Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions’ performance in their 31-24 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, Sept. 27 at Ford Field.
Quarterback
Lions coach Dan Campbell was effusive in his praise of Jared Goff on Sunday, saying Goff played a “real headsy, smart game” and is playing “at a high level” overall. Goff was 25-for-32 passing for 269 yards and two touchdowns and didn’t commit a turnover for the second straight game. He was patient in the pocket, peppering his check-down receivers most of the day and making smart decisions deep. He didn’t attempt a pass longer than 20 yards, was 5-for-8 on intermediate throws in the 10-to-20-yard range and came up big with a long throw to Isaac TeSlaa and a short touchdown pass to Jahmyr Gibbs
on the winning drive. Grade: A
Running backs
[ NEW SHOW: Listen to Shawn Windsor on the "Freep Sports Show" on our Detroit Free Press livestream on YouTube and available in the anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple or Spotify). ]
The Lions spread their touches around early, but the offense operates best when the ball is in Gibbs’ hands. He had six touches on a nine-play field goal drive in the first half, cut back on the entire Jets defense on a Barry Sanders-esque 17-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and pirouetted his way to the end zone on his winning 11-yard TD catch. Gibbs did miss a blitz pickup on a sack by Andre Cisco that ended the Lions’ opening drive and he couldn’t hold his block on Demario Davis’ sack on the Lions’ second series, but that’s nitpicking the performance of the best back in football. I thought Sione Vaki (six carries, 26 yards) was solid in reserve, too, as the Lions had 131 yards rushing overall. Grade: A
Receivers & tight ends
Amon Ra-St. Brown (four catches, 19 yards, 1 TD) had a relatively quiet day as the Jets made a concerted effort to limit his touches. I wouldn’t pin any drops on St. Brown, but he couldn’t hang onto a throw that was low and behind him on a third-and-18 play and had just four catches on eight targets. St. Brown did beat Azareye’h Thomas in one-on-one coverage for his fifth touchdown of the year, TeSlaa had a big 49-yard catch against a busted coverage to set up Gibbs’ game-winning touchdown and Jameson Williams (four catches, 49 yards) had a key block on Gibbs’ first TD run. Brock Wright was flagged for a holding penalty that was declined, but he and Sam LaPorta took advantage of their mismatches against the Jets’ so-so linebacking corps. Grade: B
Offensive line
The Lions allowed two sacks on 35 dropbacks. Both came on missed blitz pickups by Gibbs, but left tackle Penei Sewell did get beat by Will McDonald on Davis’ sack, leaving Goff no room when he tried to escape pressure up the middle. Sewell also was flagged for a holding penalty that nixed a big Gibbs run and rookie right tackle Blake Miller had a false start penalty on the same drive in the third quarter. Christian Mahogany whiffed on a fourth-and-2 block when the Lions turned the ball over on downs with just over eight minutes to play, but he and Juice Scruggs had the key blocks on Gibbs’ 14-yard gain on a screen pass early in the second quarter. The Lions averaged 4.4 yards per carry, but a lot of that was due to the magic in Gibbs’ legs. Grade: B
Defensive line
DJ Wonnum and Alim McNeill led a four-sack performance by the defensive line. Wonnum beat Olu Fashanu for his first sack of the season on a third-and-4 play late in the first quarter, drew a holding penalty on two-minute drive late in the first half that helped keep the Jets off the scoreboard and beat Fashanu for another sack in the second half. McNeill had a sack on the same drive and had a pressure that contributed to Wonnum’s second sack. The Lions shut down the Jets’ rushing attack (19 carries, 58 yards) and allowed quarterback Geno Smith to scramble for just one big gain. Aidan Hutchinson and Skyler Gill-Howard also split a sack, though the pressure wasn’t consistent enough as Smith completed 31 of 37 passes for 321 yards. Grade: B-plus
Linebackers
Give the linebacking corps a tip of the cap for the run defense, too. The Jets had one explosive rush, of 12 yards, and Trevor Nowaske made a great play to chase Breece Hall down on a weak-side toss near the goal line in the open field. Derrick Barnes (eight tackles) has been the Lions’ best linebacker this season. He misplayed Hall’s 12-yard catch on third-and-6 in the second quarter, but had a tackle for loss when D.J. Moore missed a tackle on Hall in the backfield. Malcolm Rodriguez took Devin White’s spot as the No. 3 linebacker. Rodriguez got caught flat-footed on Jeremy Ruckert’s short touchdown catch and lost outside contain on Hall’s 12-yard run in the third quarter. Jack Campbell (six tackles) didn’t have a huge statistical day, but he scooped up Smith’s fumble in the final minute to seal the game. Grade: B
Defensive backs
Let’s start with the good. Chuck Clark forced the clinching fumble with a blind-side blitz and Christian Izien (11 tackles, including three for loss) had a huge day in his first start at safety. Izien was quick diagnosing run plays and had a big third-and-2 TFL on a pass to Braelon Allen in the fourth quarter. The Lions shuffled personnel in the secondary, playing Roger McCreary and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. at outside cornerback opposite D.J. Reed. The secondary didn’t have as many coverage busts as it did the first two games, but Smith still threw three touchdowns and was 5-for-6 on passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air. Rakestraw had a pass breakup on an out to Garrett Wilson, one play after Reed got his fingertips on a ball intended for Kenyon Sadiq. Reed also had two pass interference penalties, including one on a third-and-17, Rock Ya-Sin was flagged for DPI on his first snap and McCreary got beat for a 24-yard touchdown, though he had tight coverage on the play. Grade: C-plus
Special teams
The Lions were excellent on kick returns, and winning the field position battle on special teams was a huge contributing factor to the victory. Jacob Saylors had a 44-yard return to set up the Lions’ first touchdown late in the first half and another 37-yard return to set up Gibbs’ second TD run. Tom Kennedy had a long return that was wiped out by a holding penalty on Nowaske, and the Jets settled for kicking touchbacks late in the game. Eric O’Neill, Jimmy Rolder and Ya-Sin had the big blocks on Saylors’ first return and Amen Ogbongbemiga had a key block on his second return. Jack Fox didn’t allow a return on his two punts and Jake Bates made his only field goal of 30 yards. Grade: A
Coaching
The Lions looked much better coached Sunday than they did in last week’s loss to the Bills, when coverage busts were rampant and the defense seemed out of sync. Having a full week of practice helped, and so did the personnel changes in the back seven. The Jets had some success against the Lions’ blitz game Sunday, but defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard didn’t flinch in dialing up a perfect pressure on the clinching sack. On offense, I get why coordinator Drew Petzing tried to spread the ball around in his opening game script, but they failed to score on their opening drive for the third straight game and waited too long to lean heavily on Gibbs. I liked Campbell's two decisions to go for it on fourth down, even though one failed. Overall, it was a nice bounce-back performance, but the Lions still have issues they need to fix. Grade: B-plus
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions grades vs Jets, as Jahmyr Gibbs runs wild
