, Reynolds would have had one defender, defensive back Adrian Phillips, who was pre-occupied with tight end T.J. Hockenson selling a pass route on his way to make a block on the second level, between him and the end zone.
Campbell said after the game “the play was a good call, it was a real good call. We had exactly what we wanted,” but that a mental error led to a missed block on the edge. He did not identify Stenberg as the culprit, but the Lions benched Stenberg for Evan Brown on the next series.
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Asked about the guard rotation Monday, Campbell said Stenberg started because of Brown’s lack of practice time last week due to an ankle injury, but that “it kind of forced our hand once we got an M.A. (missed assignment) early. We just felt like we needed to go with Evan.”
On the next play, Goff was late seeing Hockenson open on a shallow crossing route over the middle, and when Wise beat left tackle Taylor Decker inside, Goff wheeled out of the pocket to his left. Goff’s right hand appeared to slip off the ball as he ran, and the ball squirted loose as Matthew Judon hit him from behind.
“I wish I would have been a little more careful there but trying to extend the play on fourth,” Goff said. “Unfortunate.”
For the Lions, the rest of their fourth-down struggles were both unfortunate and uncharacteristic. Before Sunday, they had converted 8 of 12 fourth down attempts.
Here is a film review of what went wrong on some of those plays Sunday:
First quarter: Fourth-and-1 at the Detroit 45
The Lions’ fourth-down struggles started on their opening drive, when they turned the ball over on downs on their own side of the field. With Dan Skipper playing as a sixth lineman, the Lions lined up in an I-formation: Reynolds at tailback and Jamaal Williams offset to the right in the fullback position.
Goff handed the ball to Williams on a fullback dive, where he was met at the line of scrimmage by linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley. Stenberg initially blocked down as part of a double-team on nose tackle Carl Davis on the play, and was late getting a helmet on Bentley rushing up the middle.
Christian Barmore also slipped a Sewell block off the right tackle’s right shoulder and helped wrestle Williams down from behind for no gain.
The Lions tried to disguise the play with Goff carrying out a run-fake to Reynolds, but Bentley did not flinch in his responsibilities, leaving outside linebacker Jahlani Tavai to play the outside rushing lane.
Third quarter: Fourth-and-2 at the New England 34
The Lions tried to catch the Patriots off guard after Goff threw incomplete to a stumbling Amon-Ra St. Brown on third-and-2. They kept the same personnel on the field for fourth down — St. Brown, Kalif Raymond and Josh Reynolds at receiver, and Justin Jackson at running back — hustled to the line out of the huddle and quick-snapped as the Patriots defense still was getting aligned.
Jackson split left of the line on the play, and St. Brown lined up in the backfield to the right of Goff. Patriots cornerback Jalen Mills, who had been waiting at the right cornerback spot for St. Brown, recognized the deception immediately and motioned to teammates as he shifted positions over Brown about 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
St. Brown ran a quick route to the right flat, even with the line of scrimmage. Goff shuffled backwards two steps, pivoted and threw a pass low and in front of St. Brown that the Lions receiver had to lunge for.
Cornerback Jonathan Jones, who was lined up even with the first down marker in man coverage on Kalif Raymond on the snap, read the play immediately and hit St. Brown on the catch, stopping him for no gain as Mills closed in from behind.
St. Brown was Goff’s first read, and the ball was out of Goff’s hand before anything had a chance to develop downfield. But the Patriots were ready enough for the play, and even with a perfect throw by Goff, St. Brown likely would have been stopped short of the sticks.
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Fourth quarter: Fourth-and-goal at the New England 5
Trailing 26-0 and with the game slipping away, the Lions went back to St. Brown on fourth down on their next series.
St. Brown lined up slot left, just outside the hash, the first of three receivers to that side of scrimmage, but did not get a clean release as outside linebacker Josh Uche, playing as a stand-up rusher, bumped him off balance before dropping into coverage on the play.
That subtle route disruption gave defensive back Myles Bryant enough time to close the 3-yard cushion he gave St. Brown at the line of scrimmage as St. Brown ran a drag across the shallow middle of the field.
Goff hitched right as if he was going to throw to Craig Reynolds, who flared out of the backfield into the right flat, but reset his feet and shuffled back one step before throwing to St. Brown. Bryant, a yard behind St. Brown in trail coverage, and outside linebacker Mack Wilson, who had coverage responsibilities on Reynolds but squared himself back to the line of scrimmage after Goff’s pass fake, hit St. Brown for a pass breakup just as the ball reached him on the right numbers a yard in front of the end zone.
Had Uche not bumped St. Brown off balance, had Goff eliminated the shuffle step after he reset his feet, or had Goff let the play develop a split-second longer and gone to his next read, Hockenson breaking open on a corner route on the far side of the field, the Lions might have scored a touchdown.
Fourth quarter: Fourth-and-1 at the New England 31
The Lions went back to the run on their next fourth down attempt, when linebacker Raekwon McMillian stuffed Jackson for a 1-yard loss.
Barmore, playing from the nose tackle position, deserves an assist on the play, thwarting a double-team block from Brown and center Frank Ragnow by clubbing Ragnow to the ground.
With left guard Jonah Jackson blocking Wise, Brown locked up with Barmore, and Ragnow crumpling to his butt, McMillian had an unobstructed path to the backfield. He hit Justin Jackson near the 33-yard line, one step after Jackson took the ball.
Fourth quarter: Fourth-and-4 at the New England 18
The Lions failed to convert fourth downs on all four of their full possessions in the second half. The last of those drives ended with 3:02 to play, after Goff threw incomplete to Josh Reynolds in the back of the end zone.
Reynolds, who came up hobbled one play earlier — he played through an ankle injury he suffered in a Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — was the lead receiver in a bunch formation to the right. The Patriots sent five rushers on the play, including Wilson on a delayed blitz, when Jackson stayed in to block.
Goff’s first read appeared to be Tom Kennedy, the outside receiver in the three-man bunch, on a drag across the middle. With Kennedy covered and defensive back Kyle Dugger coming on a blitz, Goff drifted to his left, where he took more pressure from two Patriots rushers.
In a last-ditch effort to salvage the play, Goff threw to the back of the end zone, but Reynolds could not outjump two Patriots defensive backs for the ball.
Campbell said the Lions’ fourth-down struggles were due in part to issues they had on third down and the offense wasn’t good enough Sunday in general.
“That scenario, we’ve been pretty good,” he said. “When you’re not able to convert those you’re going to struggle offensively. So too many of them. We weren’t efficient enough on first down. Now, I did think we got some manageable downs, we just, we couldn’t convert them. It was one of those days. Our offense has been pretty steady, played pretty well. And this was a day we didn’t do well. And we really never got in a true rhythm and we couldn’t convert. We couldn’t stay on the field.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.