ALLEN PARK — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton walked to the lectern for his press conference and asked how reporters were doing.
“Glad you guys are feeling good, I’m going against Todd Bowles — kept me up late last night.”AP
Reporters responded, and Morton was quick to say, “Glad you guys are feeling good, I’m going against Todd Bowles — kept me up late last night.”
Bowles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach, is bringing his aggressive and multiple defense to Detroit for Monday Night Football this week.
“Todd does a great job, obviously, I’ve worked with him before,” Morton said. “It’s a blitz fest.
“We’ve got to be ready, and we will. But we’re looking forward to this game.”
Bowles was the New York Jets coach in Morton’s lone season as offensive coordinator there back in 2017. So, Morton knows Bowles’ defense well, going against his group in practice every day for a year.
And the Lions are no strangers to these Buccaneers either, facing them three times in two years, including the divisional game back in January 2024.
Here, these two teams are once again jockeying for position at the top of the NFC standings. It’s also the second time in those three matchups where the Bucs have come to town for Monday Night Football.
The Bucs are 5-1, sitting atop the NFC standings heading into this matchup. And the Lions are right there at 4-2, with a chance to head into their bye week putting themselves right back into the mix.
Morton isn’t wrong about Bowles and the Bucs bringing a “blitz fest,” either. Tampa Bay blitzes at a 32.6% clip, ranking as the fourth-highest in the league through six games. The Bucs have 16 team sacks just inside the top 10 to this point, too.
“We’ve got a veteran group, and they’ve seen a lot. Jared (Goff)’s seen a lot,” Morton said. “When you’ve got a veteran group and you’ve seen a lot of looks and we’re practicing against it, actually, we’ve been pretty good. Jared’s been awesome this year. RCE (recognize, communicate and execute), recognizing things. And protection-wise, he’s more involved with all that. So, we feel really good where we’re at right now as far as the game plan.”
Pro Football Focus has Goff completing 25 of 49 passes against the blitz. He’s thrown one interception and no touchdowns, getting sacked nine times across 61 dropbacks against the heat.
NFL Pro has Bowles’ defense creating pressure on 56.% of its blitz attempts for the second-best mark in the league to this point. And the league’s insights are much more kind to Goff’s play against the blitz than PFF, giving him the highest passer rating (137.1) and completion percentage (77.1%) in those looks. But when the blitzes generate pressure, his numbers drop to below average in both stats.
“But I think I just get older, get better, you learn more, you see more and start to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker, you start to process things a little bit faster,” Goff said earlier this week. “I don’t know if I can put my finger on one thing other than us players are allowed to get better in this league, and I think I’ve done that over the last 10 years.”
Detroit’s offensive line could be getting a big boost in the form of left tackle Taylor Decker’s potential return. Decker has been back at practice this week after missing two games to let his shoulder rest. He brings an immediate talent and calming boost, not to mention the return of one of the team’s most important veteran leaders to the huddle.
Morton said the thought of Decker returning gives him “a little boost.” It means the offensive coordinator won’t have to dedicate sliding more resources to the left side of the line.
“It’s good when you’ve got your starters,” Morton said. “It’s a good feeling that you don’t have to go over there to that side and help out as much and get guys out, especially the backs and stuff.
“Or even just receivers or tight ends, where sometimes they’re chipping, and they don’t get out as fast. So, when you’ve got your tackles, your starting tackles, it makes it a lot easier.”
