The Detroit Lions have run the ball nine times on 22 plays of second-and-10 or longer this year, part of a concerted effort by first-year offensive coordinator Drew Petzing to stay out of third-and-long situations.
"I think staying in third-and-manageable is a huge part of this game," Petzing said. "And when you're in known pass in the NFL, with the way that D-lines can rush and the way that coordinators can scheme things, I think you make the game very hard on yourself. I don't know if that's necessarily a second-and-10 philosophy because of that, but I think in general, efficiency on first, second down is critical because of that."
The Lions rank 18th in the
NFL in third down conversion percentage, converting just nine of 24 attempts this year, but they're a perfect 2-for-2 on fourth-down tries and Petzing said coach Dan Campbell's willingness to go for it on fourth down is part of play-calling calculus on second-and-long, too.
The Lions have picked up two first downs on their seven second-and-10 rushes and are averaging 6.9 yards per carry on those attempts. They also have two rushes, for 11 total yards, on longer than second-and-10 this year.
“We're going to be aggressive in four downs," Petzing said. "It's how we play the game. So in a lot of ways, second-and-10 is first-and-10 to me, and I'm not going to treat it much different. I'm going to call the plays that I like to call, that I think line up well.
"And I think it puts strain on the defense to say like, 'Oh, it's not a second-and-pass down. It's real football. We've got to balance and we got to deal with play-action, we got to deal with the run game, we got to deal with the drop-back game.' They can't hone in on second down because you can run into that tendency where like, 'Oh, they're just dropping back. Well, let's treat it like third down.' And all of a sudden, you're getting third-down fronts and third-down pressures and those things can really change the dynamic of what you're able to do on offense.”
'Fine line'
The Lions' opponent on Sunday, Sept. 27 (1 p.m., Fox), the New York Jets, lead the NFL in time of possession at nearly 37 minutes a game, but Petzing said their ball-control offense won't impact how the Lions approach the game offensively.
"“I think it's a fine line," he said. "I don't think you want to change what you do because of that, but I think you also need to be aware that you may not get as many opportunities as you might in another game."
The Lions have scored on 10 of their 22 possessions in the first two weeks, not including a two-play drive they started deep in their own territory at the end of the first half in their Week 1 overtime win against the New Orleans Saints.
The Jets have held their opponents without a first down on 13 of 22 possessions.
"That's just the nature of the way they play football," Petzing said. "So it's something, every possession, probably the importance of it is elevated just a little bit in terms of how we want to do things. But again, am I going to call different plays because of that? No, but I think we do need to be aware that that can happen.”
Stop calling
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was on the receiving end of a few unwanted text messages and emails Wednesday, when long snapper Hogan Hatten made a surprise appearance on the Lions' participation report with a wrist injury.
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"So what happens in this league or for a coach in this league is if you have a kicker who misses a kick in a game, you’re going to get flooded with emails from agents and players and they can all play for you and they can’t wait, just give them a shot," Fipp said. "And then like last night, my phone just starts going crazy and I’m like, 'Dude, what happened?' So then It’s like, 'Hogan, hey, you bringing in a snapper? You bringing in a snapper?'"
Fipp said he received four text messages and two or three emails from long snappers or their representatives asking if the Lions needed a long snapper to fill in for Hatten.
Hatten was a full participant in practice Wednesday, and Fipp said he's "totally fine" and is "going to play int he game."
"I think with all these new rules and the gambling and all this or whatever all that is, all the injury data’s like anything you report so you don't end up in violation of not saying something," Fipp said. "But I would say it's more of that probably than anything. He snapped fine yesterday and he'll play in the game. He looks good to me.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions OC Drew Petzing focused on keeping third down manageable
