Handing out the game ball and unsung hero from the Lions victory over the Colts.
Make it nine straight wins for the Detroit Lions after controlling the Indianapolis Colts for the majority of the game to the tune of 24-6. The Lions have now swept the entire AFC South a year after sweeping the AFC West. It’s also the first time in franchise history that they’ve won at least 10 games in consecutive seasons.
It shows a lot about where Dan Campbell has taken this franchise that an 18-point road win, in which the Lions led for the last 42+ minutes, felt ho-hum. It wasn’t the firework factory in the touchdown department, but they strung together some dominant drives offensively, recorded nearly 400 total yards and 26 first downs, and most importantly had over 37 minutes of possession. It was a complementary win. The defense has now gone 10 straight quarters without allowing a touchdown (allowed only 12 total points in that 2.5-game span). The defense suffocated the Colts in the second half. In five Colts possessions, they forced four punts, one turnover on downs, allowed only 67 yards on 20 plays (3.35 yards/play), and held them to 7:40 time of possession (longest possession was only 2:12).
The Lions rode the ponies into the ground and had several deserving players for my game ball and unsung hero award.
Game Balls: Jahmyr Gibbs and Alim McNeill
Both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were the identities for the offense on their touchdown drives. Montgomery was also super productive when he got the rock, totaling 75 yards on 11 touches (6.8 yards/touch), prior to his injury (Dan Campbell held him out to be overly cautious). Gibbs and Montgomery became the first pair of teammates in NFL history to each record 10+ rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons.
Gibbs gets the game ball for his nose for the end zone (two rushing touchdowns) and his ability to be a workhorse when the team needed him to be. Gibbs now has 11 total touchdowns this season, matching last year in only 11 games (nine rushing touchdowns in the last seven games). He also recorded the second most carries (21) and touches (24) in a game in his career, totaling 99 yards (4.1 yards/touch). Despite the heavier workload, he still finished strong with 23 rushing yards on three carriers in the final drive. While Gibbs didn’t bust out any massive breakaway runs, he still galloped for three runs of 15+ yards to chunk away at the Colts’ defense.
Gibbs’ ascension in his second season, becoming a more well-rounded efficient running back while maintaining his elite dynamism, was too much for the Colts to handle as he ate away at their defense.
Alim McNeill gets my second game ball. While he was hardly in the box score, his presence was felt often, and he might have been the best player in the game. This was also by far McNeill’s most impactful game he’s had without recording an actual sack.
Alim McNeill blows the RG back and forces a difficult throwaway from Anthony Richardson pic.twitter.com/mDyz4RykJO
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) November 24, 2024
McNeill did record one tackle, a forced fumble, a quarterback hit, drew at least one holding penalty, and had numerous pressures. McNeill was consistently making life a living hell for rookie right guard Dalton Tucker and All-Pro left guard Quenton Nelson. On the season, Nelson had only allowed 11 quarterback pressures (per PFF), only once had allowed more than two pressures in one game, and was only allowing a quarterback pressure on 3% of dropbacks (second best of his career) And yet, you couldn’t tell it by some of his battles with McNeill—and some of his defensive linemates—getting into the pocket consistently.
It was McNeill, and those linemates, who deserve just as much credit for the pass defense’s performance today. While the Lions didn’t sack Anthony Richardson, they did notch six quarterback hits and limit him to a 39% completion percentage—the fourth worst of the season for any quarterback with at least 20 pass attempts in a game. DJ Reader and Za’Darius Smith each had two quarterback hits, while Levi Onwuzurike recorded one, and all three had terrific performances in addition to McNeill’s destruction.
Richardson did have some success on the ground, however McNeill and the Lions defense did shut down yet another stud running back. Jonathan Taylor rushed 11 times for only 35 yards (3.2 yards/carry) which included a meaningless 14-yard carry on third-and-20. Taylor’s disappointing day also included a fumble, recovered by Richardson, and not a single rushing first down.
McNeill’s continued dominance is a huge factor for the Lions’ top-five defense as the Colts found out in Week 12’s buzzsaw.
Unsung Hero: Tim Patrick
Week 12 against the Colts was by far the most impactful game that Patrick has had for the Lions and that he’s had since the 2021 season. Patrick was everything the Lions needed him to be, in his remarkable redemption arc, filling the Josh Reynolds role for this season’s offense.
The 6-foot-4 target was a massive safety valve for Jared Goff. Patrick had four catches for 45 receiving yards and three big-time first downs.
Patrick’s first catch went for 27 yards, the longest of any Lions player on the day. It came as Goff had escaped the pocket to his left and Patrick worked over the middle of the field to provide him with a big passing window. It looked like a play that a quarterback and a receiver make when they’ve been teammates for multiple seasons, not less than three months.
But that’s Tim Patrick for you. He’s adjusted quickly into being a Lion and getting accustomed to the offense and the locker room.
“He’s just a great ball player,” Goff said Sunday. “He just does the right thing over and over and over again. He’s a big body. He’s got great hands. He catches the ball away from his body. In traffic, I trust him. I know I can throw it in there and know that he’s going to go grab it.”
The most telling of Patrick’s fit with the Lions is the way he blocks with every ounce of effort within his large frame. You know he’s made his running backs and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle-El giddy with some of the blocks he puts on defensive backs and linebackers.
He’s a dirty-work player in a small forward’s body. From JUCO to Division 1 scholarship, to undrafted rookie making the roster, to a well-earned extension, to multiple seasons lost to injury, to being cut—Patrick has been through a lot and his Week 12 performance had to be a breath of fresh air. He started to look like the 2020-21 fantastic version of himself. More days like that and I’m sure the 31-year-old wide receiver could be spending more than just this year in Detroit.
