Lions Offensive Line Must Find Their Swagger Rest of Season

Johnson confident offensive line can find groove.

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16). / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions offensive line struggled Sunday, as the Buffalo Bills effectively neutralized their run game.

Normally potent on the ground, the Lions couldn't get into a rhythm in that aspect of the game Sunday. Instead, quarterback Jared Goff was forced to throw 59 times. The Lions were able to score 42 points, but the offense was not as balanced as the coaching staff would normally like to observe.

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson described the offensive line as dealing with some consistency issues at this stage of the year. The group is somewhat banged up, as Graham Glasgow and Frank Ragnow have yet to practice this week with knee and back injuries, respectively.

Johnson maintained a positive outlook when speaking to reporters, but expressed he would like to see the group be more consistent moving forward.

“Up and down. It hasn’t been consistent throughout the year. We’ve had glimpses of being a dominant unit and then, there are other times, like last week, that we just weren’t ourselves," Johnson said. "I will say, in regards to last week, the protection was for throwing it 59 times, was pretty good. I know Jared had some pressure, he got hit a little bit, but when you drop back, and you don’t move the pocket as much as we did in that game, we felt like our guys really answered the bell in that regard. It’s not necessarily always rushing statistics, it’s not always sacks, it’s looking at everybody individually and we’ve had some pretty consistent performances across the board. It’s just, collectively, it hasn’t come together for an entire 60 minutes in a while.”

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell shakes hands with center Frank Ragnow (77) / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ragnow and Glasgow both struggled, as they were Detroit's two lowest PFF-graded offensive players. The veteran center allowed five pressures to the Bills' defensive line, and earned a season-low 23.5 pass-blocking grade.

Johnson was optimistic that the Lions could find a groove on the ground this week against Chicago, citing the success they had on the ground against the Bears on Thanksgiving. Detroit had 144 yards on the ground by halftime, and while the offense cooled off in the final two quarters, the early performance on the ground is what Johnson is hoping to replicate.

“I think there were only 13 called runs in that game, and we only had four efficient ones," Johnson said. "There were things that were popping. It was less what Buffalo was doing to us, they really didn’t do a whole lot that we didn’t expect on the run plays. It was more self-inflicted and things that we feel like we take care of every week and we’ll be just fine moving forward. Listen, we had some success against Chicago last time we played them, particularly in the first half running the football, and so hopefully we can build on that. We certainly have had some struggles the last couple of weeks just limiting the number of points, but we know they’re gonna come out and they’re gonna come out firing. It’ll be a good challenge.”