Tampa Bay shut down Detroit Lions' run game last meeting; rematch could be different

The Detroit Lions pride themselves on possessing a balanced offense, but in their first meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers they were anything but.

The Lions ran for a season-low 40 yards in their Oct. 15 win over the Bucs, a performance offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said they need to significantly improve upon Sunday to win their rematch in the NFL playoffs at Ford Field.

"Whoever we had up last time, we fell short of our standard, and the good news about where we are as an offense is we can shift and we can flow and that doesn’t shut us down entirely," Johnson said. "If we can’t run the ball, then we have other ways to attack the defense as well. So, fortunately that was the case the first time we played them.

"We are still built on the run, though. I think our guys up front, they relish the opportunity to do that, and we’ve got really good backs that we need to get the ball, so hopefully we can have a little more success then the first go around."

The Lions were severely shorthanded on offense the first time they played Tampa, and those personnel issues contributed to their struggles in the run game.

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Jahmyr Gibbs missed the game with a strained hamstring, left guard Jonah Jackson was out with a high ankle sprain and David Montgomery left in the first half with a rib injury.

Craig Reynolds led the Lions with 10 carries and 15 yards rushing that day, and Jared Goff dropped back 47 times to pass.

"I think we were still trying to figure some stuff out back then," guard Graham Glasgow said. "I think that they did a really good job in general of scheming things up to make sure that things were tough for us on the ground, and in turn, I feel like we were able to take advantage in the air. And that’s just kind of part of being a good football team, a complete football team. If something’s not working, if the other team’s taking it away from you, you take what they’re going to give you."

This week, Glasgow said the Lions should "be in better position to maybe dig out some of these safeties that were ruining the runs last time, and the unblocked guys that were there just because they brought one too many in the box."

Gibbs (945 yards) and Montgomery (1,015 yards) are healthy and have settled into a timeshare as one of the NFL's most formidable running back tandems. Jackson, a longtime stalwart on the offensive line, is back at left guard after missing more time with a wrist injury in November.

And the offensive line as a whole has benefitted from more than a month of stability after rotating personnel much of the season. When the Lions played Tampa in Week 6, they were starting their fifth offensive line combination of the year.

"I think when you’re trying to establish a run identity, the chemistry is definitely part of that," tight end Brock Wright said. "More and more experience always helps you just get better at your craft and whatever aspect that is, so the run game, whether it’s double-teams on wide zone or gap schemes or whatever, the more reps you have at it with the guy you have next to you, the better you’re going to get at it."

That doesn't mean running this week will be easy.

The Lions ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing in the regular season at 135.9 yards per game, but have failed to eclipse 80 yards the past two weeks. The Bucs had the NFL's fifth-ranked rush defense (95.3 yards allowed per game) in the regular season, and Johnson said head coach Todd Bowles' defensive scheme and the Bucs' disruptive personnel —Vita Vea is one of the best nose tackles in the NFL, LaVonte David had 134 tackles in 15 games and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was voted first-team All-Pro — makes life "tough sledding" on opposing offenses.

"I don’t think it’s any secret that coach Bowles and that staff, they take a lot of pride in stopping the run," Johnson said. "They load the box up. They really condense you on in there and so it’s hard."

Gibbs said Thursday he's looking forward to playing against the Bucs after his pleas to play were ignored in Week 6, and Montgomery said the Lions are better equipped to run the ball this time around.

"I think it’ll be very important (to establish the run)," Gibbs said. "I think the O-line has a chip on their shoulder from that last game cause we could have done better. We have a standard to hold, so I think we’re going to live up to it."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions have a plan to stop Bucs from shutting down run game