INDIANAPOLIS -- Last week, it was breakdown by the guard. Sunday against the Colts, the tackle struggled with his block.

	Charlie Batch gets sacked by Indy's Josh Williams for a second-quarter safety.

Face it, the Lions' pass offense is in a batch of trouble. Quarterback Charlie Batch is out of sync because his offensive line isn't providing him ample time to pass the ball.

Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Batch survived because that's his nature. Growing up in a steel mill town on the fringes of Pittsburgh, Batch learned how to survive. The Bucs sacked him seven times. Although his performance wasn't pretty completing only 13 of 31 passes, Batch won the game because he didn't commit a turnover.

During Sunday's 30-18 loss to the Colts in the RCA Dome, the mistakes cost him. He was sacked three times, intercepted twice and fumbled with a 7-0 deficit in the first quarter. His wake-up call came on the first play.

Colts defensive end Chad Bratzke drove left tackle Ray Roberts back on the opening offensive play and forced Batch to rush an incompletion on a play-action pass. Roberts wasn't totally at fault. He was playing on a knee that forced him to leave the game because it was too stiff and too sore.

Barrett Brooks, Roberts' replacement, was beaten for a sack and a fumble by Bratzke, and eventually, he had to move to right tackle when Aaron Gibson was knocked dizzy. Roberts had to play hurt and may have a broken finger.

After the game, Lions coach Bobby Ross was angered by the breakdowns on the offensive line.

"For one, the protection was awful," Ross said. "We have to get that squared away before we can work on anything else. Our vertical part of our passing game is not where it has to be and especially not what it's capable of being."

The problem is Batch can't get the vertical part of the game going when he's horizontal. He had only two completions longer than 25 yards. He completed only three passes to his starting wide receivers -- Herman Moore and Johnnie Morton. Those three passes totalled 38 yards.

Expect some sort of shakeup this week on the offensive line. For weeks, the Lions patched the interior of the offensive line when Stockar McDougal, the team's first-round choice, suffered a knee injury during the preseason and was placed on the inactive list. Ross kept experimenting at McDougal's left guard position until he had to move center Mike Compton to the spot and replace him with Eric Beverly.

For the past two weeks, though, Batch is starting to make fundamental mistakes in his passing mechanics. The lack of protection is forcing him to release the ball before he is set to throw. He has completed 31 of his past 70 passes and is averaging less than five yards an attempt.

"We had a lot of miscommunication on the line," Batch said. "The crowd affected us a little bit. When the crowd is louder, it's hard to communicate. You're trying to relay everything to them quickly. A lot of things come into play when you're trying to communicate, and one guy has to relate."

Offensively, the effort didn't appear to be present during the first half. Batch completed only one pass in the first quarter, and the offense had minus-6 yards through the air. They trailed 7-0.

By halftime, the offense had only 93 yards on 25 plays. Batch had 28 net yards on 14 passing attempts.

"It was frustrating," Batch said. "We couldn't move the ball. We had too many three-and-outs and couldn't keep our defense off the field."

Batch rallied the offense for 18 second-half points. But after the game, players could only reflect on the poor offensive showing that allowed them to fall behind 23-0.

"In the first half, the pass rush forced us to make some passes too early and we weren't able to run our routes," Moore said. "In the second half, I felt like we protected the quarterback, and we were able to fulfill our routes and get open."

Things don't get any better. Next week, the Lions face the Dolphins, who have one of the best pass rushes in football.

Two words: Duck, Charlie.

John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.