In Week 8, the Detroit Lions moved to 5-2 on the season and 2-0 in the NFC North after taking down the NFL’s last remaining undefeated team: the division rival Minnesota Vikings.
Let’s look at the snap counts from this game and see what they mean for the depth chart hierarchy and what we can ascertain moving forward.
Quarterback
- Jared Goff: 72 (100%)
- Josh Dobbs: DNP
If you just looked at the box score, you may think Goff was not his usual self, but he showed tremendous poise under consistent pressure—the Vikings blitzed nearly 90% of the time—and
kept his head when it mattered.
Running back
- Jahmyr Gibbs: 55 (76%)
- Sione Vaki: 20 (28%) — 16 special teams snaps (70%)
- Jacob Saylors: 0 (0%) — 7 (30%) — Injured (neck)
Whew, what a game. The Lions ran the ball 16 times for 66 yards in the first half, with Gibbs accounting for 37 yards on 11 carries (3.4 yards per carry), while Vaki had five runs for 29 yards (5.8 ypc). But the dedication to the run game, coupled with more inside trap plays, opened things up in the second half, as Gibbs took his 12 carries for 116 yards (9.7 ypc) and Vaki delivered 36 yards on six carries (6.0 ypc).
Gibbs will be all over the highlight reels this week—and deservedly so—but it’s important not to overlook the “huge step” Vaki took in this game and why he was able to earn “a lot of trust” with this coaching staff. Vaki consistently gained positive yardage on his runs, which allowed the Lions to scale back Gibbs’ workload and should give the Lions tremendous confidence moving forward that they have two legitimate options in the backfield.
Wide receiver
- Jameson Williams: 60 (83%)
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: 52 (72%)
- Isaac TeSlaa: 26 (36%)
- Tay Martin: 2 (3%) — 16 (70%)
- DeAndre Carter: 0 (0%) — 8 (35%)
Despite playing the No. 1 defense in the NFL, it was rinse and repeat for the Lions receivers. Their offensive splits and contributions were close to their season average—TeSlaa’s was scaled back a bit due to the Lions’ two tight end sets—as St. Brown was the volume option, Williams was the deep threat (he has a 46-yard reception), and all three were smashing people in the run game. St. Brown’s arena football formation was technically considered a run because Goff threw the ball slightly backward, which gave the Lions another 10 yards to their rushing totals.
Tight end
- Sam LaPorta: 67 (93%)
- Brock Wright: 55 (76%) — 5 (22%)
- Tyler Conklin: 22 (31%) — 1 (4%)
- Jackson Meeks: DNP (INACTIVE)
The NFL has struggled with the Vikings’ “double mug” blitzing concepts for some time now, but Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing unlocked the puzzle by deploying two tight ends in the backfield—LaPorta and Wright—and running an inside trap blocking scheme. This unique wrinkle complicated the Vikings’ aggressive approach by countering with their own aggressive downhill blocking and shifting the “gaps” of the Lions’ front.
With the Lions finding success in this approach and leaning into it in the second half, Wright saw his highest number of offensive snaps since Week 11 of last season. Additionally, according to The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy, the Lions saw a large uptick in 13 personnel (three tight end sets), utilizing the formation 16 times against the Vikings (previously they used it 19 times through the first seven weeks) and had a success rate of 73.7%.
Offensive line
- LG Christian Mahogany: 72 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- RG Tate Ratledge: 72 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- RT Blake Miller: 72 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- LT Penei Sewell: 72 (100%)
- C Juice Scruggs: 50 (69%) — 4 (17%)
- C Cade Mays: 22 (31%) — Injured (ankle)
- LT/6th OL: Larry Borom: 1 (1%) — 4 (17%)
- RG Miles Frazier: 0 (0%) — 4 (17%)
- C Seth McLaughlin: DNP (INACTIVE)
The Lions offensive line had a strong game, showing flashes of dominance in the fourth quarter that should remind fans of the 2023 unit that bullied teams. While Sewell was flagged for four penalties, he was a monster in the rushing attack, and the Lions ran behind him all game. The guards continue to excel and improve, while Miller remains steady, which is all you can ask from a rookie against the Vikings’ confusing front.
Mays continued to shine since his return, but an early injury knocked him out of the game, and Scruggs stepped back into a starting center role. While the Lions’ run game took off after Scruggs entered the game, I believe that was more due to a second-half shift in blocking philosophy, but that shouldn’t discount Scruggs’ impact, as it’s an incredible luxury to have a player who can seamlessly step in and help the OL dominate.
Interior defensive line
- 3T Alim McNeill: 40 (75%) — 3 (13%)
- 3T Skyler Gill-Howard: 27 (51%) — 2 (9%)
- DT Tyleik Williams: 25 (47%) — 2 (9%)
- DL Levi Onwuzurike: 7 (13%)
- 3T Mekhi Wingo: DNP (INACTIVE)
While the rest of the defense has undergone some change in snap distributions, the interior defensive line has stayed pretty consistent. With the Lions deploying more pass rush, Gill-Howard gets a slight edge in snaps over Williams—and the rookie rewarded the team with a sack—but we could see these two flip snap counts in future weeks.
EDGE
- EDGE Aidan Hutchinson: 50 (94%) — 1 (4%)
- Rush End Derrick Moore: 22 (42%) — 3 (13%)
- Big End Tyler Lacy: 20 (38%) — 4 (17%)
- Rush End DJ Wonnum: 16 (30%) — 2 (9%) — Injured (concussion)
- Rush End Eric O’Neill: 8 (15%) — 10 (43%)
- Big End Ahmed Hassanein: DNP (INACTIVE)
After Wonnum was forced from the game with a concussion, the Lions leaned more on rookie Derrick Moore to fill in at the rush edge. While coaches tend to prefer to lean on their veterans in these situations, they didn’t deviate from their player roles and went to Moore, allowing Lacy to stay in the big-end-only role. For the second week in a row, O’Neill is getting sprinkled into obvious pass-rushing situations.
Linebacker
- MIKE Jack Campbell: 41 (77%) — 2 (9%) — Injured (neck)
- SAM Derrick Barnes: 28 (53%) — 6 (26%)
- WILL/SAM Trevor Nowaske: 26 (49%) — 19 (83%)
- MIKE Jimmy Rolder: 17 (32%) — 13 (57%) — Injured (hamstring)
- WILL/MIKE Malcolm Rodriguez: 15 (28%) — 16 (70%)
- WILL Amen Ogbongbemiga: 0 (0%) — 16 (70%)
The Lions entered this game with an apparent plan to rotate some of their linebacker roles, with the exception of Jack Campbell. Unfortunately, his scary neck injury forced him out, and with Rolder also exiting with a hamstring injury, the Lions had to shuffle their linebackers even more so.
Overall, the plan appeared to be to scale back Barnes, increase Nowaske, and get Rolder on the field for significant reps, but the injuries altered roles and opened the door for Rodriguez to expand his role. Watching live, it wasn’t clear who the primary MIKE linebacker was—the All-22 was not yet available at the time of publication—but it looked like both Barnes and Rodruguez stepped into different spots.
Ogbongbemiga was the only defensive player not to play on defense in this game.
Cornerback
- CB D.J. Reed: 42 (79%) — Injured (hip)
- CB/NB Roger McCreary: 41 (77%) — 3 (13%)
- CB Rock Ya-Sin: 24 (45%) — 2 (9%)
- CB Khalil Dorsey: 21 (40%) — 18 (78%)
- CB Ennis Rakestraw: 1 (2%) — 5 (22%)
Reed was forced from the game with a hip injury, but he was made available in the locker room following the game, which is typically a good sign his injury won’t be a long-term one. Reed has been sensational of late, and in the last three weeks has leveled up his game:
McCreary saw his reps scaled back from previous weeks and continues to rep both inside and out, but it appeared he made room for Ya-Sin to see a large increase in snaps, his largest since being benched after Week 2. Dorsey continues to step up in “and-long” and third-down situations, while Rakestraw was limited to only one snap, which came after Reed was sidelined.
Safety
- S Chuck Clark: 53 (100%) — 6 (26%)
- DB Keith Abney: 28 (53%) — 6 (26%)
- S Brian Branch: 23 (43%) — Injured (concussion)
- DB Christian Izien: 8 (15%) — 12 (52%)
- S Bishop Fitzgerald: DNP (INACTIVE)
With Branch exiting early with a concussion, Clark saw his playing time expand and opened the door up for Abney to get back in the mix. Izien was deployed in specific situations vs. the tight ends, but he continues to struggle with his assignments.
Specialists
- K Jake Bates: 9 (39%)
- P Jack Fox: 8 (35%)
- LS Hogan Hatten: 8 (35%)
Bates missed his first kick of the season in this game, but the Lions were able to roll with it, and it didn’t become too much of a factor in the end.
