{"id":340259,"date":"2025-12-12T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/340259\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:55:09","slug":"detroit-lions-plan-vs-rams-features-cfl-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/340259\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions plan vs Rams features ‘CFL football’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jared Goff talks about Rams trade<\/p>\n

Jared Goff said he doesn’t feel as emotionally charged playing the Rams as he once did earlier in his career with the Lions, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.<\/p>\n

John Morton spent a season in the Canadian Football League as a player, and the Detroit Lions<\/a> offensive coordinator wants to bring a little bit of that league to his team’s game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

“I call it CFL football,” Morton said. “It\u2019s first [down], second [down], first [down], second [down], first [down], second [down]. We didn\u2019t have a lot of third downs [last week], so that\u2019s the way we got to play.”<\/p>\n

The Lions<\/a> matched a season-low with eight third downs in last week’s win over the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, converting three of those attempts and striking for several big plays.<\/p>\n

QB1: Lions DC Kelvin Sheppard: ‘Remarkable’ how Matthew Stafford is playing<\/a><\/p>\n

Against the Cowboys, the Lions scored on touchdown drives of two, three, four, five and six plays and had six gains of 25 or more yards.<\/p>\n

Morton said Sunday’s game might feature fewer explosive plays.<\/p>\n

“Might be a boring game, might be a dink-and-dunk game,” he said.<\/p>\n

But playing a Rams team that ranks third in the NFL in total defense, he said the Lions have to treat early downs like they’re in the three-down CFL and do their best to stay ahead of the chains.<\/p>\n

ON THE ATTACK: How a sudden void let Detroit Lions Jahmyr Gibbs to soar as receiver<\/a><\/p>\n

“We got to attack,” Morton said. “We got to attack them, just like we have been doing all year. We\u2019ve got great players, I\u2019ve been saying it all year, guys have stepped up and so we\u2019ll attack. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do, run and pass we\u2019re going to get after them. That\u2019s what we need to do. We need to score points.”<\/p>\n

Credit to T.K.<\/p>\n

Tom Kennedy averaged 40 yards on three kick returns last week and gave the Lions enough spark on special teams that coordinator Dave Fipp said Kennedy will remain in the return mix going forward.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t tell you how ecstatic I am for Tom Kennedy,” Fipp said. “I mean there\u2019s nobody who deserves the attention and the recognition more than him in this building. I mean a guy who\u2019s just worked his tail off every single day the whole time he\u2019s been here. Never ever complained about the reps he\u2019s getting, the opportunity he\u2019s getting. Whether he knows he can do something better than maybe some other guy who\u2019s getting his shot before him. And then for him to get the opportunity and then go out there and make the most of it, you\u2019ve got to give him a lot of credit.”<\/p>\n

Kennedy has been with the Lions in some capactiy since signing with the team in 2019 as an undrafted free agent.<\/p>\n

He has spent most of his seven NFL seasons on the Lions’ practice squad, but caught four passes in the team’s Thanksgiving loss to the Green Bay Packers and has 30 receptions and one passing touchdown in his career.<\/p>\n

“When it comes out like it did for him on that game, it\u2019s just incredible to watch,” Fipp said. “The power of the human spirit, a guy who wants to go make a play and just decides he\u2019s not going to let this opportunity pass him by, you just can\u2019t measure it. And sometimes a man is probably sitting there waiting for three years or whatever it is \u2013 four years \u2013 watching other people get turns and that just builds inside of somebody and he gets the chance and he just lets it rip. So, it was awesome.”<\/p>\n

Combat boots<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford has been one of the most ball-secure quarterbacks in the NFL this season.<\/p>\n

Stafford set an NFL record by throwing 28 straight touchdowns without a pick earlier this year and has just seven turnovers \u2013 four interceptions, three lost fumbles \u2013 in his 13 starts.<\/p>\n

Three of Stafford’s turnovers came in the Rams’ only loss since early October, two weeks ago against the Carolina Panthers, but Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said he’s not in the business of “chasing … a good performance against him.”<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not going to take that exact gameplan, try to implement it,” Sheppard said. “But I think turnovers come down to, for the most part it\u2019s will and want to and violently and aggressively attacking the football.”<\/p>\n

The Lions are tied for sixth in the NFL in turnover margin (plus-8) this year and had three takeaways against the Cowboys. Before last week, they had two takeaways in their previous five games combined.<\/p>\n

The Rams are third in the NFL with a plus-10 turnover margin and tied for fifth with 21 takeaways.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m still a fan of football, so I do watch some of these games and we got to combat not only what they do offensively as protecting the ball but they do a pretty good job defensively as far as generating takeaways,” Sheppard said. “They have a Jack Campbell in they own right over there that punches at the ball a lot in their middle linebacker [Nate Landman], so just understanding, we\u2019re not just combating their offense but also the way their defense plays and try to generate takeaways.”<\/p>\n

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at\u00a0dbirkett@freepress.com<\/a>. Follow him on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0at @davebirkett.<\/p>\n