Notebook: Detroit Lions Need Josh Paschal to Take It to Another Level

When the Detroit Lions drafted Josh Paschal in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, they were expecting the defender to play a key role under coordinator Aaron Glenn. 

Unfortunately for the Kentucky product, injuries have had other plans. Paschal has been in and out of the lineup in his two professional seasons, playing a total of just 16 games to this point in his career. 

Paschal returned from a stint on injured reserve in Week 7 and has been seeing increased snaps since. He played 29 snaps against Green Bay in Week 12, displaying versatility in playing as a run defender as well as on the edge as a rusher.

He's emerged as a reliable defender in the run game. Now, Glenn would like to get more production out of Paschal, who has two career sacks, as a pass rusher.

"The thing now is we have to take it to another level. We drafted this player in the second round and he's had glimpses of what you saw that last game," Glenn said. "Now, it's time to, the run game, he's become a really, really good player as far as setting the edge and being able to do things like that. Now, we have to unlock the pass rush part of it to be able to transition from run, man, to pass. He's busting his butt to be able to do that. That's just who he is, you guys have talked to him before. We need that player to be able to do that, because besides Hutch, (McNeill), Paschal has to be that guy. He has that ability." 

Fake punt revisited

The Lions attempted a fake punt against the Packers, a direct snap to Jalen Reeves-Maybin that ultimately failed to convert. 

Dan Campbell has been notorious for attempting plays of this variety at times throughout his three seasons as the head coach of the Lions. The risk and reward make these decisions make-or-break often times. 

On Thanksgiving, the failed punt led directly to the Packers' lone touchdown of the second half. Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp revisited the decision Thursday and took accountability for what went wrong for the punt team leading to the failed attempt.

"I would say, in general, my kind of belief on the play is ultimately the head coach called the play because he believed in us and he thought we'd be able to execute it and get the job done," Fipp explained. "He thought the outcome would be different and we've been fairly successful at that. But, for me, at the end of the day we let him down. We didn't execute well enough to get the job done."

The decision came in the third quarter with the Lions trailing by two scores. After scoring on their first possession of the second half, Detroit had failed to cut further into Green Bay's lead. 

Wanting to gain momentum, they elected to roll the dice. In this instance, though, the decision came up short and wound up hurting their chances to mount a comeback.

"There's a lot of things that go into that but I would say most of it really falls on my shoulders," Fipp said. "I've got to do a better job of getting them ready to play that play, no matter what the look is and all that stuff, make the head coach look good is really my job. I appreciate him having the confidence in us to run the play, he's been great with all that stuff. But obviously we've got to come through for him right there. We put him in a bad spot." 

Correcting turnovers

The Lions' offense has been plagued by turnovers through the past two weeks, as quarterback Jared Goff has turned the ball over six times in that span. 

If Detroit is to sustain success down the stretch of the season, the offense must take better care of the ball. Recall, Goff had just one interception in the season's final 10 games as the Lions finished 8-2 in that span. 

Heading into this year's pivotal string of games, Ben Johnson knows the importance of his quarterback avoiding costly takeaways.

"The ones that we can clean up, me and coach already talked about it, as we're crossing the line of scrimmage that ball's got to be tucked away," Johnson said. "Jared knows that, we'll clean that up and we'll be good to go from there. There are a couple plays last week where he's holding onto the ball longer than we wanted to. They had a good defense compared to our call as well, so that's on me also trying to help him so that number one gets open a little more for him. It all plays a part, we all have a hand in it, but he's certainly taking ownership of it and we'll see some dividends here soon." 

Peanut butter and jelly

The Lions have enjoyed the benefits of having both David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs together on the field since returning from their bye week. 

Having both players gives Detroit a versatile, dynamic attack in the backfield. Both players can make an impact in both the run and pass game. 

Each has their own skill set, which allows Johnson and running backs coach Scottie Montgomery to utilize both together or pick one based on what the team needs in any situation. 

"Just more time on task and now, collectively, having them both since the bye week and both of them being able to hit 70 scrimmage yards apiece," Montgomery said. "Continuing to put those two together. It's hard for it to be 50-50, but what Ben (Johnson) has done is a really, really good job of making sure that they are both involved and as you look at them both people may like one or may like the other but collectively, they are peanut butter and jelly. Some people like peanut butter and some people like jelly but a lot of people like them when they're put together."