A week after a stressful NFC North game, the Detroit Lions were faced with a similar situation. The undefeated Minnesota Vikings came to town with a historically dominant defense led by a coordinator who had given Detroit fits over the years. Despite the pressure on and off the field, the Lions started November with a victory and gave Minnesota their first taste of defeat.
The game as a whole ended up being overshadowed by a concerning injury to star linebacker Jack Campbell. Players put their bodies on the line to win football games, but freak incidents like this show why these athletes are people first. Jared Goff said it best:
Although Detroit came away with a victory today, the team faced some scary circumstances for the heart and soul of their team. For the sake of analysis, I’m going to look at the “winners” and the “losers,” but we have to remember that in the grand scheme of things, they do more for this franchise and this fan base than just playing football.
Note: The label “loser” is used to evaluate and contrast in-game performance and is not an accusation of a player’s abilities, worth, or character. The term is not meant to be disrespectful.
Football is a chess match of player versus player and, more importantly, coach versus coach. The key matchup in this game pitted Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing against Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. For Petzing, he boasted one of the most potent offenses to start the week. For Flores, his defense alone carried the Vikings to an unbeaten record.
The result of this heavyweight tilt was arguably a split decision victory for Petzing. Flores landed his fair share of punches (four sacks and a below-average passing day for the Lions offense), but it was a damn good fight from Petzing. Better yet, he demonstrated resilience and adaptability.
After the first half I was ready to declare Petzing the loser, but the halftime adjustments worked wonders. In the first half, the Lions tried to run too many plays horizontally to the line of scrimmage. The Vikings capitalized, often attacking Lions players for losses. The Lions only executed a few deep shots (mainly a 46-yarder to Jameson Williams) because there was rarely time for routes downfield to develop.
In the second half, the tone changed. Instead of running east-west, Jahmyr Gibbs broke free on a north-south move and sprinted for a 30-yard touchdown. On the previous play, the Lions ran a Canadian Football League-coded play in which Amon-Ra St. Brown lined up deep on a screen so he could get a good start. Something happened to the blocking up front and the offensive line went from pushing back to plowing its way downfield.
The Lions’ seven-play, 69-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter was vintage Lions football. They implemented their will against the best defense in the NFL, getting production from Gibbs (as expected) and Sione Vaki (unexpected). Just look at this turnaround:
On a day when the offense seemed stuck in the mud early in the game, Petzing must be credited for a complete 180 turnaround when it mattered most.
It was a mediocre day for Goff, and I’m barely taking into account his first interception of the season (a play in which his receiver fell). In a game where the Vikings were pressuring almost every moment, Goff didn’t look in good spirits. He took too many ill-timed sacks, struggling to feel the pressure and return the ball in time. The Lions’ offensive line was worked by constant blitzes and dynamic looks, but the responsibility ultimately fell on Goff to avoid lethal sacks. Holding on to the ball too long is a death sentence in the NFL, especially against a defense like Minnesota.
Pressure aside, Goff was uncharacteristically inaccurate. His slight overthrow of Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone resulted in an overturned touchdown. Later that same drive, Goff threw an easy pass to Gibbs, a catch that would have been an easy touchdown for Gibbs. Later in the third quarter, he missed Jameson Williams for a sure-fire first down. In the fourth quarter, with a chance to extend the lead, Goff missed Sam LaPorta on third down (although the play would have been called off due to a catch).
Fortunately, unlike his earlier years, Goff avoided self-destruction down the stretch, limiting his turnovers to this one pick. Goff delivered a pinpoint touchdown to Williams to secure the lead, as well as a nice block on a pair of Gibbs runs. However, I think he would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t in his best form on Sunday.
With the Lions struggling to find a stopping corner amid injuries and poor play, the pressure was on Reed to step up. Over the past month, Reed has quietly been the best defender the Lions paid him to be. Sunday’s game against the Vikings was perhaps his finest work, doing a phenomenal job of stifling the Vikings receivers. Justin Jefferson in particular had a quiet first half when he was covered by Reed, only getting on the scoreboard due to a touchdown to Roger McCreary. Reed was credited with three passes defensed and made a crucial interception to set up a field goal late in the first half.
The unfortunate news is that Reed left the game in the fourth quarter after disrupting a fourth-down attempt, landing awkwardly on his hip. The Lions would certainly be worse off if he had an extended absence.
Winners: Jahmyr Gibbs and Sione Vaki, RB
At first, the running game floundered. By the half, Gibbs and Vaki had combined for 66 yards on 16 carries, but the bulk of those yards came from a 19-yarder by Gibbs and a 10-yarder by Vaki. On the majority of their touches, they were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. The Lions were running a lot of lateral plays and the Vikings were stifling them as a result.
The rushing attack exploded in the second half. Petzing deserves credit for getting creative with his play calls, but the truth is that Gibbs and Vaki simply started producing hard-fought yards. On the day, Gibbs finished with 22 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown, while Vaki finished with 11 carries for 65 yards (a career high).
Gibbs is already considered a weekly “winner,” but Vaki’s rushing ability today demonstrated proof of concept for him as an RB2. We’ve seen his blocking before, but now we also get to see him shine with the ball in his hands. There was speculation that the Lions could acquire a veteran running back via trade as insurance, but Vaki’s growth could make that moot:
Losers: Sam LaPorta and Tyler Conklin, TE
Against a blitz-heavy defense, you often need your tight ends to do double duty as blockers. As expected, the Lions often relied on Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright and Tyler Conklin to help protect Goff. Although Wright was useful in that capacity, it was a pretty disastrous day for LaPorta and Conklin. LaPorta and Conklin each allowed a sack of Jared Goff in the first half.
Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, in particular, gave the Lions fits with his ability to both rush the passer and drop into coverage. LaPorta often had to guess where the pressure was coming from. Conklin, meanwhile, only played a limited number of snaps (19 snaps), but his presence resulted in either an ineffective run block or a free blitzer – if you notice the third-string tight end, that’s usually a bad sign. LaPorta had a better outing as a receiver than last week (three catches for 33 yards and a first down), but it would have been nice to see him have a more successful day as a blocker.
Winner: Jimmy Rolder, LB—Loser: Derrick Barnes, LB
Given the scary injury suffered by Jack Campbell, the onus could fall on Derrick Barnes to lead this linebacker group moving forward. Before that point, however, Barnes’ workload was surprisingly small. At the time of Campbell’s injury, Barnes had played just 14 of 36 snaps, matched by fellow linebackers Trevor Nowaske (14) and rookie Jimmy Rolder (15). It’s hard to say if this was a schematic pick or a performance pick, but Barnes has struggled in recent weeks with poor tackling and poor coverage.
Rolder has been one of the highlights of the defense despite his limited snaps. He had a sack of Kyler Murray and also recorded a tackle for loss on an outside run by Jordan Mason. In fact, he ended up leading the team with five tackles. The only real dark cloud of his day was a hamstring injury (the same play Campbell was injured on).
On the ground, Barnes hasn’t been bad against the Vikings, but he is dominated by his fellow linebackers and therefore loses snaps. Will this persist with Campbell injured? Difficult to say at this stage.
You might not realize it if you only listened to the national experts, but McNeill is playing at an All-Pro level and might be the best defensive tackle in the NFC North, even when you factor in the recently acquired Jeffery Simmons. McNeill continues to be solid both ways. The Vikings had little running space thanks to McNeill’s run defense up the middle; Jordan Mason’s longest carry was only 11 yards, but it came on an outside run and not in McNeill’s area code. When it comes to the pass rush, McNeill continues to be a pocket collapse, this time sacking Kyler Murray for a big loss of seven yards.
Winner and loser: Penei Sewell, OT
In terms of blocking, it was a great outing for Sewell against a tough defense, but his four penalties (one of which was trash though) hurt the offense on a day when they couldn’t afford negative plays. Fortunately, the offensive line helped seal the victory with two dominant drives late in the game.
Winner: Juice Scruggs, C
Cade Mays left the game with an ankle injury, but Scruggs was able to step in without the offense skipping a beat. Scruggs is without a doubt the most important backup on this team.
Winner: Skyler Gill-Howard, DT
After a tough run of games, Gill-Howard made an impact play with his own bag. His pass rush isn’t refined yet, but he wins with explosiveness.
Winner: Keith Abney, S
Loser: Chuck Clark and Christian Izien, S
The Lions lost Brian Branch to a concussion, forcing them to roll their safeties group again. Abney had a good outing and continues to showcase his range. Clark, however, looks slow as a deep safety and Izien was beaten badly by TJ Hockenson on a touchdown run.
Loser: Jake Bates, K
Bates missed a 46-yard field goal, and in a low-scoring affair like this, those are critical points left out.
Winner: Kelvin Sheppard, DC
Sheppard has done wonders to silence the critics, and the Lions defense has now thrown three good-to-great outings in a row. However, will this persist given the onslaught of injuries in this match?
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