For the last two seasons, the Detroit Lions have seemed like the plucky little brother to most NFL teams; admirable in the way they scrap, fight and claw but most of the time come up short against the big guys. Much has changed with these 2023 Detroit Lions.
2023 Detroit Lions Turning Heads Again, Finally
In 2021, they began 0-8 and finished 3-13-1. Last year, they went 2-6 before a late-season surge to ultimately win out 9-8 cementing their first winning record since 2017 in the process.
Now, two years later, those Detroit football Lions are acting like the big brother and it’s nothing short of a joy to watch.
Led by former NFL tight end and now three-year head coach veteran, Dan (or is it ‘Man’?) Campbell, Michigan’s only NFL franchise is firing on both sides of the bowl in a truly unlikely story. So what is making the 2023 Detroit Lions team tick and how far can they go this year? Let’s dive in.
The Detroit Lions are 5-1 through the first six weeks for the first time in 12 years and fresh off a 20-6 road shellacking of the recent Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As of today, they are running a franchise record of 15 consecutive games scoring 20 or more points.
Jared Goff Humming to Start 2023
On both sides of the ball, the team is nothing short of humming.
Former Los Angeles Rams quarterback and unsuccessful Super Bowl LIII veteran Jared Goff is now in his third season with the team and the second full one. Prior to the Lions’ win last Sunday, Goff had thrown for 4152 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just four interceptions over his last 16 games.
He ranks as Pro Football Focus’ second-highest-graded quarterback, ahead of elite superstars such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Until the team’s week 3 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, Goff was making a push for the NFL record of most passes completed without an interception. His streak ended that week at 383, good enough for third all-time behind Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
Plenty of Receiver Options
This is, in part, down to his bevy of elite receiving options which could be considered among the best in the league. His top wide receiver, third-year NFL veteran Amon-Ra St Brown, is already halfway to a 1,000 yard season; after a 912 rookie season with 5 touchdowns and a 1,161 yard, six-touchdown second campaign.
St Brown is known as one of the most precise route runners in the NFL, alongside his above-league average catch radius, decent pace and incredible physical toughness, often playing through injuries to little ill effect.
In the last two years, the offense has essentially run through the Goff-St Brown connection, but there are now new faces for NFL defenses to concern themselves with.
Take 2023 rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. By week four, the Iowa State alum had racked up 22 catches, the most by a rookie at the position through the first month in history.
There’s talented back-ups in spades, including Josh Reynolds who at times can look like St Brown’s equivalent despite the latter not being on the pitch.
Jameson Williams, a rookie verified speedster who served a four-game ban for violating the league’s betting policy, is now back and stretching the defensive formations to give Goff options.
The 2023 Detroit Lions Running Game
Then there’s the running game.
It’s common knowledge that the Lions offensive line, led by Frank Ragnow and Penei Sewell, is a top two or three unit in the league. This not only offers Goff superior protection and time in the pocket to find one of his elite receiving options, but also enables the team’s stable of running backs to carve up yards and points on the ground.
Last season, the Lions’ veteran back Jamaal Williams set a new single-season franchise record of 17 touchdowns, mostly in goal-line hawk positions and given the room to dive to the line by the team’s superior protection corps.
With Williams’s departure to New Orleans, came a veteran signing in David Montgomery from the Chicago Bears and a new face, Jahmyr Gibbs; a first-round pick in this year’s draft.
The latter is yet to see a full bell cow workload and is currently nursing an injury, but Montgomery is having a borderline career year through six games with 385 total yards and six touchdowns.
The Lions’ Road Ahead
On current form, the Lions are odds on to come out of their next six games with a positive record. Three home games (Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers) and three away tilts (Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints.
Currently, it’s hard to look at the Lions as anything other than the best team in the NFC division. Indeed, betting sites in Michigan have the Lions +250 to win the Super Bowl.
Head coach Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson have much to be excited and proud about. Johnson has crafted Detroit’s offense into the third-most efficient in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, behind only the Dolphins and 49ers.
They love to run the ball and have one of the most creative and diverse playbook for the run game, with more than 15 apparent variations of the run scheme. This in turn, Johnson has reasoned, gives Goff and his receivers sufficient space to breathe to attack downfield or across the middle depending on how the quarterback reads the field.
It would be surprising if the Lions didn’t continue this run of form for a number of reasons. First, in recent memory, the organization has been a dumpster-fire, with fans only able to harken back to the Megatron and Barry Sanders eras.
Now, there seems an organically-grown enthusiasm for the game amongst the players, built on further by the drive of a head coach that acts like he used all the testosterone in the state of Michigan but plans and schemes like one of his famously nerdy, booksmart head coach colleagues.
To top it all off, they might just be the most exciting team in football when they get going. After Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay exit, it looks as if the Packers will struggle to make the play-offs and the Bears could be mid-tank for Caleb Williams, much to the chagrin of Justin Fields and Soldier Field faithful. So don’t sleep on these Lions to get further than any of us would have predicted two years ago; they might just do it.