It’s a big late-season matchup on Sunday as the 8-6 Pittsburgh Steelers take on the 8-6 Detroit Lions. Earlier this week, I spoke with Ryan Mathews, the senior editor of SB Nation’s Lions website Pride
of Detroit, to learn what to expect from the Steelers’ Week 16 opponent.
You can read my questions and his answers below:
1. The Lions had the biggest brain drain in the NFL last offseason, losing coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to head coaching gigs. How has Detroit felt those effects this season?
The effects of those two coordinators leaving Detroit has certainly been felt in a variety of ways. Dan Campbell had to take over play-calling duties from John Morton midway through the season, and Kelvin Sheppard’s debut season has run the gamut; one week, you’re impressed with his adjustments and ability to gameplan for opponents, but the next, they’re getting lit up by the New York Giants with Jameis Winston at the helm.
Their record is a direct reflection of who they’ve been as a football team since Week 5: inconsistent on a week-to-week basis. The lack of complementary football has plagued this team, and without their elite offensive line from the last few seasons, they can’t count on their offense to drag along a defense that’s dead last in explosive passing plays (20+ yards) allowed this season (54).
2. Jared Goff is a polarizing quarterback. What is he currently bringing to the Lions’ offense?
Goff can be a polarizing quarterback for a number of reasons. He doesn’t throw the prettiest ball, his arm strength is limited when making certain throws, and if a play happens to break down, Goff isn’t a quarterback who’s going to make something out of nothing.
But for all his athletic shortcomings, Goff is still an effective quarterback because of his ability to identify coverages, get the ball out on time, and more often than not, make the right throw. Getting the ball into the hands of your playmakers isn’t a novel concept, but Goff excels at it. Detroit has the second-most yards after catch in the NFL – coincidentally, just six yards behind the Steelers – and a lot of that drives the offense. A lot of weight is put on the skill positions to make plays after the catch, and Goff, for the most part, does a good job of facilitating those opportunities.
3. Aidan Hutchinson was one of the NFL’s most elite pass rushers before a brutal season-ending injury cut his 2024 short. With 9.5 sacks so far this season, has his impact remained the same as it was pre-injury?
Hutchinson’s pressure numbers are still amongst the best in the NFLm– he’s actually first according to Pro Football Focus with 85 through 15 weeks. His pass-rush win rate (23.4%) is third in the league among edge defenders, ahead of guys like Micah Parsons, Danielle Hunter, and Trey Hendrickson. He has 9.5 sacks, as you mentioned, and that places him 11th in the league. All of the numbers you can find suggest he’s one of the premier pass rushers in football.
But with all that being said, you can’t help but feel like something is missing from an impact standpoint. Over his last eight games, he has just 3.5 sacks, and maybe that feeling stems from seeing him post 7.5 sacks in less than five games in 2024 before he suffered that season-ending fracture of his tibia and fibula. Against the Los Angeles Rams last week, he did have an interception return that set the Lions offense up with great field position, and he did record a sack, so anyone who turned into that game saw the Hutchinson who secured a record $141 million guaranteed for a non-quarterback. If he can more consistently make those splash plays that ruin drives for an offense, he’ll start to feel more like the impactful player he was in season’s prior.
4. Who are two under-the-radar players, one each on offense and defense, who could impact Sunday’s game?
For the defense, Al-Quadin Muhammad is a defensive lineman who primarily lines up outside the tackle, but he’ll also set up as a 4, 4i, and sometimes as a 3-technique. He’s second on the team in pressures (46) and sacks (9.0) behind only Aidan Hutchinson, and he ranks t-16th in pass-rush win rate (16.5%) among edge defenders with at least 150 pass-rushing snaps this season. His production tends to come in waves – he had 3.0 sacks against the Baltimore Ravens and 2.5 sacks against the Dallas Cowboys a couple of weeks ago – but with a rotating cast of depth providing little impact opposite of Hutchinson the past couple of seasons, it’s a welcome sight when it shows up. He plays less on running downs – just 76 snaps in run defense – but as a pass rusher, he’s made a real difference for Detroit.
On offense, it’s hard to categorize any of their skill position players who stand to make an impact as guys who fly “under the radar.” Rookie Isaac TeSlaa has just 14 targets this season and the Lions are cycling through practice squad tight ends after placing both Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright on injured reserve.
To go out on a limb, there’s a chance veteran receiver/returner Kalif Raymond is responsible for an explosive play or two on Sunday. Whether it’s on offense with the rest of the defense keyed in on Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Jahmyr Gibbs, or it’s a punt return that helps flip the field in favor of Detroit, Raymond could be a name to watch out for this week.
5. The Lions are big favorites despite having the same record as Pittsburgh. Do you agree with the line? And what’s your final score prediction for the game?
To be frank, no, this line should not be a full touchdown. No way, no how. The Lions have been an uneven and inconsistent football team for the better part of two months; it’s been a long time since they’ve played complementary football against a quality opponent – probably not since Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens.
That being said, this feels like it could be a tightly contested, low-scoring game that finishes lower than the current total (52). I have the Lions winning a one-score game against the Steelers, 27-20.
