Lions stuck with their offensive identity despite halftime deficit vs. Texans

Not much went right for the Detroit Lions in the first half of Week 10 against the Houston Texans. Well, the offense was downright offensive in the first 30 minutes. Jared Goff threw three interceptions as they averaged 3.8 yards per play and 1.8 yards per rush (13 carries for 23 yards).

The mark of this Lions' teams is resiliency, and of course that paid off when they scored 19 unanswered points to pull off a comeback win over Houston. The belief the comeback could be done was conveyed by the coaches, including offensive line coach Hank Fraley. At halftime, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson apparently told the team "this is San Francisco in reverse", harkening back to last year's NFC Championship Game loss.

Lions did not stray from who they are offensively despite trailing the Texans

Trailing the Texans 23-7 at halftime, ESPN gave the Lions a 7.9 percent win probability. That kind of deficit would push a lot of teams to stray from a game plan, or stray from a core identity offensively. But most teams are not the Lions.

The Lions have the fourth-highest run play rate in the NFL (51.1 percent). In second half against Houston, they netted 82 rushing yards on 19 attempts. It wasn't exactly an explosive rushing attack in the second half (4.3 yards per carry), and Jahmyr Gibbs had 35 of those yards on two carries.

In his Week 10 takeaways column, Zachary Pereles of CBS Sports noted the extent to which the Lions stuck with the run in the second half against the Texans.

"This season, teams that trail by 10+ at halftime pass the ball on 68% of their second-half plays. The Lions, however, ran the ball on 59% of their second-half plays Sunday, the second-highest rate by a team trailing by double digits at halftime this season. The only one higher came in Week 4, when the Cardinals simply wanted to leave an eventual 42-14 loss to the Commanders without it getting worse."

"So often, we see trailing play callers chase comebacks by going pass-heavy. Instead, Detroit stayed patient. Of course, not every team is going to get such a sterling second half from its defense, but this was a good reminder the run game still exists, even when you're trailing."

"The run game still exists, even when you're trailing."

The Lions doing what they did in the second half against Houston may have been somewhat rooted in Goff not playing well (leaving five interceptions aside), but their core identity as an offense is the run game. They did not stray from that identity in rare fashion, not only for this season but likely historically in similar situations.