After a tough loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, the Detroit Lions will look to turn the page against a strong Tampa Bay Buccaneers game next Monday night.
But before we get there, let’s look back the Lions’ performance in their 30-17 loss and had out some positional grades.
Quarterback: B+
Jared Goff had a pretty darn efficient day, completing 23-of-29 passes for 203 yards, two touchdowns, and a 118.8 passer rating. Though he didn’t have many difficult passes on the night (outside of his outstanding touchdown pass to Jameson Williams), he was still accurate and safe with the football. Perhaps he needed to get a little more risky in the second half, but, overall, it’s hard to complain much about his performance.
Running backs: B
Despite the final statline of 17 carries for 65 yards, Jahmyr Gibbs was pretty productive in the run game. David Montgomery had only four rushes on the day, but turned that into 24 yards and also caught a pair of passes for an additional 37 yards. The duo wasn’t quite as explosive as the Lions were hoping, but that likely had to do with game situation. Detroit ran the ball just four times in the second half for 6 measly yards.
Tight ends: B
Sam LaPorta continues to rise as one of Goff’s favorite targets. In the past two weeks, LaPort has 10 catches for 147 and two touchdowns. His touchdown grab on Sunday night was outstanding and made it a three-point game in the fourth quarter.
However, the blocking was subpar against the Chiefs. Brock Wright, in particular, seemed to struggle with his assignments and it proved costly at times.
Wide receivers: C
I don’t want to put too much on Amon-Ra St. Brown’s drop, but it did happen in an absolutely critical moment. At the time, Detroit was in control of the game, holding a 10-6 lead with the ball at the Chiefs’ 44-yard line. A conversion there likely extends Detroit’s lead to at least seven points, and likely bleeds the clock under two minutes. Instead, the Chiefs got the ball at midfield, scored quickly, and took a 13-10 lead into halftime with the ball coming their way to start the second half. In a blink of the eye, it was 20-10.
Elsewhere, Jameson Williams had a strong game, which included a big 22-yard touchdown catch over the middle where he bounced off tackle attempts for the score. It was a very quiet day for rookie Isaac TeSlaa, though. He didn’t receive a single target on the night and had some issues blocking on the perimeter.
Offensive line: B-
For the first half of this game, it looked like the Lions were going to take firm control of the matchup in the trenches. Through two quarters, Detroit had 92 rushing yards on 19 carries (4.8 YPC) and Goff had not taken a sack and only had two quarterback hits on 13 dropbacks.
But as the game situation changed and Detroit had to throw the ball more in the second half, the offensive line simply did not hold up. Beyond that, the offensive line made some critical mistakes in key moments. On St. Brown’s drop, Christian Mahogany and Graham Glasgow gave up immediate pressures that forced a non-perfect throw. On a key fourth-quarter possession, the offensive line failed to pick up Nick Bolton entirely, resulting in a 3-yard loss to open the possession.
There was still more good than bad on the night, but the offensive line also share their portion of blame for the loss.
Defensive line: B-
Detroit’s defensive line continued to show a ton of discipline when it comes to containing mobile quarterback. Patrick Mahomes finished the game with just 32 yards rushing on 10 attempts—although that turns to 35 yards on six attempts when you take away kneels. Still, that’s a more than acceptable outcome, particularly when Mahomes has been especially lethal with that this year.
I thought the pass rush was also acceptable, given how quickly the ball was coming out. Aside from one Hutchinson missed tackle, the defensive line succeeded when they had their opportunities to take Mahomes down.
Unfortunately, this group gets dinged for Hutchinson’s undisciplined late hit penalty on Mahomes. You cannot give the Chiefs 15 free yards, and at that point in the game—a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter—it turned what would’ve been a third-and-7 at their own 34-yard line into a first-and-10 at midfield. Hutchinson plays smarter there, and the Lions could’ve very well gotten the ball back with a chance to take the lead.
Linebackers: D
After balling out for the first month of the season, the Lions’ linebackers were exposed on Sunday night. Playing an unusually heavy amount of zone coverage—likely to make up for the injuries at cornerback—the Lions defense was picked apart by Mahomes, particularly in the short-to-intermediate part of the field. This NextGenStat pretty much says it all:
Unfortunately, coverage was only part of the problem. With Mahomes targeting his receivers near the line of scrimmage, it was on the Lions’ defense to ensure tackling was at its best. It most certainly was not. Detroit actually entered this game with PFF’s second-best tackling grade, so this was an uncharacteristic night for the Lions defense.
Defensive backs: D+
While the Lions deserve credit for not allowing the Chiefs to beat them over the top (only one completion more than 15 yards downfield), they also didn’t make nearly as many plays on the ball as they needed to. The only pass breakup from the night came from an outstanding play via backup safety Thomas Harper. The secondary, too, was guilty of plenty of missed tackles. Obviously, the Lions were playing with a ragtag group of guys there, but if you’re going to boast a “next man up” mentality, the next guys up need to perform.
Special teams: C
Nothing too notable from special teams this week. While the Lions made all of their kicks, they were slightly outgained when it came to kick returns, with the Chiefs averaging 26.3 per return and the Lions averaging just 23.3. Jack Fox also had a great punt that pinned the Chiefs inside the 10, but a poor, line-drive punt in the fourth quarter that led to a 21-yard return.
Coaching: C
In terms of in-game management, my only complaint was when the Lions were considering challenging a Travis Kelce catch. They opted not to, and then found themselves unprepared when the Chiefs got to the line quickly to run a play. There needs to be a better balance of considering the challenge while also preparing for the next play. The Lions only had nine players on the field, and it resulted in an 11-yard gain from Mahomes.
I don’t have many other in-game decision problems, although the coaching staff certainly deserves some blame in the trick play not being a legal play. Either the coaching staff didn’t know the rules properly or conveyed the wrong points to the team.
My real complaint about the staff is that they didn’t seem prepared to have to go off game script. Detroit ran the ball just four times in the second half—although they didn’t have the ball much at all. And they didn’t have answers for the Chiefs’ run game in the fourth quarter.
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