Detroit Lions coach Hank Fraley on what went wrong on key screen vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Hank Fraley blocked for enough screen passes in his playing career to know “there’s an art to it,” which is why as Detroit Lions offensive line coach now, he can empathize with the error veteran center Frank Ragnow made blocking on a late-game screen in Sunday’s 20-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“When you do a screen game, it’s all sorting on the run,” Fraley said Wednesday. “You have timing to get out there, you have all that and you have to lose your guy first, then you got to find who’s in pursuit. And unfortunately we just kind of went to the same guy and we didn’t peel up for the next guy. So that’s one play of many out there that we could have got the job done.”

The Lions had third-and-9 at the Tampa Bay 12-yard line when Jared Goff threw a screen to Jahmyr Gibbs with 1:08 to play that nearly went for the go-ahead touchdown.

Gibbs caught the ball in the left flat with three blockers and two defenders in front of him. He ran past a diving tackle by one defensive lineman, but was tackled from the inside by linebacker SirVocea Dennis when Ragnow and left guard Graham Glasgow both went to block the same man.

Had one of Ragnow or Glasgow pivoted to block Dennis, Gibbs likely would have reached the end zone as receiver Jameson Williams was blocking the free defender near the goal line.

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On screen plays, the first lineman out typically blocks the first defensive player, while the second lineman takes the next defender in his progression.

“You’re sorting things out on the run and sometimes you can put blinders on and not realize your buddy’s next to you,” Fraley said. “And so you would love to sort that out better. Say Graham’s doing the kick out and (Frank’s) climbing, so if he’s out in front, he’ll kick out, Graham’ll climb. So in screen game, there’s a lot of communication on the run and there’s no saying, it’s all sorted out.”

Gibbs gained 1 yard on the screen and the Lions failed to convert on fourth-and-8. Their defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, but the Lions never advanced past the Buccaneers’ 26-yard line on their final possession.

Fraley said the Lions’ usually potent offense was disappointed in its red-zone performance last week, when it converted just one of seven trips inside the 20 into a touchdown. And he said Ragnow, a three-time Pro Bowler, “moved past” his rough day and is ready for this week’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

“I know he would like to have a few plays back here and there,” Fraley said. “It was a heck of a matchup if you watch that whole game between two really good players (Ragnow and Bucs nose tackle Vita Vea). So as an offensive line, when you do have just one bad play you can ruin your whole day. So he’s back on track. It’s fine. He had a couple of hiccups here and there, but we’re good. We’ve kind of moved past it, he’s moved past it. You take that Sunday, you take it Monday, if it’s still lingering, get rid of it and be ready for this week. And that’s what I think we have.”

Dave Birkett is the author of the new book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.” Preorder it now from Reedy Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.