The Detroit Lions got back on track on Sunday afternoon with their most complete win of the season over the Arizona Cardinals. Here are my grades for each position in their convincing victory.
Quarterback: A
Jared Goff wasn’t electric against the Cardinals, but he also played pretty close to mistake-free football. He finished the game with 271 yards, a season-high 9.0 yards per attempt, three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. He still has yet to turn the ball over this season, and has produced 13 total
touchdowns. Hard to disagree with Dan Campbell here:
“Goff is just Goff. He’s as good as they come. I’ve just been so impressed with the way he’s played these five games here. I thought he’s just gotten better every year, and here we are five in, and he’s even better than last year. He’s the real deal.”
Running backs: A
Jahmyr Gibbs was phenomenal again on Sunday. NextGenStats credited him with 10 missed tackles forced against the Cardinals, and it honestly felt like more. No one was getting him down on the first attempt. His 93 yards after contract was second most of any running back in Week 5, and his +2.0 rushing yards over expected per rush was sixth-best of the week.
Perhaps most impressively, Gibbs (and Sione Vaki) were excellent in pass protection, which helped the Lions hit on some big plays.
Tight ends: A+
When the Lions offense looked like they were stuck in a rut, it was Sam LaPorta who pulled them out with an impressive fourth-down catch that kept their first touchdown drive alive. Then, when Detroit was behind the sticks on a third-and-11 on the next drive, his individual effort to turn it into a fourth-and-1 was impressive. And, of course, on the very next play he did this.
LaPorta finished the game by catching all five of his targets for 88 yards and a score.
I thought this was also quietly one of Brock Wright’s best games as a blocker, and the PFF grades seems to back that up (79.5 pass blocking, 57.1 run blocking).
Wide receivers: B-
It’s odd to see that on such a dominant day on offense, the Lions’ receivers caught just eight collective passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Jameson Williams was obviously hugely impactful with his two touchdown catches (on two total catches), but it was a down game from Amon-Ra St. Brown. He had at least one drop, fumbled the ball twice, and just wasn’t that impactful until later in the game. That said, screen passes to St. Brown were highly effective because he’s such a smart, patient player who knows how to follow his blocks.
Offensive line: B
The Lions’ offensive line still has some problems clocking blitzes and adjusting properly—which gives me quite a bit of concern for the upcoming Vikings game—but they settled into this game very nicely. After allowing a sack on each of the first three drives of the game, Goff was spotless the rest of the way.
The run game was a bit inconsistent, and I feel like Gibbs bailed them out quite a bit, but against a very good Cardinals run defense, they battled and wore them down. There was definitely more good than bad with the offensive line, but there is still clearly room for improvement, as well.
Defensive line: B
Oddly, this felt like a bit of a down game for the defensive front, despite Detroit tallying five sacks against Jacoby Brissett. Detroit produced their lowest pressure rate of the season (27.8%) and second-fewest amount of pressures overall (15). Considering they faced 53 passing plays, they need to be better than that.
However, Detroit’s run defense was phenomenal on the day. They stuffed a career-high 27.8% of rushes in this game, and produced the best EPA/rush mark of the season (-0.24). Or, in more traditional stats, 56 rushing yards and 3.1 yards per carry are stellar numbers that are actually inflated by a very late Brissett scramble for 18 yards. Without that run, Arizona managed just 38 yards on 17 carries (2.2 YPC).
Linebackers: B+
The linebackers deserve a lot of the credit for that improved run defense, including a much more familiar-looking Jack Campbell. The Lions’ All-Pro linebacker tallied 11 tackles, including four defensive stops.
Most impressive, though, was this unit’s coverage against the Cardinals. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but when lined up in man-coverage against a pair of very talented Cardinals tight ends, Detroit held their own. Both Campbell and Malcolm Rodriguez were forcing Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins to make seriously contested catches, which was a relieving sight after how much Detroit has struggled against tight ends this year.
Secondary: B
Well, well, well. It seems the Lions’ cornerbacks can actually cover. Roger McCreary posted a franchise-best six pass breakups against the Cardinals on a whopping 18 targets. D.J. Reed may have even been better. Although he managed just one pass breakup, he also allowed just 30 yards in seven targets. Both players were absolute forces in the run game, as well. Reed produced three tackles for loss, and both players ranked in the top 15 in run defense grades for cornerbacks this week (Reed: 74.7, 14th; McCreary: 79.6, fifth).
Keith Abney seemed to provide some stability at safety, even if he didn’t make too many plays (was only targeted three times). But there are still too many blown coverages by this unit.
It was a step in the right direction, but Detroit’s defensive backs need to continue to improve if they want to compete against better offenses.
Special teams: A
Just a stellar day from Dave Fipp’s crew. Detroit’s punt return game averaged 17.3 yards per return, with three of their four plays going for at least 10 yards. Kick return was solid with a 27.3 average on four Jacob Saylors attempts. And the coverage teams were outstanding, as well.
Throw in another perfect day from Jake Bates, a late pinning by Jack Fox, and it’s hard to complain about literally anything from this group outside of St. Brown’s fumble.
Coaching: A-
It sure sounds like Dan Campbell and company really lit into the Lions player this week at practice, and it was nice to see them respond to it on the field—albeit about a quarter late. The slow starts are certainly concerning, but hard to pinpoint on what exactly is going wrong.
But Detroit made some very logical coaching decision throughout the week that made sense. The move to more man coverage was something that I was calling for given the front-four’s success at generating pressure on their own.
They also deserve credit for putting Abney’s rangy athleticism at the safety position, and benching Christian Izien’s too-inconsistent play.
Throw in some great passing design plays, and Dan Campbell’s invaluable aggression (three fourth-down touchdowns), and I thought this was a much-needed, well-coached game.
