The Detroit Lions put out this great play on Sunday that they called the “stumblebum.” The idea came from a game from last year when Packers quarterback Jordan Love fumbled the snap against the Bears but was still able to pick the ball back up and throw a deep pass.
The fumble pulled linebackers out of place and left a receiver wide open. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson saw this play and devised the “stumblebum” play for the Lions. They executed it very well on Sunday against the Bears and scored a touchdown on the play.
There were a lot of talking heads who loved the play, but then there were also a lot of talking heads who criticized the Lions for using plays like that, and other trick plays, in games that “don’t matter” instead of saving them for playoff games.
Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell was on 97.1 The Ticket on Christmas Eve morning and he offered a response to that criticism.
“There’s these things you come up with because you see something you like versus that opponent that you know this week, it’s absolutely the conditions are right. They’re perfect.” Campbell said. “So when you have those up, and that’s why you put them in the game plan, if you have the opportunity to call them, you got to call them, because there is no guarantee it’s going to work next week. You don’t hold anything back if it’s meant for that opponent. You got to find a way to use it.”
It’s pretty cut-and-dry stuff there. That play was inspired by something that happened to the Bears and, therefore, was designed to be run on the Bears.
If you’re worried about the Lions emptying out their bag of tricks, I wouldn’t be concerned because that bag seems to be pretty deep. Campbell noted that there are things that the Lions have that they’re just not able to get to in games and have to walk out without using.
Plus, this seems to be a play the Lions came up with early last week, installed, and worked on. They’ll come up with more things as the season and playoffs go along.
Again, the talking heads get about 25% of the story and usually don’t know the context of anything before they start talking because they cover 31 other teams. There’s no time for context.