How the Lions’ dominant O-line is driving a playoff charge: ‘The engine under the hood’
They travel in packs and read more than you think. They sample all cuisines without favor or fear. They laugh at the same jokes, share secret languages and carry each other’s pain. They are the men behind the curtain and the trunk of the family tree.
Collectively, they are the Detroit Lions’ offensive line. And when it comes to that surging team’s hopes, they are everything.
“This offensive line,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said earlier this month, “they’re the engine under the hood, man. They make it go.”
The Lions enter their annual Thanksgiving game 8-2 for the first time in the Super Bowl era, and the biggest reason for that is not Campbell nor general manager Brad Holmes nor Jared Goff .
In Detroit, things are a bit different. The Lions have a two-and-a-half-game division lead with seven weeks left because they believe in running the football — whenever, wherever, against whomever. This is not an overnight sensation. It has been there the whole time, even when Campbell’s team was bad — the pillar of the rebuild when it was really only an idea on paper.
Offensive linemen, as a rule, don’t grow up dreaming of being offensive linemen. Their dreams are often simpler: to be one of 11, to have a home, to be a football player. When you find five talented players who share those thoughts, you’ve got something special.
And in Detroit, one of football’s most powerful five-cylinder engines — comprised of Penei Sewell , Taylor Decker , Frank Ragnow , Jonah Jackson and Graham Glasgow — is exactly that.
“We’ve been doing this for four years now,” Jackson said in a tone that’s neither boastful nor resentful, simply factual. “This is nothing new here.”
After 10 games, Detroit ranks No. 7 in the NFL in expected points added (EPA) per play, No. 4 in EPA per rush attempt, No. 3 in rush EPA per game from a non-QB, No. 2 in yards per game and No. 6 in points per game.
Sunday’s turnover-filled day against Chicago aside, Goff has had terrific stretches this season, and the Lions continue to get outstanding play from stud wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown . The running back tandem of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs has been rounding into form. And all of it — the QB with great accuracy but subpar feet, the star receiver who works more underneath than over the top, the high-priced RBs — was specifically picked to be in Detroit for one reason:
This offensive line. Nothing works as well without it.
Goff’s connection with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has been sensational, and he’s transformed himself back into the prospect that flashed during his early days with the Rams . However, he’s still a limited player athletically who would not be playing at this level if he were working behind even an average line.
St. Brown’s route running, dependability in traffic and consistency in just about every area are the chief reasons why he’ll likely get a great contract extension. All of it, including his ability to run block, has been elevated by Detroit routinely being in manageable situations on second and third downs (spots where underneath route runners feast) thanks to the offensive line.
Two situations from the past two weeks illustrate why Detroit’s offensive line is among the NFL’s top position groups.
First, on Nov. 12 in Los Angeles. Up 7 near the end of the first quarter, facing a fourth-and-5 from the Chargers 28, Campbell kept his offense on the field. On third-and-10, just before this play, Detroit ran a wide flare screen to Kalif Raymond for 5 yards, setting up fourth-and-manageable.
Then, of course, the Lions ran the ball.
Nobody does this — any of it, really, but especially the decision to call an inside trap on fourth-and-5. The play itself was a microcosm of Lions football. Detroit got a terrific trap and seal block from Jackson, two outstanding down blocks from Ragnow and Glasgow, along with an even better effort from Montgomery (and Sewell diving on the pile) to extend beyond the marker.
“That’s just trusting our guys to get the job done,” Johnson said of the call.
The Lions beat the Chargers 41-38 . Every conversion mattered, and Detroit showed no fear looking to its front when everything was on the line.
The second scenario happened in Week 11 against Chicago. The first 55 minutes or so featured the worst stretch of Goff’s season, including three picks (and nearly a fourth). Still, Detroit was in position to win after regaining possession on its own 27 with 2:33 to go.
Detroit moved out to the 40 just before the two-minute warning, then ran the ball on second-and-long for 12 yards. Four plays later, facing a second-and-1 with 1:14 left, the Lions ran it again against a suddenly gassed Bears defense, picking up 12 more yards and bleeding the clock in the process. After two more throws pushed the Lions to the Chicago 7, Johnson called another run — this time, a draw. It netted 5 yards and a first down.
A play later, Montgomery ran right over Montez Sweat — Chicago’s prized trade-deadline acquisition — for the game-winning score.
The blocker he ran behind? Sewell, of course.
Sewell is good enough to make you think you’re seeing things.
During his first padded practice at Oregon, he came off the snap so hard in a run-blocking drill that a coach worried he’d broken the defensive tackle’s back. Days earlier, in Sewell’s first one-on-one pass-rush drill as a college player, he stoned the Ducks’ best edge rusher, Justin Hollins , an eventual draft pick. Minutes later, offensive line coach Alex Mirabal asked him to do it again. So he did.
It’s the same for every coach Sewell has ever played for, save for maybe his father. Eventually, you stop asking questions and start enjoying the experience of watching someone in their absolute element.
“After you get up close, you see all of it in person,” Mirabal said of Sewell. “And you can actually feel and hear the difference between how he does it and how everybody else does it.
“He’s special.”
Sewell started his first year of college at age 17, as a left tackle, in a Power 5 league. And he never took a deep breath. In his fourth game, against Stanford, Oregon was set to run a reverse it had practiced all week long.
Just before the snap, though, Mirabal was concerned. The front the Ducks saw wasn’t one they’d practiced against that week — Stanford was bringing a complex pressure right over Sewell’s inside gap. How did Sewell react? The prodigy literally checked into a call himself and blocked two guys — driving one 15 yards into the end zone — to spring a touchdown.
When the line got back to the sideline, Mirabal immediately went up to Sewell and asked how he’d been able to figure everything out so fast.
“He looks at me and goes, ‘Coach, I just saw it,’” Mirabal recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Well, OK.’ And he’s 17 years old (at that point). And this is his fourth game.
“He can just feel stuff out there other guys can’t.”
College coaches who recruited Sewell were in awe of how confident he was at a young age, but also of how he and his brothers wouldn’t say a word unless asked to by a family elder. In a football sense, Sewell’s ability to fit in has been perhaps his best-hidden talent.
He moved from tiny American Samoa to Utah as a kid and had no problem. He was Oregon’s best lineman at 17 and nobody was jealous — the entire O-line room loved him and wanted a chance to play next to him.
When he was drafted by Detroit , the team already had a left tackle: Decker. And while many outside speculated about how this might all fit, the reality was that, inside, Sewell meshed with everyone immediately. He simply saw himself — and still sees himself — as one of five.
The Lions’ offensive line eats together constantly — after games, during the week, in the facility. Sewell loves to share his favorite Polynesian dishes and spots with the group. Jackson’s an amateur home cook (who can also skateboard) and has free rein to bring in leftovers from anything he’s ever made. His empanadas are Sewell’s favorite.
Ragnow, the NFL’s best center not named Jason Kelce , has his own hunting and fishing YouTube channel, so there is no limit to what he brings to the table. Decker’s an Ohioan, which means he’ll enjoy pretty much anything. Glasgow’s the dessert guy — expensive, quality desserts, sometimes flown in from exotic locations.
Glasgow also might have been the missing piece, one who should’ve been here all along. Drafted by Bob Quinn and Jim Caldwell in the third round out of Michigan in 2015, Glasgow — a walk-on who outplayed every scholarship guy in the program and became Jim Harbaugh’s first truly great Michigan offensive lineman — came to Detroit in the same rookie class as Decker. They contributed immediately and helped the Lions earn a playoff spot.
Not long after, though, Quinn hired Matt Patricia and all hell broke loose.
In 2019, Patricia started rotating veterans in with Glasgow, who was on his way to earning a nice extension after his rookie deal ended. He provided nonsensical reasons for the decision, and eventually, Glasgow left for Denver as a free agent.
That error was one of the last major blunders of Patricia’s short, nightmarish run. But had it not happened, Detroit likely wouldn’t have drafted Jackson in 2020.
The same year, the Lions also signed Halapoulivaati Vaitai , Quinn and Patricia’s free-agent tackle answer. Injuries have plagued Vaitai throughout his four years in Detroit (he’s currently on IR with a back injury), but he’s beloved in the locker room and an important piece of Detroit’s chemistry. When he went down with a knee injury earlier this year, Sewell stood next to him and got emotional.
Vaitai’s likely done for the year, which, along with some other injuries up front, has provided opportunities for youngsters like Colby Sorsdal and Kayode Awosika . No matter who’s in there, offensive line coach Hank Fraley tailors his approach to every player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Individually, each guy is uniquely important. Collectively, they’re one of the strongest growing forces in the NFL.
“The hard part is the consistency. Being able to do it, day in and day out,” Jackson said. “Some lines, they flash and they go away. It’s about finding your baseline (standard). We’re getting our flowers a little now, I guess, and that’s cool. But at the same time, this is a production-based business and we know it.”
The hard part about building your team around a line is that it’s so hard to keep everyone healthy (and paid) for very long. There are no promises here, either.
The Week 10 win over the Chargers marked the first time Detroit had a healthy offensive line since the season-opener in Kansas City . Then, last week, the Lions had to play without an ailing Jackson (wrist), using Sorsdahl in his place — the team’s eighth starting O-line combination this season.
For other teams, that type of attrition can be a disaster. The Lions are 8-2, though, and the run game just keeps churning.
Detroit’s front office will have decisions to make soon. The Lions already have Ragnow locked up through 2027, and Decker’s current deal runs through 2025, but Sewell will be the most expensive extension of the bunch — perhaps on the entire team. His production and versatility could make him a market-setter at tackle, one of the most expensive positions on the field.
Jackson is on the final year of his rookie deal and could command at least $10 million per season on the open market (depending on his play the rest of the year). Glasgow signed a one-year deal this offseason (with a void year in 2024) and Vaitai is in the final year of his contract (he also has a void year in 2024).
Where all this goes in the future remains to be seen. But in the here and now, the Lions’ heartbeat — and title chances — rests with the front five.
“We’re willing to run it whenever we want to,” Johnson said recently. “That’s how we feel.”
And that, more than anything else, is why the Lions are eating well this Thanksgiving.
(Top photo: Kevin Sabitus / )
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