Hits and misses in the passing attack

The Detroit Lions pulled off a bitter win on Sunday, beating the Los Angeles Rams despite not playing at their best.

The offense in particular has been a mixed bag. There have been periods of excellence, led by David Montgomery’s 91 rushing yards and Jameson Williams’ 121 receiving yards. Quarterback Jared Goff, on the other hand, has had ups and downs. The veteran was rated the lowest-rated offensive player by Pro Football Focus, completing 18 of 28 passes for 217 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

However, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has targeted several attacks that have nearly doomed the Lions’ offense, so there should be continued optimism that the unit will enter Week 2 as one of the best collective offenses in the league.

Here’s a look at the hits and misses of Detroit’s passing attack in Sunday’s game.

Hits

Williams’ 52-yard touchdown pass from Goff.

Williams’ biggest achievement was his long touchdown catch in the third quarter. Detroit tried to reach him deep earlier in the game, but to no avail as he was thrown too far while trying to outrun two defenders.

The Lions’ concept works like a charm here, though. The Rams have two deep safeties in their lineup. Detroit has three wide left, with Amon-Ra St. Brown singled to the right. At the snap, the safety closest to St. Brown has his eyes on the backfield, negating the help for the corner covering St. Brown.

As St. Brown wins his route, the safety from the far hashmark has to move over to help. As a result, Williams is singled out with Tre’Davious White. Williams sells the stop hard on his route, then accelerates and White has no chance to stop him except to wrap him up.

However, White isn’t in position to do anything effective, and Williams runs past him. Goff’s throw is a little behind Williams, but the Alabama product adjusts and makes it into the end zone.

14-yard pass from Jahmyr Gibbs from Goff.

This was one of the smartest plays the Lions pulled off in Week 1. Coordinator Ben Johnson calls on Gibbs and St. Brown to flank Goff in the backfield, lining up two on the right outside and one on the left.

Before the snap, St. Brown moves parallel to the line of scrimmage. Since the Lions already have seven players at the line, a wideout moving to the line of scrimmage would result in an illegal formation penalty.

When the ball is snapped, all four wide receivers go vertical and Gibbs moves from Goff’s right side to his left to provide pass protection. After a while, however, he slips into the flat for a screen pass. Since the linebackers and secondary have been forced to gain depth, Gibbs has plenty of room.

Center Frank Ragnow has the decisive block to secure the lead: He kicks the defender out so that Gibbs can run inside with his backside.

Williams 27-yard pass from Goff

This play is another example of the impact that just the presence of St. Brown has on the Lions offense. In this replay, St. Brown is one of two players lined up wide, the other being Sam LaPorta.

St. Brown is sent toward the sideline just before the snap to bring him down at full speed. This puts fear in the Rams defense as they push St. Brown to the outside corner while safety LaPorta takes over.

Both St. Brown and LaPorta run deep routes, exposing the flat left side of the field. With the Rams in man coverage, the responsibility now falls on White to stay with Jameson Williams, who is running a lateral route.

The Lions offensive line slides to the right at the snap, causing the Rams linebackers to chase what appears to be a running play. Goff sells the play and Williams is left with nothing but green as the linebackers and cornerbacks leave the middle of the field.

36-yard pass from Williams to Goff.

This explosive play is based on a similar concept to the one above, as Williams follows a fake route from St. Brown.

The USC product is lined up on the left side of the formation, with Williams and Kalif Raymond on the right. Detroit again uses play action to put the linebackers in a difficult position, and as a result, Goff is able to exploit the Rams’ secondary with a single-high safety.

Every Lions route is designed to get behind the linebackers to give Goff a chance to throw the ball. St. Brown and Williams run almost mirror-image crossing routes, with St. Brown running the designated over route. With the safety running with St. Brown first, Williams again has plenty of space.

Missed shots

Goff is intercepted by John Johnson III.

This interception came at a critical time for the Lions’ offense. After Williams’ touchdown, the Lions were in a slump, leading by four points at the start of the fourth quarter and looking to decide the game.

The Rams defense, however, had other plans. At this point in the game, St. Brown had only two catches for eight yards. As a result, this throw was forced given the situation, but it could have simply been an attempt by Goff trusting his primary target.

The Lions try to open up the middle of the field by sending Tom Kennedy, who was lined up next to St. Brown, on a hitch route. While this initially draws two defenders, John Johnson sits in the middle of the field and expects St. Brown to come at him.

Johnson guesses correctly and Goff’s throw comes a tad too late. Johnson pulls off an impressive play in which he holds onto the ball despite contact with the Lions’ wide receiver and achieves a big turnover.

Goff incomplete for St. Brown

Earlier in the game, the Lions tried to get the ball to St. Brown in a similar fashion, this time trying to keep the other wideouts apart and run hitch routes with the outside receivers to draw attention away from the middle of the field.

The Rams don’t bite, however, as a linebacker and safety patrol the middle of the field, keeping an eye on St. Brown. He quickly runs toward the weak spot of the coverage and is free as Goff completes his drop.

However, Goff hesitates for a moment as the linebacker approaches. As a result, St. Brown drifts toward the middle of the field and the throw is incomplete.

Goff incompletely designated for Gibbs

During the Lions’ two-minute drill at the end of the game, Johnson called a play designed to exploit the Rams’ bracket coverage in the middle of the field. Before the snap, Williams is put in motion to give the Lions three wideouts on the left side of the formation.

The Rams are obviously worried about St. Brown, who draws the attention of both safeties with his over route. While the safeties chase St. Brown, Gibbs is isolated on a linebacker. He slips between the two backers and runs freely towards the end zone.

The safety on the other side of the field is the last line of defense and the ball is thrown to a point where he can’t catch Detroit’s speedy running back. However, Gibbs falls to the turf as he tries to adjust his speed to run after Goff’s pass in the air and the ball lands incomplete.