Drew Petzing didn’t just tweak the Lions’ offense in Week 8. He steered it straight into the shape he’s wanted all along.
When Detroit hired Petzing as offensive coordinator, the idea of leaning on two- and three-tight-end looks was easy to picture. He had already built around that approach in Arizona over the previous two seasons, but he also made clear he would fit his system to the players on hand in Detroit.
For most of the first six games, that meant the Lions didn’t become dramatically tight end-heavy. Brock Wright kept playing a meaningful role, but the usage wasn’t far off what Detroit had done in past seasons.
Against the Vikings, though, Petzing finally pushed the button.
Minnesota’s defense under Brian Flores has given the Lions problems for a while, especially with the blitz-heavy pressure looks Flores loves to throw at them. Last season, Flores found a particularly effective answer by forcing Jahmyr Gibbs to stay in and protect the quarterback more often than Detroit wanted. Petzing brought a different answer to the table, and it mattered.
In the first half, Detroit managed 77 rushing yards on 16 carries and Jared Goff was sacked three times. The second half looked like a different game.
The Lions piled up 153 rushing yards on 23 attempts, with Gibbs accounting for 110 of them, and the Vikings’ defense started to wear down as their offense kept failing to stay on the field. The missed tackles piled up, and Petzing responded by leaning harder into the run and getting more inventive with personnel.
The heavy packages were the story. According to JP Acosta of CBS Sports, Detroit was in 12 or 13 personnel on 84.4 percent of its offensive snaps in the second half, including a 38.5 percent jump in 13 personnel. Colton Pouncy of The Athletic reported the Lions had three fewer snaps in 13 personnel against Minnesota than they had in their previous six games combined, while Pro Football Focus charted 19 snaps in 13 personnel and 34 in 12 personnel.
The exact totals vary depending on the source, but the larger point doesn’t. Detroit went big to answer Minnesota’s defense, and the run game took off once it did.
Petzing also used those tight ends in ways that made the defense keep adjusting. Nate Tice of Yahoo! Sports pointed out how often Detroit lined tight ends up in the backfield, creating different gaps and changing the math for Minnesota against zone runs and related looks.
According to PFF, Sam LaPorta lined up in the backfield on 12 snaps against the Vikings. He also recorded the second rushing attempt of his career in the game, and his first since his rookie season.
Wright spent 17 snaps in the backfield and posted his highest snap share, 76 percent, since Week 11 last season. Tyler Conklin, the Lions’ No. 3 tight end, lined up in the backfield on three of his season-high 22 offensive snaps.
Not every offense can pull that off. Not every team has Gibbs.
Not every team has three tight ends it can trust to play that much, let alone move around creatively once they’re on the field. But Petzing had the right lever to pull against Minnesota, and he pulled it hard.
For one game, at least, the Lions’ offense looked exactly like the kind of unit Petzing had in mind. He had held back for much of the season, but in Week 8 he showed he’s willing to go all the way with the tight-end-heavy approach when the matchup calls for it.
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