Detroit Lions' headset issues derail drives; A.J. Parker may be latest CB to miss time
The Detroit Lions were in their hurry-up offense, trying to preserve precious time late in the first half of Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Rams, when Jared Goff ran to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with 18 seconds on the clock.
The Lions had enough time for a shot or two at the end zone, or maybe to throw short to the sideline and pick up a first down. Then they did something rarely seen by teams running their hurry-up offense: They took a delay-of-game penalty that moved them back 5 yards.
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Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday that penalty was the result of a headset malfunction, a communication issue that has plagued the team at various points this season.
"It’s a headset issue," Campbell said. "(Jared Goff) can’t hear (the play call). It’s not coming, so something was going on with that play cause I know he couldn’t hear the play from A-Lynn (offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn) and neither could (backup quarterback David) Blough. It’s one of those things, it happened to us. It stinks."
The Lions settled for a field goal late in the first half after Goff threw incomplete on second- and third-and-15.
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In the third quarter, they were forced to burn a timeout after a sack when they had trouble getting another play call in. That left the Lions with two timeouts late in the game when they needed to stop the clock.
Campbell said headset issues have popped up "maybe three times a game" this season "and we don’t really know why."
"We don’t know what’s going on with it," he said. "We’re trying to figure it out and when you’re on it about what’s going on, they say everything’s working properly but it’s not, obviously. So we just keep going. I would say it’s not anything totally abnormal. I mean, we had this in New Orleans, stuff would happen."
Going forward, Campbell said he might use the same dry erase board system the Lions use to help convey defensive calls as a failsafe for more technological breakdowns.
A Lions staff member holds up a dry erase board on the sideline with a number designating the offensive personnel package opposing teams are in — "11" for instance, to indicate "11 personnel" when three receivers, one tight end and one running back are on the field — in a system reminiscent of college play cards.
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"I think from now on I’ll just call it and put it on a massive billboard on the sideline ... so he can see the number on a wristband and now we just keep going," Campbell said. "So lesson learned by me."
Injury update
The Lions placed offensive lineman Logan Stenberg on injured reserve Monday, and Campbell said rookie cornerback A.J. Parker could miss time with a shoulder injury.
"My gut says he’ll be down for a little while," Campbell said of Parker.
Parker injured his left shoulder late in Sunday's third quarter. Daryl Worley replaced him at nickel cornerback, and three plays later gave up a 59-yard pass to Cooper Kupp.
That pass set up the Rams' go-ahead touchdown.
The Lions already are down two of their top four cornerbacks. Jeff Okudah suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in Week 1, and Okudah's replacement, Ifeatu Melifonwu, was lost to a quad injury in Week 2.
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Campbell said last week he remains hopeful Melifonwu, a third-round pick out of Syracuse, can return this fall.
'Donald got us'
Goff's late-game interception, with 5:03 to play and the Lions down six points, was largely the result of a great individual effort by Aaron Donald.
The reining NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Donald beat Jonah Jackson with an inside pass rush move and hit Goff as he threw to T.J. Hockenson in the end zone.
"Aaron Donald did an Aaron Donald," Campbell said. "He got a good jump on the snap and got inside and Goff couldn’t follow through with the throw. And then (Jalen) Ramsey made a hell of a play (to intercept the ball). So you fight that whole game, man. You fight and you’re trying to contain Donald, which we did a pretty good job of. We made them play our type of game and you stay away from Ramsey and what happens, man? Critical play in the game, Donald got us. He got us on one and then Ramsey makes a play."
Goff said Sunday he could have thrown the ball out of the end zone, that Hockenson was well-covered on the play. And Campbell said young tight end Brock Wright could have helped by running a better route on the play, too.
The Lions ran the play from a three-tight-end set, with Darren Fells, Wright and Hockenson all attached to the right side of the line. Fells ran a shallow crossing route, while Wright and Hockenson ran post routes within yards of each other.
"We need to open the window more for Hockenson, which really started with our rookie tight end," Campbell said. "It’s his first start, first game. He can open the window by running a tighter post, taking the guy that’s got him covered and taking the post-safety away, so now it really opens up the window and gives Hockenson room to work and more importantly gives Goff a bigger window to throw into."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' headset issues derail drives; so did Aaron Donald
