4 takeaways from the Detroit Lions’ win over the Cowboys

Here are the four biggest takeaways from the Lions’ dismantling of the Cowboys on Sunday.

In their first meeting since Week 17 of last year, the Detroit Lions revisited AT&T Stadium for a Week 6 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. The bye week played a factor into this one for both teams: the Lions fresh from their week off and the Cowboys nursing a host of injuries to key players who missed this game ahead of their Week 7 bye.

Here are a few takeaways from the Lions’ blowout victory over the Cowboys, 47-9.

The worst thing imaginable happened to Detroit’s pass rush

The most devastating development from the Lions’ beatdown of the Cowboys was losing Aidan Hutchinson to a gruesome injury he suffered to his left tibia. It was a dark cloud that hung over the second half of the game as the nearly 15-minute break from game action brought a harsh sense of reality to Detroit exacting revenge on Dallas.

Detroit’s defense recorded 4.0 sacks in total against Dallas, including 11 quarterback hits, and the pressure they were generating was clearly taking its toll on Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense at large.

Hutchinson was able to pick up a sack along with three QB hits before exiting the game with the aforementioned injury, and Alim McNeill was causing havoc all afternoon along the interior, picking two sacks of his own in a breakout showing. Linebacker Trevor Nowaske, the Saginaw Valley State product, notched his first career sack as well.

Who knows what the future holds for the Lions as they deal with whatever ends up being the extent of Hutchinson’s injury, but in the meantime, it’ll be a collective effort as an organization to navigate what’s ahead. Will the front office look for who’s available at the trade deadline? Can the defense, led by Aaron Glenn, count on his positional coaches and personnel to step up in Hutchinson’s absence? Is Glenn ready to show just how creative he can get with this defense?

Time will tell.

Angry Runs Part III

Usually, the sequels are never better than the original, but David Montgomery’s physicality never wears out of style for this football team. Montgomery finished the game with 80 rushing yards on just 12 carries—6.7 yards per carry, a season-high for the recently extended running back—and crossed the goal line twice to bring his touchdown total to six in 2024.

For yet another game, the Lions utilized Montgomery and the running game to set the tone in this one, and the Cowboys defense completely folded. 35 carries for 183 rushing yards (5.2 YPC) was proof of concept against a Dallas run defense that—despite a couple of good performances against lackluster rushing attacks—wasn’t ready for the type of physical running game Detroit brings to the table.

Welcome back, Brian Branch—leader of the Turnover Parade

After missing Week 4’s game against the Seattle Seahawks—a game where his absence was felt in both run and pass defense—Brian Branch returned in a big way.

Branch’s instincts are something that would have to be declared at the border if the Lions ever travel internationally. At the snap, his responsibility is to take away the flat, but he reads Dak Prescott’s eyes, flips his hips, and peels off his initial assignment to backpedal and make a diving interception in the back of the end zone. CeeDee Lamb’s corner route found a soft spot in Detroit’s zone that would have likely been a touchdown, but Branch’s incredible interception was a reminder of just how impactful the second-year defensive back is for this Lions defense.

Later on in the game, after Ryan Flournoy made his first career catch, Branch showed how multi-dimensional his playmaking abilities are by showing the rookie Terrion Arnold how to execute the Peanut Punch to force the turnover.

But wait, there’s more! Branch would add a second interception to his total on the day, leading the way for Detroit’s turnover parade in Dallas: the Lions forced a season-high five turnovers against the Cowboys.

Jameson Williams has the full faith of Jared Goff

On the Lions’ second drive of the game after the timely (first) interception from Branch, Detroit looked to Jameson Williams to help capitalize on the turnover.

In what’s been one of my favorite two-play sequences from the season so far, Williams had a bad drop on first-and-10, going back to some bad habits of trying to secure the catch with his body and not his hands. On the very next play, Goff rifled a throw on a post route to Williams on the very next play to put the Lions just outside the red zone. That kind of trust between Goff and Williams was what we were looking to see as part of the young receiver’s development this season.

That kind of the trust let’s a throw like this happen on a pivotal third-and-8 play out of halftime:

Williams finished the afternoon with 76 receiving yards, a touchdown, and 87 total yards from scrimmage, maintaining his status as the team’s leading receiver through the first five games of the season.