The Detroit Lions (7-5) dropped another close game in Week 13, falling to the Packers (8-4-1) for the second time this season. The Lions were dealing with a multitude of injuries, while also returning players from injury lists and signing/elevating several practice squad players to fill the voids.
Let’s take a look at how the Lions adjusted to all the moving parts on their roster by exploring how they utilized their personnel against the Packers in Week 13.
Quarterbacks:
- Jared Goff: 63 snaps (100%)
- Kyle Allen: 0 (0%)
Goff found a way to keep the Lions in this game, despite losing offensive weapons, but it wasn’t enough to overcome poor execution on defense and questionable coaching calls/strategy.
Running backs:
- Jahmyr Gibbs: 44 (70%)
- David Montgomery: 24 (38%)
- Sione Vaki: 0 (0%) — 15 special teams snaps (62%)
- Jacob Saylors: 0 (0%) — 15 (62%)
The Lions continue to lean further on Gibbs as the season progresses, but he lacked the explosive plays that helped him have a career day in Week 12. Montgomery was as productive as we’ve seen in recent weeks, and the use of him on the Wildcat provided mixed results; a touchdown on the first attempts and a near interception on the second.
Wide receivers:
- Jameson Williams: 59 (94%)
- Isaac TeSlaa: 58 (92%) — 2 (8%)
- Tom Kennedy: 41 (65%) — 8 (33%)
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: 4 (6%) — injured, could miss a “week or two”
- Dominic Lovett: 0 (0%) — 0 (0%)
- Kalif Raymond: Inactive (injured)
Already without Raymond, the Lions lost St. Brown just four plays into the game, forcing the Lions to adapt on the fly. Williams was vaulted into the WR1 role, registering seven receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown. Williams took the blame for the drop on fourth down (Goff also took the blame for it being a poor throw), but he provided the Lions offense with a spark, finding ways to produce even when it was clear he was the primary target.
TeSlaa saw his role expand from WR3 to a WR2 level of snaps, and he caught both his targets for 35 yards and a score. If St. Brown indeed misses one to two weeks, TeSlaa will be called upon for a much bigger role and will hopefully be able to take some pressure off Williams. At a minimum, you’d like to see his targets increase.
Kennedy entered the game expecting to pick up the slack left available in Raymond’s absence, but he quickly had to step into the St. Brown role, though he maintained a WR3 level of opportunities. Kennedy also took on Raymond’s returner duties, showing why the Lions have rostered him for the last seven seasons.
Despite the attrition, Lovett surprisingly didn’t see the field in any capacity.
Tight ends:
- Ross Dwelley: 47 (75%) — 4 (17%)
- Dan Skipper: 15 (24%) — 3 (17%)
- Anthony Firkser: 15 (24%) — 12 (50%)
- Zach Horton: 8 (13%) — 6 (25%)
- Brock Wright: Inactive (injured)
With Sam LaPorta on injured reserve and Wright injured, the Lions needed to turn to their TE3 Dwelley for TE1 responsibilities. He was targeted three times but only caught one pass for three yards. Firkser, who signed to the active roster on Wednesday, stepped into the TE2 role, while Skipper was once again deployed in Jumbo sets. The Lions ran a lot of plays with Skipper, and a tight end lined up inline, giving the Lions seven blockers at the line of scrimmage—the results were mixed, but the concept has merit, especially considering the personnel available. Horton saw the first game action of his NFL career, deploying as both an inline blocker and fullback.
Offensive line:
- Kayode Awosika: 63 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- Tate Ratledge: 63 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- Penei Sewell: 63 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- Trystan Colon: 63 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- Taylor Decker: 63 (100%)
- Michael Niese: 0 (0%) — 4 (17%)
- Graham Glasgow: Inactive (injured)
- Miles Frazier: Inactive (injured)
With Glasgow being unavailable to play due to injury, the Lions called upon Colon to start at center. With Christian Mahogany on IR, that means the Lions only had one of their three interior starters available to them—a tall order for the rookie Ratledge.
Moving forward, Glasgow’s injury status is unclear, Mahogany is eligible to return but likely needs a few more weeks for his break to heal, and it’s still unknown how quickly Frank Ragnow can get up to speed after returning from retirement.
Defensive end:
- Aidan Hutchinson: 60 (95%)
- Marcus Davenport: 24 (38%) — 5 (21%)
- Al-Quadin Muhammad: 19 (30%) — 5 (21%)
- Tyrus Wheat: 0 (0%) — 16 (67%)
- Tyler Lacy: Inactive
The return of Davenport allowed the Lions to lean more on their traditional defensive ends and slightly move away from their big sets with Alim McNeill at the 4i-technique. They still deployed McNeill on the edge, including starting the game in this formation, but it dissipated as the game progressed. Moving forward, Davenport’s snaps should continue to increase as he reacclimates, but the question will be: will those snaps come from McNeill on the edge, or Muhammad?
Defensive tackle:
- Alim McNeill: 60 (95%) — 5 (21%)
- DJ Reader: 39 (62%)
- Tyleik Williams: 34 (54%)
- Roy Lopez: 22 (35%) — 5 (21%)
- Mekhi Wingo: Inactive
McNeill playing all but three defensive snaps is probably more than the Lions would prefer, especially considering the only stat he registered was a single QB hit. It’s fair to wonder if a reduction in snaps would increase his energy level and help his production. Overall, the Lions leaned pretty heavily on their defensive tackles to help stop the run, though it’s hard to argue that they were as effective as they would have hoped.
Linebacker:
- Jack Campbell: 63 (100%) — 5 (21%)
- Alex Anzalone: 63 (100%)
- Derrick Barnes: 46 (73%) — 2 (8%)
- Malcolm Rodriguez: 0 (0%) — 20 (83%)
- Trevor Nowaske: 0 (0%) — 20 (83%)
- Grant Stuard: 0 (0%) — 20 (83%)
Barnes has seen his snaps slightly reduce in each of the past few weeks as the Lions return defensive linemen and cornerbacks from injury. Along with safety Brian Branch, Campbell and Anzalone were the top tacklers on the day for the Lions defense.
Cornerback:
- Amik Robertson: 60 (95%)
- D.J. Reed: 55 (87%)
- Terrion Arnold: 18 (29%)
- Rock Ya-Sin: 9 (14%) — 13 (54%)
- Khalil Dorsey: 0 (0%) — 14 (58%)
After taking this slowly with Reed last week—when he returned from injury—they doubled his snaps in this game as he’s nearing a full return. Arnold, who was just cleared from his concussion, was slowly worked back in, like Reed in the previous week. Ya-Sin picked up the extra slack where needed.
Robertson played on the outside in most two corner formations, then pushed inside to nickel when the Lions shifted into their subpackage sets.
Safety:
- Brian Branch: 63 (100%) — 4 (17%)
- Thomas Harper: 59 (94%) — 1 (4%)
- Avonte Maddox: 1 (2%) — 2 (8%)
- Daniels Thomas: 0 (0%) — 20 (83%)
- Kerby Joseph: Inactive (injured)
Branch played every snap, while Harper was only removed for a small handful of snaps. Three times Harper was removed based on formation, then missed one snap due to injury, and was replaced by Maddox.
Specialists:
- Jake Bates: 9 (38%)
- Jack Fox: 6 (25%)
- Hogan Hatten: 9 (25%)
Bates was successful on his only field goal attempt, while Fox only punted twice.
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