It was a reversal of roles on Monday night and in the unlikeliest of circumstances. The Detroit Lions offense has regularly buoyed the team, given the immense amount of talent on that side of the ball. And with the entire Lions’ starting secondary missing against a red-hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense, many—myself included—expected a bit of a shootout, necessitating a big day from Jared Goff and company.
Instead, Goff sputtered and Baker Mayfield collapsed. The Lions defense proved they can be at the heart of this team just as much as the offense. So let’s hand out some grades for their big 24-9 victory over the Buccaneers.
Quarterback: C–
At first, it appeared Goff was up for the challenge. Detroit’s running attack didn’t see much early success, so Goff carried them to an impressive opening drive. In the first quarter, Goff completed 8-of-10 passes for 137 yards, a touchdown, and a 152.1 passer rating.
The rest of the way, though, he went just 12-of-19 for 104 yards, an interception, and a 55.6 passer rating. Goff looked uncomfortable in the pocket and indecisive in his reads. Goff is typically very, very good at avoiding negative plays, but against the Bucs he took four sacks and threw one terrible, inexcusable interception.
Goff wasn’t helped by a stagnant running game and some credit goes to a really good Tampa defense, but it was still a disappointing performance from 16.
Running backs: B+
This is a tough grade to hand out. Jahmyr Gibbs was outstanding on Monday night. His explosiveness and elusiveness was on display all night, turning just 20 touches into 218 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns.
But David Montgomery had just 39 yards on 15 touches. Additionally, both backs had some serious mistakes in pass protection that made Goff’s life a little harder.
Still, Gibbs was arguably the biggest superstar of the game, so anything lower than a B+ would be ridiculous.
Tight ends: D+
The Bucs’ passing defense came into this game really struggling to defend against tight ends in the passing game, and Detroit underwhelmed with just six catches and 38 yards between Brock Wright and Sam LaPorta. Additionally, Wright continues to be a bit of an issue when it comes to both pass protection and run blocking.
This unit is avoiding an F because they were responsible for two of Detroit’s three third-down conversions.
Wide receivers: C-
Amon-Ra St. Brown was a huge factor early in the game and still finished with a more-than-respectable six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. But when the Bucs adjusted and, at times, triple teamed St. Brown, unfortunately no one else stepped up. Jameson Williams didn’t win any one-on-ones. Isaac TeSlaa is still a relative non-factor in the passing game. And the only non-St. Brown receiver who caught a pass on Monday night, Kalif Raymond, turned three targets into just 17 yards.
Offensive line: D+
Credit where credit is due: the Lions’ blocking on Gibbs’ 78-yard touchdown was an absolute thing of beauty. Big plays like that were necessary to win a tight, low-scoring game.
But if we’re talking down-to-down efficiency, this was not a strong game from the offensive line. Detroit turned in just a 29% success rate on the ground—their lowest of the entire season. Additionally, Goff took four sacks and nine quarterback hits. Both of those figures also matched a season high—same as season opener vs. the Packers.
Defensive line: A-
Speaking of quarterback pressure, Lions defensive linemen combined for six quarterback hits, 2.0 sacks, and—if initial PFF numbers are accurate—well over 20 pressures.
The run defense wasn’t great, but it was clear Detroit was devoting their front to stopping Baker Mayfield, and to that end, they were wildly successful. Don’t just ask me, here’s Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
“Detroit does a good job keeping [Mayfield] in the pocket, and they kept him in the pocket and they got pressure from within, so that’s important,” Bowles said.
Mayfield entered the game averaging over 26 rushing yards a game, and the Lions held him to *checks notes* ZERO YARDS ON ZERO ATTEMPTS.
Linebackers: B+
While the Lions linebackers didn’t have any outstanding plays, they offered solid, sound football for most of the night. Jack Campbell had a sack handed to him, but also had a pass defended and an additional tackle for loss. Alex Anzalone had a quiet but effective four tackles on the day. It was Derrick Barnes who had the best night of the group: five tackles, 1.0 sacks, and a pass defended.
More importantly, tackling was so much better from this group than the previous week. Detroit was constantly forcing the Bucs into third downs by keeping everything in front of them.
Secondary: A+
Maybe I’m grading on a curve because of expectations, but you could certainly argue that this would have been an outstanding statistical performance had it been done by the starters, as well.
Mayfield was held to just 4.6 yards per attempt and a 66.1 passer rating—both season lows. The Lions defense recorded a season-high 12 passes defended—eight of which came from the secondary. And they managed to do so while trotting out several players who saw their first significant NFL action on defense.
- Thomas Harper: 6 career starts before MNF, but only had a high of 34 snaps played — he played 69 vs. Tampa
- Erick Hallett: 0 career NFL snaps on defense — Logged 64 vs. Bucs
- Nick Whiteside: 15 career NFL snaps on defense — Logged 40 vs. Bucs, and managed three pass breakups—and a fourth pass defended on the Bucs’ two-point attempt
- Loren Strickland: 0 career NFL snaps on defense — Logged 14 vs. Bucs
Just an unbelievably gritty performance from the secondary.
Special teams: C
Jake Bates missed a 54-yard field goal, but made up for it by doinking in a 58 yarder. But there wasn’t much else to speak of on the day. Jack Fox did average an impressive 51.2 yards per punt, including a 66-yard bomb, but the coverage teams on both punts and kickoffs was just okay. Detroit also didn’t manage a single punt return despite forcing six punts on the day.
Coaching: B-
There were some really weird coaching decisions in the game, many of which I did not agree with. Didn’t mind going for it early in the game, as I was expecting a shootout, and I suspect Dan Campbell was, too. The deep shot to Isaac TeSlaa, though, was not the play I was looking for there.
Late in the first half, the Lions also ran a play prior to the two-minute warning when they absolutely didn’t have to—and shouldn’t have. That eventually allowed the Bucs to have enough time to score before the end of the half.
I still don’t understand what Campbell was challenging on Mayfield’s strip sack that was clearly recovered by Tampa, and his other “successful” challenge wasn’t very good, either, if he truly was challenging whether Cade Otton completed the process of the catch instead of the spotting of the football.
That said, so much credit needs to be given to the coaching staff for getting that defense ready to play. With so many inexperienced players on the field—with so little chemistry formed between them—to get them to play at that level is nothing short of a minor miracle. Kudos not just to defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, but defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend and safeties coach Jim O’Neil.
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