The loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is easy to point to as a death knell for the Detroit Lions' offense, and the success of quarterback Jared Goff going forward. But new offensive coordinator John Morton is not going to reinvent the wheel, rooted in his presence on the Lions' coaching staff in 2022.
So Morton will continue to design and call an offense that is predicated on and rooted in what Goff does well. Skeptics will point to the limitations Goff has as a natural governor on what the Lions can do offensively, but those things are well-documented and well-known at this point. And it's not wrong to point those limitations out, even if you'll be called a "Goff hater" by fans who don't want to see his flaws.
The Lions' offense was balanced, yet variable and creative with Johnson running the ship, and that will not change under Morton's guidance. Deployment of certain formations, or lack of deployment of certain formations, will surely remain the same.
According to Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy, the Lions were last in the league in usage of a particular offensive formation last season.
"Interesting tidbit from the FTN Almanac Strategic Tendencies tables that I'm putting together.
"2024 was the first season we've tracked where all 32 teams used the pistol formation on at least a handful of plays.
Atlanta used it most (34.6%), Detroit used it least (1.6%)."
The pistol formation was originally popularized by former University of Nevada head coach Chris Ault in the mid-2000's. Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire had a concise explanation for what it looks like, with the quarterback in a modified/shortened shotgun alignment four yards behind the line of scrimmage and a single back directly behind him.
The pistol is essentially, at a very basic level, a half-shotgun iteration of the option and its effectiveness is very much enhanced by the quarterback being a threat to run. Goff is simply not that kind of quarterback, so it makes no sense for the Lions to use the formation much, if at all.
The pistol, as Risdon noted, can also help bad offensive tackles against speedy edge rushers. The Lions don't have that issue, with Penei Sewell and Taylor Decker holding down the fort.
It'd be interesting to see how successful the Lions even were on those limited pistol formation plays last season, based on traditional yards, success rate, EPA, etc., and Schatz is presumably diving into that. But if it worked beyond creating an odd or different look for the defense once in awhile, it's safe to assume it would have been used more.
