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Lions Jared Goff confident about resolving red zone issues, bouncing back with a win

ALLEN PARK — If the Lions are going to hop back on the winning track, they have to get the red zone issues fixed and do it before Sunday’s game at Arizona.

The Lions were 1 of 7 inside the 20-yard line in Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers. No need to look further to figure out why they lost.

So far in two games they are 3 of 11 in the red zone.

Still quarterback Jared Goff is confident they will bounce back.

“That’s kind of what we’re built for, is responding, and we’ve got another really good team we’re playing again this week with Arizona,’’ Goff said Wednesday. “On the road, it’ll be a tough environment, it’ll be a tough game to win, but we’ll be geared up and ready.”

Coach Dan Campbell said it’s not on one player, it was an offensive issue.

“It’s a team effort out there. We didn’t finish the drives, we take pride in our red zone offense and, as an offense, we just didn’t get the job done,’’ offensive line coach Hank Fraley said on Wednesday. “That’s definitely a point of focus this week and really every week, it’s an offseason focus.’’

Goff said if they could pinpoint an issue they would’ve been able to fix it during the game.

“It was just they played well on defense, we didn’t play well enough on offense and got down there seven times, which I think was the most we’ve gotten down there since (offensive coordinator) Ben (Johnson)’s been calling plays, but ultimately we didn’t capitalize on it and they did a good job on defense,’’ Goff said.

Definitely credit the Bucs’ defense, but six failed attempts inside the 20 is just too much. From the 20 to the 20 the Lions’ offense moved the ball with 463 yards of total offense (compared to Tampa’s 216 yards) and Jared Goff threw for 324 yards. Running backs Jahmyr Gibbs (84 yards) and David Montgomery combined for 119 rushing yards.

“It felt like there was some consistency and movement of the football, then when we got to the red zone and for one reason or another – it could’ve been one person or one thing not going the right way. There were a couple of runs I’d like to have back,’’ Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said. “There were little things we see that collectively you can’t have happen. That’s what we’re focused on now moving forward.’’

While he said there are a few things they know they can do better, it wouldn’t offer specifics.

Fraley could be speaking for the whole offense when he said, “It’s disappointing because when we go down there we expect we’re getting 7. That’s our mindset and worst case scenario 3.’’

INJURY UPDATE: DL Marcus Davenport (groin), who didn’t play Sunday, was back at practice on Wednesday. … Missing from practice during the portion open to the media were: LB Alex Anzalone (concussion), S Ifeaut Melifonwu (ankle), CB Terrion Arnold (finger), CB Ennis Rakestraw (hamstring), LG Graham Glasgow (knee). S Kerby Joseph (back) and WR Isaiah Williams (abdomen) were limited in practice..

UP NEXT: Lions (1-1) at Arizona Cardinals (1-1), 4:25 p.m. on Sunday. Airs on FOX and 97.1 The Ticket.

Detroit Lions Dan Campbell: It may not look like it but we’re so close

Red zone woes were big issue in loss to Bucs

ALLEN PARK — Of course, Dan Campbell is not happy about the 20-16 loss to the Buccaneers but the Lions coach is far from despondent.

“There’s a lot of little things that we have to clean up, I’m telling you it’s details. It may not look like it now but we’re so close, we are so close,’’ Campbell said on Monday. “And so that’s what I told the guys as long as we go back to work and let’s clean up those little errors, those details to that, in particular the red zone we will improve and get better.’’

The Lions (1-1) hit the road to the Arizona Cardinals (1-1) on Sunday.

“We’re getting better, we improved from last week in a number of areas significantly,’’ Campbell said on Monday. “The error I made (at end of half) was significant when you’re in that type of game every point matters and cleaning up the red zone offensively are the biggest takeaways.’’

The Lions were just 1 of 7 (14 percent) in the red zone. Not at all acceptable. In comparison, in the overtime win over the Rams in the opener they were 2 of 4 in red zone territory.

Campbell said against the Bucs it was not one person’s fault.

“We moved the football, third and fourth down we were pretty efficient,’’ Campbell said. “It was the red zone. It wasn’t one person – we got down there and it’s details of the route, it’s a MA (missed assignment), it’s a missed block, it’s a missed read, the call Ben (Johnson) didn’t like that he wanted back. It wasn’t one person, it kind of snowballed in there. We’ll clean all that up. All we have to do is get a little better from this week and we move forward.’’

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs couldn’t pinpoint reasons for the red zone woes either. “We just weren’t clicking in there,’’ Gibbs said on Monday.

The Lions were 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) on third downs and 3 of 5 (60 percent) on fourth downs.

“I felt like we were much more efficient moving the ball 20 to 20, if you will. I thought we were more efficient on third down. … I mentioned last week – we had so many three and outs last week, when you have back-to-back three-and-outs, you can never find any rhythm,’’ Campbell said.

INJURY UPDATE: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown suffered a soft tissue injury late in the game. Campbell said he’ll be fine. … LB Alex Anzalone felt pretty good on Monday, per Campbell. He suffered a concussion and is day to day. … CB Terrion Arnold missed a few plays with a finger injury but got back in the game and Campbell said it’s nothing significant.

Five key reasons for the Detroit Lions 20-16 loss to Tampa Bay Bucs

DETROIT — On the stats page, the Detroit Lions dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But on the field Detroit couldn’t take advantage of its chances and lost 20-16 at Ford Field on Sunday.

The Lions had the edge in first downs, 26-14; third-down efficiency, 7/17 to 2/10; total yards 463 to 216; and total plays 83 to 47. Sounds impressive but the scoreboard is what matters. Also, Detroit was just 1 of 7 in the Red Zone.

“We fought, we got down there, certainly on offense we doubled up on yardage, we get down to the red zone and can’t get TDs, that was the story of the game,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Defensively I thought we played lights out, gave us two shots there at the end of the game and we couldn’t finish it out.’’

The Lions beat the Bucs twice last season — 20-6 in October and then a big divisional round win, 31-23, in January. With the win, the Bucs moved to 2-0 while the Lions fell to 1-1.

“It’s early in the year but it’s a good learning experience and chance for us to dive into what went wrong and how can we fix it,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. “If I remember correctly we started 1-1 last year and we were able to respond from that pretty well.’’

Here are five of the main reasons the Lions lost:

ONE: At the end of the first half, the Lions had second-and-10 at Tampa’s 17-yard line with 18 seconds left. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught an 8-yard pass up the middle, Goff spiked the ball leaving 4 seconds but the Lions were penalized for 12 men on the field and the half was over. If they had made a field goal, they wouldn’t have needed a touchdown in the fourth quarter, they could have won with just another 3 points. “It’s a massive error on my part no one else’s,’’ Campbell said. “It was between hurry-up field goal and clocking it, it was 100 percent my fault.’’

TWO: Going 1 for 7 in the red zone was a killer. “We just never felt real comfortable and once you get out far enough and you end up in these third-and-longs in the red zone that’s where it gets pretty hard, when getting close to 10-yd line it’s hard to throw it from there from what they could do coverage-wise,’’ Campbell said. “We couldn’t quite get the rhythm, we couldn’t get in sync and ultimately it hurt us.’’ Detroit was at Tampa’s 11-yard line on a fourth-and-8 with 1:01 remaining. A 5-yard pass to Jahmyr Gibbs, turned the ball over to the Bucs. Goff said the Bucs’ defense got “really stingy” in the red zone.

THREE: Goff threw a pair of interceptions, including his first pass of the game. On that one it looked to him like Jameson Williams was man-handled but no pass interference call was made. He finished the game 34 of 55 for 307 yards, zero touchdowns and those 2 interceptions. Campbell is not worried about Goff. “He’ll rebound. Has he played better? Yeah, he’s played better. I know him, he never stays down,’’ Campbell said. “… He’s going to take ownership and he’s going to be better. That’s the way he’s wired and that’s what makes him who he is.’’

FOUR: Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield completed just a dozen passes (185 yards) and was sacked five times. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception. He also carried the ball five times for 34 yards. Even though his numbers weren’t spectacular he was in control. That was not a surprise.

FIVE: Aidan Hutchinson was an edge rusher on a mission, finishing with 4.5 sacks. “His motor is unbelievable. To be able to play at the rate he plays at, at that intensity for that many snaps in a game, it’s rare,’’ Campbell said. “On top of that he’s got talent and he’s continued to develop his different moves.’’ Detroit’s defense held the Bucs numbers down but also allowed too many chunk plays including a 41-yard touchdown play by Chris Godwin.

UP NEXT: Lions at Arizona Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22.