Detroit Lions report card, grades: Everything clicks vs. Cowboys

Let’s hand out some positional grades for the Lions’ throttling of the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon.

In this week’s On Paper preview, I noted how the Dallas Cowboys was the Detroit Lions’ most favorable matchup of this season thus far. The Lions went out and proved me right, resulting in their biggest blowout in over a decade. Let’s hand out some grades for Detroit’s dominant 47-9 win over them boyz.

Quarterback: A

Jared Goff got one of the game balls from Dan Campbell—which he promptly gave right back to Campbell. It was another outstanding performance from Goff, who shook off some early misses to just torch a decent Cowboys secondary. I thought he navigated the pocket well, fired some impressive deep shots to Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta, and was his typical, lethal self over the middle of the field.

In his past two games, Goff has posted passer ratings of 153.8 and 155.8. He has only accomplished a passer rating above 150 one other time in his entire career.

Running backs: A

David Montgomery earned the hell out of that extension. He and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for 143 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just 24 carries (5.96 YPC). They probably would have pushed 200 yards had the Lions not substituted Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki late in the game.

According to NextGenStats, Montgomery averaged 2.11 rushing yards over expected per rush attempt, the fifth-highest output of any Week 6 running back—and that’s having faced a stacked box on 41.67 percent of rushes, the fourth-highest mark of any back this week.

Wide receivers: A

The Lions did a wonderful job spreading the love against the Cowboys.

• Jameson Williams: 3 catches, 76 yards, 1 TD
• Kalif Raymond: 4 catches, 73 yards
• Tim Patrick: 3 catches, 68 yards
• Amon-Ra St. Brown: 4 catches, 37 yards, 1 TD

Everyone got a little love and those 14 catches listed above came on a total of 17 targets.

Williams did have his one bad drop, but Goff went right back to him, and the third-year receiver rewarded the trust with a big play. Williams continues to expand his route tree, and his release is also getting much better.

Meanwhile, Patrick has become a big play machine, as well. In the past two games, he’s produced four plays of at least 18 yards, including his most impressive Lions play to date: this 42-yard pickup while fighting through clear pass interference from former Lion Amani Oruwariye.

Tight end: A

Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright were only targeted twice in this game, but LaPorta managed to turn his chance into a 52-yard touchdown. While he has the play-design to help on the reverse flea flicker, also give credit to LaPorta for the excellent sell on the reverse. The entire time, it looks like he’s blocking on the play. That is, until he turned on the booster jets and flew by the Cowboys defenders.

As always, I’ll have to re-check and see how both did in their blocking assignment, but I don’t recall a single issue on the live watch.

Offensive line: A+++

The offensive line was key to everything Detroit was able to do. As good as the running backs were, there were times in which Montgomery and Gibbs weren’t being touched until they were already 7 yards downfield. There were massive rushing lanes all game, and the Cowboys didn’t have an answer for them.

Even more impressively, the pass protection was so good that Goff often had over four seconds to throw the ball. On passes in which Goff had at least 2.5 seconds to throw, he went 10-of-15 for 240 yards and two touchdowns. On those 15 attempts, Goff averaged a ridiculous 3.34 seconds to throw.

Defensive line: A

The Lions were able to make the Cowboys one dimensional almost immediatly. The Cowboys finished with just 53 rushing yards and 3.1 yards per carry. Of the Cowboys’ 17 rushing attempts, 12 went for 3 yards or less. Only one rushing attempt gained more than 7 yards—a 12-yard rush in the fourth quarter when it was already 47-9. In fact, prior to the fourth quarter, their longest run was a rush for just 5 yards.

The Lions also made Dak Prescott’s life an absolute hell. They produced a total of 11 quarterback hits and four sacks, and they never let Prescott get out of the pocket to make a play. He finished with just one rushing attempt for a single yard.

Individual credits to Alim McNeill for his two sacks, and Josh Paschal, who had to tackles right at the line of scrimmage on rushing plays plus a QB hit.

Linebackers: B

Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez both got called for defensive holding, erasing two big plays from the defense (an interception and a sack). Otherwise, the group was perfectly fine. Anzalone produced two pass breakups, Campbell led the team with seven tackles, Rodriguez deserves a huge assist on one of McNeill’s sacks, and Trevor Nowaske even picked up his first career sack.

Overall, not too much to complain about other than those two early penalties that could’ve proven to be costly had this game been competitive.

Defensive backs: A-

Early in the game, it looked like more of the same. The Lions picked up a couple of penalties, and Prescott produced 98 yards passing on 8-of-11 attempts in the first quarter.

But once Brian Branch tallied an impressive goal-line interception, everyone went on lockdown mode. Prescott had just 80 passing yards the rest of the game, while the Lions defensive backs were all over Cowboys receivers. Here are all the Lions defensive backs who tallied a pass breakup against Dallas:

• Brian Branch (2)
• Carlton Davis (2)
• Kerby Joseph (1)
• Terrion Arnold (1)
• Kahlil Dorsey (1)
• Kindle Vildor (1)

Branch and Joseph continue to prove they’re the best safety duo in the league. Together, they had three interceptions, three pass breakups, a forced fumble, a quarterback hit, and nine tackles.

And shout out to Arnold. It wasn’t perfect, but his fourth down pass breakup was a thing of beauty and a huge step in the right direction.

Special teams: B

Jake Bates was a perfect 9-for-9 on his kicks (four field goals, five extra points), including three kicks from longer than 40 yards. That was a relief to see from someone who had serious struggles in training camp.

Unfortunately, that was a bit overshadowed by some rough coverage on kickoffs. Granted, KaVontae Turpin is likely the best returning in the game, and Bates did everything he could to ensure each return was going to be at least 7 yards deep in the end zone, but Detroit gave up returns of 79, 33, 33, and 49. They’ll need to be better moving forward, and I have little doubt that they will be.

And on a more personal note, I hope you enjoyed your day off, Jack Fox.

Coaching: A+

You had a feeling the Lions were lying all week when they said this was just another game, and this proved it. Detroit absolutely took this game personally after last year’s con job, and rubbed every second of this game in the Cowboys’ and officials’ faces. The unloading of the trick plays was something I have never seen or experienced, and it extremely fun.

And don’t overlook Detroit’s defensive game plan, either. There’s a reason Dan Campbell was hugging and shaking Aaron Glenn with glee. Prescott had no idea what to do with himself for much of that game, as he was constantly under duress while the coverage was sticky enough that it forced him to hold onto the ball longer than he wanted.

Most of all, though, the Lions coaching staff never took the foot off the gas. This team was still regularly passing the ball in the fourth quarter of a five-touchdown game. And don’t overlook the ability to lead in the face of a terrible injury. It’s hard to flip the switch back on after losing Aidan Hutchinson, but the Lions didn’t miss a step. That’s got to give you faith moving forward.