Just eight months removed from their last matchup, the Lions and the Rams are entirely different teams. Can the Lions running game capitalize?
The Los Angeles Rams come to town for “Sunday Night Football” to take on the Detroit Lions in the Rams’ first game since… their playoff loss against the Lions. Despite just being an offseason apart, both teams have undergone considerable changes, but the Rams especially so.
Following the retirement of future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Los Angeles has revamped their defensive strategy, and will likely revamp their game plan on Sunday night. Can the Lions capitalize?
Bold prediction of the week: Lions rush for 200+ yards against the Rams on SNF
When these two teams met in January, the Lions had one of their worst rushing performances of the season. The team totaled just 79 rushing yards, and star running back Jahmyr Gibbs ran the ball just eight times in total. In hindsight, had the Lions lost that game, we may look at Gibbs’ lack of touches the way we look at it from the second half of the NFC Championship game.
This time around, the Lions will be running against a new-look Rams defense. The biggest change is Donald, or the lack thereof. That frees up the middle of the defensive line entirely. The Rams did draft Braden Fiske out of Florida State to compensate, but his size and skillset are closer to that of a five-technique (think Josh Paschal or Levi Onwuzurike) than a true interior run-stuffer.
The Rams’ main approach wasn’t to try and replace Donald, though. They seem to have pivoted their defensive strategy to rely more on their secondary, which hasn’t been the strongest in recent years. They signed former two-time All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White, brought back former Rams CB Darious Williams from Jacksonville, and signed Kamren Curl, who will likely start at safety.
Unfortunately for the Rams, Williams was placed on injured reserve on Thursday and White remains a question mark after playing just nine games since late 2021. White came back from a torn ACL just to tear his Achilles in October, which is an injury that can really derail a cornerback’s career (see Jeff Okudah). It’s still to be determined how the Rams’ secondary will shape up, but they’ve clearly made a significant investment.
On the Lions’ side, they may be incentivized to lean into the run game more. I’m still very skeptical of how the offense will function (or not function) without the presence of a strong outside receiver. I’m encouraged by the acquisition of Tim Patrick, but he’s only been with the team about a week and isn’t active for Sunday. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Lions lean heavily on the run game in the first couple weeks of the season while the passing game figures out its new look in a post-Josh Reynolds world.
Of course, 200 yards is a lofty margin, and it won’t be easy considering the situation at running back. Jahmyr Gibbs is coming off of a hamstring strain less than a month ago, but soft tissue injuries can be unpredictable. Even if Gibbs is physically 100%, he may not mentally trust it 100%, and I’ll be watching closely to see whether that’s the case.
Both teams could be operating in considerably different looks than what we saw in January. On paper, that could swing the Lions’ way. Will it swing enough for them to hit 200 rushing yards? A lot would have to go right, but it’s definitely a possibility.
