When the lights shine big, you want your best players to come alive, and that’s exactly what happened on Thursday night. With playoff chances on the line, Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montogmery, and Jameson Williams led the Detroit Lions to a statement win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Let’s dig into the performance with our Week 14 Detroit Lions report card.
Quarterback: A
The Detroit Lions leaned into their passing game against the Cowboys, and Jared Goff made sure that was the right strategic move. Goff was electric against the Cowboys, averaging +0.40 EPA/dropback (third best of the season), +6.5% completion percentage over expected (sixth), all while taking just a single sack. He was accurate, decisive, and avoided any negative plays.
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Running backs: A
While Jahmyr Gibbs couldn’t produce much in the running game (12 rushes, 43 yards… well, and three touchdowns), he was unstoppable with the ball in his hands as a receiver. And according to NextGenStats, he produced NINE missed tackles—tying his high for the season despite only having 19 touches.
David Montgomery, on the other hand, was very productive on the ground, takings his six carries for 60 yards and a score. This was a throwback Sonic and Knuckles performance, and it had been too long.
Tight ends: C
Anthony Firkser and Ross Dwelley each hauled in a catch, but only for a combined 11 yards. It was the second straight week this unit was called for illegal formation, and while I can’t guarantee it was their fault, those are two players who are new to the offense.
Still, I didn’t notice many issues from this group on live viewing when it came to blocking, so I’ll give them an average grade this week.
Wide receivers: A+
This should go down as one of Amon-Ra St. Brown’s most iconic performances, despite a relatively pedestrian statline (six catches, 92 yards). For him to even play in this game feels miraculous given the initial predictions of him missing at least 1-2 games. Instead, he looked like himself all night and had a couple of huge catches, including a 37-yard crossing route that essentially clinched the game.
This was also one of Jameson Williams’ best games in his career. He showed off the complete route tree against the Cowboys and made a couple of nice grabs on contested catches near the sidelines. While he lacked his signature explosive play (long of 29 yards), he converted a
- second-and-17
- second-and-9
- third-and-6
Getting them out of behind-the-sticks situations proved to be huge on Thursday to extend drives and turn field goal opportunities into touchdowns.
And all Isaac TeSlaa does is catch tuddies. Eight catches, four touchdowns in his rookie season.
Offensive line: C+
It was a rough start for the offensive line, as they gave up five quarterback hits and one sack in the first quarter alone. But for the rest of the game, Detroit only allowed three quarterback hits and zero sacks. For the game, the Lions allowed just a 25.7% pressure rate, their second-lowest mark of the season.
As for the bad, they didn’t get a ton of push in the run game, and there were far too many penalties. Detroit was called for one holding, three false starts, and an illegal shift.
Still, it was a better-than-expected performance, especially considering the left guard rotation and Miles Frazier’s first NFL snaps.
Defensive line: B
Not only did the Lions tie a season-high with 20 pressures on Dak Prescott, but that pressure mostly came in a timely manner. Detroit’s average of 2.61 seconds to pressure was their third-best mark of the season, and it led to five sacks on the day, including a career day from Al-Quadin Muhammad (three sacks).
I thought Aidan Hutchinson was pretty disruptive, as well, despite not getting home for any sacks in the game. Per NextGenStats, he had a career-high 10 pressures despite facing the second-highest double team/chip rate of the season (32.7%). Alim McNeill pitched in a couple of QB hits and a sack of his own.
Linebackers: A-
Jack Campbell continues to be a big-play machine. He nearly forced a safety on the Cowboys’ second drive when he sacked Prescott, and later had a heads-up punch out on Jake Ferguson, which helped turn the game in the Lions’ favor. Alex Anzalone led the team with three pass breakups, as he battled tough in coverage against one of the best tight ends in football. Even Derrick Barnes finally made a big play, picking off Prescott on the first pass of the second half—even if it was a right-place, right-time kind of interception.
This unit was a big reason while tough-to-bring-down Javonte Williams averaged just 3.9 yards per carry on the night, well below his 4.8 YPC average.
Secondary: D+
This was the up-and-down performance we’ve come to expect from the Lions secondary. On one hand, Lions defensive backs combined for six pass breakups on the night—including Amik Robertson’s PBU that led to Barnes’ interception. On the other hand, they continue to get toasted on deep shots. Robertson bit on a double move, while the entire secondary often let shorter passes turn into bigger gains with questionable tackling attempts. Prescott completed a season-high three passes that traveled over 20 air yards.
D.J. Reed had a particularly tough night with both CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, but he got the last laugh by snagging the game-sealing interception with an assist from reserve safety Daniel Thomas, who jarred the ball loose with a well-timed hit.
Special teams: B+
I have been guilty of dogging Tom Kennedy for a lack of special teams value, but, my goodness, he’s been awesome in the last two games filling in for Kalif Raymond. How good? This good:
Detroit’s kick return has felt lifeless all season, and Kennedy helped put the ball beyond the 40-yard line on three different occasions. He also had a significant punt return, as well.
Elsewhere, the Lions prevented dynamic Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin from any big gains, and Jack Fox continues to be great.
But another blocked kick nearly turned this game on its head, and I cannot give the unit an A because of it. This is a growing concern.
Coaching: A
ADJUSTMENTS, THEY’RE REAL!
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard promised earlier in the week that they were going to adjust their pass rush game plan, and they did! Sheppard tossed out the three defensive tackle looks for a more traditional 4-3 defense—taking a little bit of their resources away from the run game and devoting it to their pass rushers. He boosted the playing time of Al-Quadin Muhammad, brought back some packages with Trevor Nowaske, and seemed to let the pass rushers run a little more freely upfield.
Offensively, I thought Dan Campbell had one of his best games as a play-caller. The offense had rhythm, facing only eight third downs on the entire night. Plus, with the game clock running low, his call of a passing play on second down—when the Cowboys were aggressively playing the run—was brilliant. Campbell also used his timeouts quite well at the end of the first half to sneak in a late possession and add three points before the break.
Clean up some of the procedural penalties, and I’ll be feeling even better about this coaching staff again.
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