How the Lions Offense Dictates Matchups

The NFL is all about matchups, and the offenses that can find ways to create the 1-on-1’s they want have a distinct advantage.

Our last breakdown of the Lions offense focused on their ability to create coverage indicators with formations and personnel groupings. This generally gives quarterback Jared Goff a good idea pre-snap of what the coverage will be, allowing him to pick the best matchup or route to target.

Today, I’m going to focus on how offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is also able to use more proactive measures to dictate opponent-specific 1-on-1 matchups that favor the Lions. We’ll use Detroit’s Week 12 game against the Bills last season as an example.

Getting the Ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown

Amon-Ra St. Brown was not only the Lions’ best receiver in 2022, but he was also the 3rd-highest rated receiver in the NFL when working out of the slot, according to Pro Football Focus.

For the Bills, Taron Johnson was their preferred slot corner. He would generally play inside regardless of the receiver that was aligned there.

So the objective for the Lions was to find a way to get St. Brown matched up inside on one of Buffalo’s other corners who generally aren’t as comfortable or effective playing in the slot. Cornerback Dane Jackson, who spent just 2% of his time in the slot last season (according to PFF), would be the target.

This first example was a 3rd-and-8 in the 1st quarter. The Lions came out in an empty 3x2 formation. To the 2-receiver side, Kalif Raymond was aligned on the perimeter with St. Brown in the slot. The Bills matched up with Jackson on the outside vs. Raymond and Johnson inside on St. Brown:

The Lions then sent Raymond in orbit motion across the formation. But this wasn’t one of those motions where the receiver slowly saunters across the field. Instead, Raymond went into a sprint, which is something you normally see right before the snap. So the Bills couldn’t just easily check into an entirely different defense to handle the new 4x1 formation.

Because Buffalo generally wants Johnson (their slot corner) to play to the side where a slot actually exists, and because they needed to protect against Raymond outflanking the defense on a quick swing pass, Johnson followed Raymond:

Jackson then bumped inside over St. Brown:

The Lions now had the matchup they wanted with St. Brown against Jackson inside the numbers, where Jackson is not normally as comfortable operating. And it showed:

The result was an easy first down. This wouldn’t be the only time Detroit created and then targeted this matchup.

In the 4th quarter, the Lions were backed up deep in their own territory. On a 1st-and-10 from their own 9-yard line, they came out in 21 personnel (2 RB, 1 TE). That got the Bills to match up with their base personnel (4 DL, 3 LB, 4 DB):