How Play-Action Will Help Lions 2026 Offense Get Back On Track
The Detroit Lions have hopes of getting back to their roots offensively.
With Drew Petzing taking over the coordinator duties, head coach Dan Campbell would like to see the team utilize play-action passing more within their offense.
"We tried a lot of play-action. We really did. The issue was we weren't running the ball particularly well late in the year. And so, if you don't run it well, there's only so much the defense will buy. Go ask Jack Campbell about it. If you can stuff the run over and over and then they play-pass, then they're already back in coverage," said Campbell. "So look, that's always going to be part of what we do. Everything here starts on the ground on offense. It will always start on the ground. That's where it begins, and then we will go from that.
"Play-action pass can be big for us because our players are good at it, our quarterback is outstanding at it. Now our quarterback can sit there in the gun too and dish the ball out," Campbell added. "You want to go deep in the playoffs, you better be able to run the freaking ball. So, that's where it all begins."
Quarterback Jared Goff has thrived within this element of the game. Detroit has been at its best with Goff under center when they've been able to use the run game to setup the pass, and if the matchups allow it Detroit is hoping to do more of just that in 2026.
"Some of that's going to be dictated by who we're playing, what the matchups are, what we look like in protection," said Petzing. "But it's definitely going to be a big part of who we want to be because that indecision on whether it's run or pass, I think is so critical to being effective in any offense in the NFL."
The Lions' struggles in the run game last year led to a drop off in how much they were able to utilize the play-action element of their offense, as they went from 35.7 percent to 27.9 percent from 2024 to 2025.
Now, the Lions are hoping to add more of that back to their offense with Petzing in charge. This would give Goff more comfort within the scheme, and in turn give their offense more versatility.
The success of the play-action element of the game relies on Detroit's run game, and the Lions have added more talent to their offensive line with hopes of getting big plays from Jahmyr Gibbs and company on the ground. This would then open up play-action opportunit
By doing this, it could open up more opportunities for the likes of Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St. Brown and even Jameson Williams down the field. It could lead to more explosive plays in 2026.
"I think it fits the skillset of our quarterback, number one, and I think it takes some pressure off the offensive line, which in this League is important and it allows you to utilize your skill players in an effective manner on base downs. So it's something we're working on and we're going to continue to get better and we're going to see how good we can be at it to see how much we want to use it."
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 5:42 PM.