Detroit Lions: The 50 Touchdown Plan Is a Go

Last season the Lions offense scored only 25 touchdowns—nine rushing and 16 passing. No use sugar-coating it. They also scored 24 extra points, one two-point conversion, and 21 field goals.

As a team Detroit scored a grand total of 262 points; 27th in the NFL, with the help of a defense that scored three touchdowns and two safeties.

In comparison, last year the Vikings offense scored 53 touchdowns (19 rushing and 34 passing), Green Bay's offense scored 50 touchdowns (20 rushing and 30 passing), and Chicago's offense scored 33 touchdowns (6 rushing and 27 passing).

It's pretty clear that defense aside, in order to be competitive in the NFC North the Lions offense will have to double the number of touchdowns they scored in 2009.

Is it even possible for the Lions to go from 25 touchdowns to 50?

Yes.

But is it realistic?

Given the talent and maturation of Matt Stafford, the influx of talent at virtually all of the Lions offensive skill positions over the last two years, the addition of Rob Sims at left guard, and the continuity of having four out of five starting linemen return to be coached by the same line coach, under the same offensive coordinator, the answer is yes.

It will help that for the first time in years, the Lions offense will practice from Monday through Saturday against a good defense.

Let's put the challenge into perspective. Doubling the number of touchdowns scored from one year to the next seems like a tall order until you realize that the starting place for the Lions—25 touchdowns—is a very low number for an NFL team to begin with.

In fact, it's about 10 touchdowns lower per year than the average NFL team scored in 2009.

Football is played one game at a time

To get to 50 touchdowns, the Lions will have to go from scoring a little better than one and a half touchdowns per game to scoring more than three touchdowns per game—in the air or on the ground—in 2010.

Or to look at it in a more positive light, the Lions will have to score about one more touchdown per game than the average NFL team did in 2009.

Last season Stafford threw five touchdowns in a single game against Cleveland. He can put up big numbers. In his second season with the Lions, Calvin Johnson scored 12 touchdowns. In his rookie season as a Detroit Lion, Kevin Smith scored eight touchdowns. They can put up numbers too.

The Lions have added a lot of very talented new players this year, retained all of their existing talent, and now they're definitely capable of putting a lot of points on the scoreboard.

The Lions have scored 50 touchdowns in a single season before

In 1995, with Scott Mitchell at quarterback, Herman Moore and Brett Perriman as wideouts, and Barry Sanders in the backfield, the Lions put up 50 touchdowns, achieved a 10-6 record, and made the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Matt Stafford is a lot more talented than Mitchell was. Our current wide receiver tandem of Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson is at least as good as Moore and Perriman. There will never be another Barry Sanders, but Jahvid Best has more speed than Barry and some very fluid, outstanding juke moves to rival him.

Why did the Lions offense score only 25 touchdowns last season?

Last year Matt Stafford was a rookie quarterback who played only 10 games because of a serious injury he suffered one play before his heroic last pass of the season against Cleveland in Week 11.

Stafford's primary receiver, Calvin Johnson, was smothered in double and triple coverages all season because of the lack of respect opposing defenses had for Detroit's other receivers.

The lack of talent at left guard caused the Lions to play musical chairs at that position all year, a situation that was made even worse when right guard Stephen Peterman was placed on injured reserve with a bad ankle after the Week 10 game against Minnesota.

The development of Detroit's second first round pick of 2009, TE Brandon Pettigrew, was hindered early in the year by injuries.

And then a week after Pettigrew's clutch touchdown catch in the end zone to beat Cleveland with no time left on the clock, he was knocked out for the season with a serious knee injury sustained during Week 12 against Green Bay.

Tough-as-nails starting running back Kevin Smith played hurt almost all season until he got knocked out of the lineup completely with a serious knee injury during Week 14 against Baltimore.

To make matters worse, 18-year veteran field goal kicker Jason Hanson had an off year, making only 21 of 28 attempts; his poorest showing since 2001.

It's true that we're discussing touchdowns in this article, but when your field goal kicker has a bad year, it adversely affects the morale of the whole team, especially the offense.

Ok, so what's the plan this year to get to 50 touchdowns?

In a nutshell, the plan is to run a high-powered offense that will create consistent mismatch opportunities against opposing defenses.

Special teams

Last season, the Lions ranked below average in both punt and kickoff return yardage.

During the offseason, the Lions fired special teams coach Stan Kwan and hired Danny Crossman.

Detroit is also allocating more roster space to special teams talent and letting bubble players know that making the final roster this year is conditional not only on their offensive and defensive contributions, but on their contribution to special teams as well.

Pat Kirwan wrote an article on NFL.com in December of 2007 entitled, "Where you start has a lot to do with where you finish."

In this article, he pointed out that, "In Week Seven, the teams that had a better starting position were 11-3." He also pointed out that "through the first six weeks of the season, the three teams with the best field position were a combined 15-1, while the three teams with the worst starting filed position were only 4-12."

Over the course of a season, it makes a big difference whether on average your offense begins a series with an 80-yard field or a field that is 65 yards long.

Head coach Jim Schwartz understands this and has made improving punt and kickoff returns a priority.

Between the 20's

The Lions will move the ball effectively between the 20-yard lines by taking full advantage of the skill sets of all of the talented weapons now in their arsenal.

Nate Burleson, Brandon Pettigrew, Tony Scheffler, and Jahvid Best will make defenses pay dearly if they blanket Calvin Johnson in coverage.

Detroit will utilize a lot of two tight end sets featuring Brandon Pettigrew, Tony Scheffler,Will Heller, and the Lions flex-backs.

It's important for Detroit fans to understand the problems that multi-talented two tight end sets can cause defenses.

Will one tight end block and one go up the slot or run an out? Which one?

Will both go out and create huge mismatches against smaller, slower LBs and DEs?

Are they pass decoys and then down-field blockers for screen passes to Jahvid Best, Kevin Smith, or Jerome Felton?

Will both TEs block and blow a big hole open for a RB?

Or will they pass protect and give Megatron and Burleson time to go deep and shred the secondary?

Detroit will move the ball on the ground through a potent mix of speedy in-space, score-at any-time-from-any-position running backs (Jahvid Best and Aaron Brown), and vertical between-the-tackle power running backs (Kevin Smith, Mo Morris, and Jerome Felton).

It's well known that a good running game helps open up the passing game and vice versa. This year we have both.

The Lions will also run more no-huddle sets to make it harder for defenses to correct mismatch situations, and they will run more shotgun formations to give Stafford different opportunities to outfox defenses, find mismatches, and get the ball out quickly.

Inside the 20

WR Calvin Johnson is 6'5", 236 pounds, very fast and able to leap over cornerbacks and safeties (and tall buildings) to make spectacular endzone catches. Nate Burleson is an ace at finding space to make catches.

TE Brandon Pettigrew is 6' 5" and 265 pounds, TE Tony Sheffler is 6' 5" and 255 lbs. TE Will Heller is 6' 6" and 275 lbs.

Please.

All of these guys tower above most cornerbacks, safeties and LBs. None are shy about laying crushing blocks down, or making catches in a crowd.

RB Kevin Smith is playing with a big chip on his shoulder this year, and that makes him very dangerous. FB Jerome Felton likes to punish defenders, whether he has he ball or not.

Give lightning fast, low-running juke artist Jahvid Best the slightest opening and he's gone before you can even blink.

Also, all of Detroit's running backs are also capable receivers.

Why didn't the Lions use this plan last year?

The short answer is that they didn't have the talent last year to execute these schemes.

This year?

With the addition of Rob Sims, Nate Burleson, Tony Scheffler, and Jahvid Best, and the progress that young players like Matt Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew, Gosder Cherilus, Aaron Brown, and Derrick Williams have made in the offseason, the 50 TD plan is a go this year.