The New York Giants and Detroit Lions operate on different NFL planets. The Lions are a team with Super Bowl aspirations where good isn’t good enough. The Giants are a perennially bad team again searching for a head coach where good looks like a pipe dream.
To learn more about the Lions, we turned to SB Nation’s Pride of Detroit for this week’s ‘5 questions’ segment. Ryan Mathews fills us in.
Ed: A 6-4 record sounds fantastic to Giants fans. It’s not where Lions fans hoped their team would be. How would you describe the season for Detroit thus far?
Ryan: It helps to keep things in perspective because it wasn’t all that long ago when the Lions were one of those teams who always found themselves at the bottom of the standings, looking up at all the success of the teams in their division, conference, and league in general. Things used to be real bleak, but in the here and now, at 6-4 with seven games remaining, it just doesn’t feel enough for a football team that came so close to climbing the mountain in 2023, but failed to plant their flag. The injuries caught up to them last year in the first round of playoffs, and expectations for this year remain contending for a Super Bowl, but at 6-4 and currently out of a playoff spot, the frustration is starting to percolate. With just seven games remaining, the Lions’ most important game is the next one on their schedule, so don’t expect them to come into this game looking ahead to their Thanksgiving Day matchup with a divisional opponent in the Packers–Campbell will have their heads on straight and focused on the task at hand.
Ed: Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling There has been one good game with him in that role, one not so good. Reports have been that he intends to keep doing so. Do you believe that will be the case?
Ryan: That genie’s already out of the bottle, there’s just no way you can go back to John Morton calling plays at any point this year. It was clear that Campbell was making this decision to try and spark some rhythm and consistency for a group far too talented to be underperforming the way they were. In Campbell’s defense against the Eagles, the Lions were 0-5 on fourth down, but it wasn’t all on the playcalling–there were at least a couple of plays where some simple execution would have resulted in the drive continuing or points going on the board.
Ed: If you could take one player off the Giants’ roster and put him in Detroit’s lineup, who would it be Why?
Ryan: The Lions would certainly benefit from someone like Andrew Thomas lining up at left tackle. Detroit’s offensive line has taken a significant step back from last year, and some of that was out of their control. Center Frank Ragnow retired, and the original plan was for rookie Tate Ratledge to take over that spot, but the team quickly pivoted to veteran Graham Glasgow taking over the middle of Detroit’s offensive line early in training camp. If Thomas was a part of this lineup, they could have potentially moved Taylor Decker to left guard and had a bigger, stronger lineup up front–granted that’s a lot of projection considering Decker hasn’t played guard in his NFL career, but it’s something that’s been discussed as he’s aged.
Ryan: As I’ve touched on a bit, the offensive line has been an area of concern for the Lions, and the Giants’ defensive front is about as talented as it gets. Detroit will have their hands full all across the front with someone like Dexter Lawrence creating issues in the middle to all the pressure they can bring off the edge with the likes of Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and rookie Abdul Carter all posing a threat to throwing the Lions’ offense off-schedule and behind the sticks–a place no offense likes to be, but the Lions have especially struggled with this season.
On offense, the prospect of having Jaxson Dart back for this game creates a challenge Detroit has handled better this year than they have in past years–stopping running quarterbacks–but he gives them a better chance of winning than Jameis Winston or Russell Wilson would against this Lions defense.
Ed: This could be a “get right” game for Detroit. If the Giants are going to have a chance to win what are they going to have to do on each side of the ball?
Ryan: Excuse me for speaking out of turn, but I don’t get the sense this Giants team is as bad as their record indicates. They’ve lost four games this season where they’ve had a lead going into the fourth quarter, so that doesn’t always fall on the shoulders of the players–that’s as much an indictment on the coaching staff as it is their roster, and maybe that’s why ownership decided to fire Daboll after that loss to the Bears.
If the Giants can generate pressure up the middle in pass-rushing situations, Jared Goff’s lack of mobility will rear its ugly head and make things especially difficult for the Lions’ passing attack. The Giants seem to really struggle defending the run (32nd in run defense DVOA), but if they can keep the Lions from getting into comfortable spots on second and third downs, it’ll give the Giants those opportunities to get into those obvious pass-rushing situations where they can tee off.
On offense, the Giants are going to need to look for chances where Dart can create chunk plays–be it with his legs or his arm. Detroit does a pretty good job stopping the run, so scheming up some explosive plays and scoring points early will not allow the Lions to dictate the pace of the game. That will be critical for the Giants to keep themselves in the game until the end.
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