Lions-Titans key stats: How Taylor Decker, Jack Campbell played

Detroit’s special teams made the difference this week. That and more in this week’s look at advanced key statistics from Lions-Titans.

The Detroit Lions scored 52 points in less than three quarters but only gained 225 yards of offense in their matchup with the Tennessee Titans.

Let’s make it make sense!

As we’ll do every week throughout the season for this Lions team, we have some data we can comb through courtesy of PFF that better helps us understand the football the Lions have played thus far—and what to look forward to in the coming weeks. Let’s take a closer look at the Lions by the numbers after their strangest win yet under Dan Campbell.

PFF’s premium statistics are an invaluable data point for football fans to better understand the game. Consider subscribing to PFF to have full access to a plethora of stats and grades to keep you informed about the NFL—and college football, too. Also, NFL Pro is supplying some innovative and illustrative advanced statistics of their own that are worth checking out for the price of admission.

38.0 yards per punt return

The long and winding road of Kalif Raymond’s journey to Detroit has been well-documented at this point. The Lions’ Swiss Army knife had the game of his career on Sunday against the Titans—his former employer—and found all types of ways to get into the end zone. Leaf became the first Lions player to notch both a receiving and punt return for a touchdown in the same game since team history.

His 38.0 yards per punt return is the highest average in any game with at least five punt returns since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, and it’s the kind of performance that could propel him to earning All-Pro honors for the second time in his career—but this time as the league’s best punt returner in the NFL. Raymond currently leads the league in yards per punt return (16.6) among players with at least seven punt returns.

11.5 yards per carry

No fancy advanced statistics needed here: just some good ol’ fashion evidence that goes to show how explosive Jahmyr Gibbs was in Week 8.

Among 70 qualifying running backs with at least a single carry in Week 8, Gibbs’ 11.5 yards per carry was tops in the NFL. Even if you removed the 70-yard run from his afternoon, Gibbs ran for 5.7 yards per carry on his other 10 attempts, which would have ranked him 13th in the league among that same group of running backs. The explosive plays from Gibbs are game changers for this Lions offense right now, and when you add his limited usage to the equation, you’re getting one of the most efficient runners on top of it all.

9.5% pressure rate allowed

It’s been a bit of an up and down start to the season for Taylor Decker, the Lions veteran left tackle. After signing a three-year, $60 million extension in July that will keep him in Detroit through the 2027 season, the first half of Decker’s 2024 season has seen him struggle a bit in pass protection. Through seven games, Decker’s 6.7% pressure rate allowed is the highest its been since his injury-shortened season in 2017 (6.8% over 311 pass-pro snaps).

In Sunday’s game against the Titans, Decker gave up a sack on the Lions’ first offensive snap of the game which, admittedly, places a bit of a disproportionate spotlight on his play overall. Decker would finish the game allowing just two pressures—including the sack above—but after just 21 snaps in pass pro, Decker allowed a 9.5% pressure rate on a relatively limited amount of opportunities. While he’s been his steady, reliable, and effective self when run blocking—look at the 70-yard touchdown run from Jahmyr Gibbs as some evidence—it’ll be important that Decker help keep Jared Goff upright because all of that fumble luck is bound to bounce the other way at some point.

13.8% run-stop rate

For another week since the front seven has been decimated by injuries, the Lions’ run defense hasn’t been up to standard, or at least the standard they set for themselves over the past year and a half going back to the 8-2 stretch they finished on in the 2022 season. The game script required the Titans’ offense to move the ball down the field in a hurry in order to dig themselves out of the hole their special teams put them in. 32 carries for 158 yards and a 4.9 average was inflated a bit by some long runs that happened at the end of the game with the Lions up by nearly 40 points, but Tony Pollard’s 20 carries for 94 yards (4.7 YPC) was still something that stood out from Sunday’s game.

One player who has continued to improve each week, and was a positive contributor in run defense, was second-year linebacker Jack Campbell. Campbell’s 13.8% run-stop rate was the fourth-best rate among linebackers in Week 8 with at least 20 run defense snaps. Campbell played all the way until the final snap against the Titans, playing a career-high 72 defensive snaps total.