Lions vs. Vikings stock report: 8 risers, 5 fallers from win over Vikings

Detroit Lions stock report! 8 risers and 5 fallers from Detroit’s gritty win over the Vikings.

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win. The Detroit Lions went on the road and played ugly, sloppy football to start in what looked like was going to be an inversion of the Cowboys game. In spite of that start, they found a way to win against one of the best teams in football. Here are your movers for their 31-29 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Stock up: Jared Goff, QB

Stats: 22/25, 280 yards, 2 TD

If Goff keeps playing like this, I’m going to have to start saying the three letter word. It’s safe to say he has put himself squarely in that conversation with how he has played this October. Goff is on an absolute tear the last month, and Sunday, he made one of the best defensive coordinators in football look helpless.

This isn’t the first time, either. Dating back to when Brian Flores took the reins as Vikings DC in 2023, Goff has gotten the best of him time and time again.

This isn’t a gimmick of short passes or junk yardage. Ben Johnson’s playbook is wide open, and Goff is executing on a variety of throws we haven’t usually seen him make consistently in his tenure as a Lion.

It all starts with pocket presence, where Goff has looked like a whole new man. He can feel the pocket around him better while keeping his eyes downfield, unlocking a lot of these deeper routes. Sunday in the third quarter, a Vikings defender came around the edge and was reaching for a strip sack when Goff clutched the ball, stepped up in the pocket, and threw a laser for a 22-yard gain to Tim Patrick. In the past, that was likely a turnover or at least a sack. This time, the drive ended with a Jared Goff passing touchdown.

Goff continues to show development and right now, his ceiling is in dangerous territory for anyone with the Detroit Lions on their schedule.

Stock down: Kayode Awosika, OL

Awosika stepped in admirably at guard in Week 3 against the Seahawks and held down the fort tremendously. Entering this week, with Kevin Zeitler unlikely to play due to injury, Dan Campbell expressed his confidence in Awosika to step up. Unfortunately, this time didn’t go as smoothly, and it showed from the first drive:

Awosika played better the rest of the game, and it showed with the ground game performance as well as Goff’s passing attack. However, it was a rough start and a reality check in Awosika’s first start since arguably the best performance of his career.

Stock up: Trevor Nowaske, LB

Stats: 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack

On this week’s Perrview Podcast, I mentioned Nowaske’s full stat sheet from the Cowboys game to help fill in for Aidan Hutchinson. I said that his tackles for loss and sack against Dallas came on the defense’s hottest game and in garbage time, and that we shouldn’t expect him to repeat that against a potent offense like the Vikings.

Boy was I wrong.

Nowaske’s stat sheet looks like that of a Pro Bowl edge rusher in his second week of increased action, and he’s holding down the edge well in the absence of Derrick Barnes and Hutchinson. That’s no small feat against an offense like the Vikings, and while the Lions are struggling to find other pass rush support. Nowaske gets a well-deserved stock up.

Stock neutral: Terrion Arnold, CB

Stats: 2 tackles

It was a quiet day for Arnold, which is a step in the right direction, especially considering the receivers he was going against. Justin Jefferson, who Arnold covered a healthy amount, finished with 81 yards after averaging over 125 yards per game against the Lions thus far in his career. That’s a step in the right direction both for the Lions and for Arnold.

Where Arnold did struggle was in run support, just making a rookie mistake that proved costly. On Aaron Jones’ early 34-yard touchdown run, Arnold got too eager to go inside the box and gave up edge contain, allowing Jones to find daylight to the outside. It’s a problem exacerbated by the absence of Aidan Hutchinson and Derrick Barnes, who are two of the Lions’ most disciplined players when it comes to edge-setting.

It’s the same mistake we saw several times out of Hutchinson in his first two years in the league; it just takes time to learn the patience necessary. That’ll come to Arnold with experience, but on Sunday the lack thereof was costly. An improvement in pass defense keeps him stock neutral on the day.

Stock up: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB

Stats: 15 carries, 116 yards, 2 TD; 4 catches, 44 yards

Gibbs can do it all and we saw that again Sunday. In a rare rough performance from David Montgomery (as well as an injury that kept him out part of the game), the Lions relied on Gibbs and he delivered, averaging 7.7 yards per carry against a stout Vikings front seven.

Beyond the stats, it’s how Gibbs got those yards that really impressed. We know he can hit the edge and turn on the jets in space, but he also put his head down and broke several tackles inside the box for extra yardage. That’s usually the role we see Monty play, but in his absence, Gibbs had no trouble keeping the offense moving between the tackles.

Stock down: Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow, OL

It was a rough day for the offensive line as a whole, but particularly on the left side. Taylor Decker had arguably his worst game of the season, while Graham Glasgow struggled in the presence Vikings of one of the best nose tackles in the league.

Vikings EDGE Jonathan Greenard continually got the best of Decker, while nose tackle Harrison Phillips was a force to be reckoned with in the interior. In fairness to Glasgow, most guards in the league would struggle with Phillips, but Glasgow just seemed a step behind at times and also got tagged with a holding penalty on the David Montgomery fumble for a touchdown.

Quick hits

Stock up

Josh Paschal, DL: Paschal stepped up big time to be the Lions’ most dominant force on the defensive line Sunday, despite being in and out of the game due to injury.

Jake Bates, K: Bates went 1-for-1 on field goals, but it was the one that counted. The Lions taking a knee rather than trying to get more yardage spoke volumes about their trust in him. Bonus points for the celebration dance.

Malcolm Rodriguez, LB: Rodrigo bounced back from a tough game in Dallas to absolutely blanket the Vikings both in pass coverage and run support. He’s really carving out a role for himself on this defense.

Brian Branch, S: His stock can only go up so much after last week’s performance in Dallas, yet here we are. What an great read on his interception.

Pat O’Connor, DL: He didn’t stand out much, but after getting drafted by the Lions in 2017 and getting his first action as a Lion seven years later, O’Connor gets a stock up for managing to stick around.

Stock down

Isaac Ukwu, DL: After playing a considerable role against Dallas following the Hutchinson injury, Ukwu was nowhere to be found Sunday against the Vikings. He would finish the day with one tackle.

James Houston, DL: In a similar vein, Houston got to see action in hopes of producing some pass-rushing force, but failed to show up on the stat sheet. Unless that changes quickly, the writing may be on the wall as far as his role on this team.