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00:00Alright, something I did repeatedly, we'll get to this and then back to your phone calls,
00:06is Ben Johnson, offensive coordinator, is like the Lions internal, he calls the plays
00:16but he's also got this internal, he's like the unpredictability enforcement officer.
00:233rd and 8, draw play, 1st down, 3rd and 6, run it up the middle, 1st down, 3rd and goal
00:32from the 6, they run it, 1st down.
00:37Now Jared Goff spoke to us a little bit after the game, he said look when we get those calls
00:41on 3rd down, for us it feels like 2nd down because we know we're going to go for it on
00:454th.
00:46If they basically get close, they'll run two plays and go for it, but they're just getting
00:51the 1st down on 3rd down running the ball.
00:55And unpredictability is probably to a degree overrated in the sport of football because
01:00everybody knows everyone.
01:02It's not like you're breaking out new formations in a new playbook every week.
01:08Out of certain formations, there's certain things that you do, some run, some pass.
01:13And opposing defensive coordinators in defense, they know it all going into the game.
01:17So when you can break out a surprise 3rd down run, and I think there is an element
01:24of surprise there, I think that's where unpredictability actually does matter, and they did it with
01:29great success running on 3rd and long.
01:34It's pretty crazy.
01:35You know how frustrating it is when you give those up?
01:38Like when your team's playing, and the other team's looking at a 3rd and 11 and they hand
01:42it off, there's kind of a relief.
01:45Oh sweet.
01:46Yeah, they're giving up.
01:47They're just trying to move out of the shadow of the red zone or whatever it is.
01:51But when they run it for a 1st down, it is demoralizing.
01:55And yet, teams should figure this out by now that the Lions just don't give an F. This
01:58is what they do.
01:59Honestly, 3rd, it doesn't matter the situation you mentioned, 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 6th, they're
02:04running the football.
02:05The commonality with all those scenarios you gave us, it was 3rd down.
02:08And they run it.
02:09Because it doesn't matter to them.
02:10They know that they've got four plays to get it done.
02:12And particularly if you're in the red zone, they're not kicking field goals in the red
02:15zone.
02:16Red zone is for touchdowns.
02:17That's the way Dan Campbell is treating it.
02:19Unless they have like a 4th and 10 situation from like the 14-yard line, they're going
02:26for it.
02:27That's what they do.
02:28They don't want to settle for field goals.
02:31They're awfully impressive with the play calling.
02:34They're aggressive with it.
02:35And yeah, it's easy to call a run on 3rd down when you also think you can run it and you're
02:41going to go for it on 4th down.
02:44They keep you completely unbalanced.
02:45I think Vilma was going off about it.
02:47Just gushing about it during the broadcast.
02:49As a defender, you have to be aware of this at all times.
02:53You just can't rest on, alright, if they run it, they're just trying to get some more
02:56yards.
02:57You know, extra room for the punter.
02:58No.
02:59When they run it, they're trying to get the 1st down.
03:01And by the way, if they get close, they're going for it.
03:04Actually, if they just get 5 yards on 3rd and 9, they're probably going for it depending
03:08on where they are in the field.
03:10When you're unbalanced as a defense, and then you know they got cheat code, Amadou St. Brown
03:13over there where they can almost throw for a 1st down at any time they actually really
03:16need it.
03:17I feel like the Lions are actually kind of toying with teams at some point in the game.
03:22That's just how dominant they've looked this year.