Detroit Lions film review: David Montgomery and the real impact of facing league-high rate of stacked boxes
Allen Park — Admittedly, this was probably a more interesting idea before the Detroit Lions decided to sign Aidan Hutchinson to an extension.
Alas, in the spirit of trying to answer the burning questions on the minds of the Lions fan base, I was inspired by the overwhelming theme in the comments section of my bye week deep dive on the roster.
While there were plenty of stats and trends to digest from the position-by-position breakdown, nearly everyone who responded to the piece was fixated on running back David Montgomery facing a league-high percentage of stacked boxes.
I initially noticed the steady rate of eight defenderes Montgomery was drawing after the team’s Week 5 game against the Bengals. The following week, I asked offensive coordinator John Morton about strategies he could deploy to help Montgomery.
Paraphrasing, Morton said the team won’t shy away from continuing to pound the ball into stacked fronts because they believe in their blocking, and the offense is dependant on keeping defenses honest.
In hindsight, it wasn’t a great question. Asking any coach to reveal strategic information is typically going to net cliches over meaningful responses.
In the two weeks since, Montgomery was limited to just four carries in a loss to the Chiefs, before facing a season-high 84.6% stacked box rate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Recognizing things might be getting worse, not better, let’s take to the film to explore the context of how defenses are approaching Montgomery this season, and whether there is anything we can learn from Detroit’s offensive trends when the veteran back is on the field.
Week 1 at Green Bay
25 snaps, 11 carries, 25 yards, four targets, four receptions, 18 yards
Stacked boxes faced: One
Stacked-box situations
First quarter, second-and-5, trailing by 10
Recap: Stacked boxes weren’t the issue in the opener as much as subpar run blocking.
Montgomery entered the game in the middle of Detroit’s second offensive series. He was targeted on a screen pass during his first rep, and a blown block resulted in a loss of yardage.