Lions’ Lombardi: Everyone’s signals get stolen

Joe Lombardi hasn’t read the newspapers much this week, but even that hasn’t stopped the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator from feeling the heat for his team’s disappointing play.tmpplchld “I’m aware of it, obviously,” Lombardi said at his weekly news conference Friday. “But the good thing about this game is you get in a routine, you come in on a Monday and you do a certain thing every week. And on Tuesday, you do the same thing. So you get in your routine, and that kind of takes care of all that pressure.”tmpplchld The 0-3 Lions rank 27th in the NFL in total offense heading into Monday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks and have scored just 28 combined points the last two weeks.tmpplchld The haven’t run the ball well, have been worse at protecting their quarterback, and now have to deal with questions about their offense being too predictable.tmpplchld Lombardi, in his first comments since receiver Golden Tate said opposing defensive players have told him they knew what plays the Lions were running in each of their three games, said fears about that are overblown.tmpplchld “Everyone’s signals sometimes get stolen,” Lombardi said. “So I’m sure it’s happened, yeah.”tmpplchld Lombardi said when he was an assistant with the New Orleans Saints, opposing teams’ hand signals would be scribbled on the scout-team cards for players to use while simulating the offense.tmpplchld In the Lions’ Week 1 loss to the San Diego Chargers, he said one player _ possibly Tate _ came running off of the field after a play and alerted him that the Chargers knew one of the Lions’ hand signals. Even after a Chargers defender called out the play, Lombardi said quarterback Matthew Stafford completed a pass to Calvin Johnson.tmpplchld “It’s certainly not something that’s odd or outrageous that people are (scared of),” Lombardi said.tmpplchld To combat opposing defenses, Lombardi said the Lions go into games with multiple sets of hand signals. They also do thorough self-scouting reports every week to try to ensure that they’re not too predictable when it comes to running plays.tmpplchld “You look and you’re like, ‘Hey, 3-by-1, 11 personnel (one tight end, one running back). This has been our run-pass ratio. Hey, we need to get a little bit more runs going this week,’” Lombardi said. “That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. And (tendencies) show up, but usually, as they become out of balance, that’s when you try to fix them right away.”tmpplchld Like Tate, Lions coach Jim Caldwell and others, Lombardi said execution is a bigger issue for the Lions right now, and he pointed to two specific areas _ in the running game and limiting turnovers _ where they need to be better.tmpplchld The Lions rank last in the NFL in rushing yards and attempts, and they’re tied for the second-most giveaways.tmpplchld “I think, if we are protecting the football better these first three games, we feel a little bit different up here,” Lombardi said. “So there are some good things going on. Listen, fixing the running game is real. We need to do better at that. And protecting the football. So those are real, and you’re close on them, but close isn’t good enough. So we’ve got to get it fixed.”tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Detroit Free Presstmpplchld Visit the Detroit Free Press at www.freep.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld