5 winners, 3 losers from the Lions’ win against Colts

In their victory against the Colts on Sunday, five Lions players stepped up and positively impacted the game, while three others struggled. Here are my winners and losers from the win.

The Detroit Lions took a short trip down to Indiana to play the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, coming off a dismantling of the Jacksonville Jaguars last week. The Lions made their trip over to Indiana worth it, defeating the Colts 24-6.

It wasn’t a dominant victory for the Lions scoreboard-wise, but overall the Lions had control of the game once they took the lead in the second quarter. The Lions’ offense wasn’t as explosive as weeks past, but they leaned on what they do best, running the football to find the endzone. The defense had some struggles learning how to contain Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson early on, but once they limited his chances and the offense got the lead, it became easier for them to win the game.

Check out my winners and losers in the win against the Colts.

Winners

Jahmyr Gibbs

It was another dominant performance by running back Jahmyr Gibbs. He took over as the starting running back as fellow running back David Montgomery left the game in the second half with a shoulder injury. Gibbs finished with 21 carries for 90 yards and two touchdowns, along with three receptions for nine yards receiving. With Gibbs scoring the first touchdown of the game, that made it 25 straight games for Detroit to have a rushing touchdown, the longest streak in NFL history.

Gibbs is the third Lion in franchise history with 1,000+ scrimmage yards and 10+ touchdowns in each of their first two seasons. The other two Lions to do that? Running backs Barry Sanders and Billy Sims. Gibbs is in good company so far in his early career and with the pace he is playing, he could be one of the next great Lions running backs.

Za’Darius Smith

Last week, Smith got a sack in his Lions debut and while he didn’t get one this week, Smith keeps impacting the defensive line. At one point, Colts guard Quenton Nelson was bulldozed by Smith, who was able to get a hit on Richardson as he was getting rid of the football. The Colts were down their starting left tackle Bernhard Raimann and Smith and Detroit took advantage of it with the pressure throughout the game.

Smith has come in and certainly given the Lions defensive line some much-needed help. Detroit is down defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport, along with linebackers Derrick Barnes and Alex Analzone. Smith finished the game with just one tackle, but he hit Richardson twice and brought pressure throughout the game.

Tim Patrick

Wide receiver Tim Patrick had his second-best game as a Lion on Sunday. He had four catches for 55 yards and came up big on a few third-down catches. Patrick still hasn’t scored as a Lion but I think that day will come soon. With Raymond suffering his injury, Patrick should see an uptick in playing time if Raymond misses some time. If Patrick can keep playing games like this for the Lions, I could see him re-signing after the season.

David Montgomery

Almost every week I mention Gibbs, and Montgomery also has to get mentioned. When one of them is playing well, the other seems to feed off that energy and play just as well. The unfortunate thing is that Montgomery wasn’t able to finish the game due to a shoulder injury. When he was on the field though, he had a big impact. Montgomery had eight carries for 37 yards and a touchdown, with three catches for 36 yards as well. Montgomery continues to show why he is “Knuckles” with his angry runs.

If Montgomery has to miss any time, I don’t think the Lions’ offense will change their game plan. Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki can step in as contributors on the ground and through the air. Gibbs can be the main back if needed too, so the lights won’t be too bright for the young player.

Disciplined play

It was a refreshing thing to see when a penalty flag was thrown, you didn’t automatically think it was on the Lions. Detroit has had some rough patches with penalties earlier this season, but recently they have cleaned that up. Today against the Colts, the Lions were rarely penalized. In total, the Lions were called for five penalties for 45 yards. Three of them were false starts, one on a punt, and the other two late in the fourth quarter, not impacting the game.

The other two penalties were the taunting by Gibbs on his second touchdown, and an unnecessary roughness on safety Brian Branch who lowered his head on a tackle. That play by Branch can get cleaned up, and Gibbs’ taunting isn’t anything horrible. Overall, the mistakes the team made regarding flags were minor and easily things Detroit can work on.

Losers

Kindle Vildor

With rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold out with a groin injury, veteran Kindle Vildor took over his starting role. Vildor didn’t have a good day as he was targeted heavily by the Colt’s offense, allowing multiple catches, the biggest being a 40-yard grab. Vildor has played well this season, but not in a starting role and it showed today. He had a starting role for the Lions last season, but with Detroit beefing up their secondary he was moved into a depth role.

The good news is that Arnold shouldn’t be out long and this might be the only game Vildor starts this season. Fellow cornerback Emmanuel Moseley has returned from IR and made his 2024 debut this week. He could be someone who challenges to start and take some depth reps from Vildor as the season progresses. Vildor finished the game with three tackles.

QB Contain

I mentioned earlier this week that Richardson’s legs would be the key in the matchup and it was a big factor to start the game. Richardson started the game with three carries for 35 yards which set up the field goal for the Colts to take an early 3-0 lead. The Lions would do better as the game continued but it was the worst performance by the group this season. Richardson finished with 10 carries for 61 yards but never found the end zone. The Lions play the Bears next week with quarterback Caleb Williams, so the team has to learn from their mistakes this week before Thanksgiving.

Injuries

The Lions sadly had multiple players go down with injuries against the Colts. First, wide receiver and punt returner Kalif Raymond left the game with a foot injury and wouldn’t return. Next, left tackle Taylor Decker would leave the game but return after missing a series, no word on why he left the game. Montgomery left with a shoulder injury and was questionable to return.

It wasn’t just the offense that was getting banged up, the cornerback room suffered another injury as Davis would leave the game with a knee injury. The Lions were already down Arnold with a groin injury, and now another starter down could lead to the secondary being in limbo on a short week.

The Lions play on Thanksgiving, four days from Sunday, and after that, they play the Green Bay Packers on the following Thursday night game. Three games in 12 games is a lot for the players and with two games in five days, it will be tough to see who can play against the Bears on short notice.