Lions Week 7 report card, grades: Jared Goff putting up MVP numbers

Handing out grades for the Detroit Lions’ win over the Vikings, including another A+ for their MVP candidate.

The Detroit Lions are now 5-1 and atop the NFC after a big win over the Minnesota Vikings. While it was far from their best performance this season, Detroit’s win over the Vikings was one of their most gutsy games. And when the Lions needed it, big players provided big moments.

Here are my positional grades for the Lions’ 31-29 win over Minnesota.

Quarterback: A+

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the four-game streak we’re seeing from Jared Goff is historic from a franchise level. Statistically, it’s absolutely insane:

76-of-91 for 1,086 yards (11.9 Y/A) nine touchdowns, one interception, 144.8 passer rating

Against the Vikings, Goff was nearly perfect, and his performance went well beyond his ball placement (which was also pretty fantastic) and pocket management. What continues to strike me about Goff’s play is how often he puts the team in the right position prior to the snap. Against a defense that has confused every other quarterback consistently, Goff looked composed the entire game. His pre-snap callouts ensured the Vikings rarely had a free rusher, and in every instance gave Goff an outlet to throw to in case the pressure got home.

Once a quarterback maligned for crumbling under pressure, Goff is now one of the best quarterbacks against it.

As a result, Goff now leads the NFL in both yards per attempt (9.3) and passer rating (111.5) for the season. We may need to replace those “Ja-red Goff” chants with another three-syllable phrase.

Running backs: B

This is a tough one to give out, because Jahmyr Gibbs may have put on his best performance as a Lion. His 45-yard touchdown run was electric, and even without it, he rushed for 71 yards on just 14 carries (5.1 YPC)—which is pretty darn good against a very respectable run defense. Perhaps more notably, Gibbs got the Lions into scoring position for the game-winning kick. On that drive alone, he was responsible for 34 yards, most of which came through the air.

Unfortunately, it was a tough game for Knuckles, AKA David Montgomery. Not only did he have his least productive day (31 rushing yards is the second-fewest of his Lions career), but his late-game fumble nearly cost the Lions a victory. It’s worth pointing out he was battling through a knee injury, but it certainly says something that Detroit has a Sonic to carry their Knuckles, if needed.

Tight ends: C-

The tight ends weren’t a big part of the passing game on Sunday, with Sam LaPorta catching the unit’s one and only target. And upon first watch, I didn’t come away particularly impressed with the unit’s run blocking. It certainly was interesting to see Shane Zylstra take over for Parker Hesse, but that only resulted in three offensive snaps, and none were notable.

Wide receivers: A

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught all of his eight targets for a season-high 112 yards and a score. Kalif Raymond continues to see his role grow, catching three-of-four targets for 39 yards and a touchdown. Tim Patrick had two for 25 yards.

While that production may seem overall pretty modest, this unit gets an A for their blocking downfield. Without Patrick blocking downfield and Jameson Williams escorting, Gibbs’ 45-yard touchdown run never happens. Without Patrick’s pass blocking, Goff never gets off his 35-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown.

The Lions needed big plays to win this game, and the receivers allowed it all to happen.

Offensive line: D+

It was a forgettable day for the Lions’ offensive front. While they were decent in recognizing pressure packages, they were not consistently winning their one-on-ones. In particular, Taylor Decker lost a couple reps that both resulted in sacks. Kayode Awosika struggled as a replacement for Kevin Zeitler. And nearly the entire unit (save Frank Ragnow) was called for at least one penalty. In total, the offensive line was called for seven penalties, which consistently put the Lions behind the sticks. Thankfully, they were able to overcome.

Defensive line: D

If you came into this game concerned that Detroit wouldn’t be able to create pressure without Aidan Hutchinson, your fears may have been realized. While Detroit did finish with four sacks and five QB hits, only one of those sacks (Josh Paschal) and two of the QB hits (Paschal, DJ Reader) were via the defensive line. I did think Reader and Alim McNeill provided decent push up the middle, but the Lions simply weren’t getting anything from their edge rushers for most of the day. Even Paschal’s sack was the result of an unblocked naked bootleg. Credit to Paschal to staying disciplined in his assignment, but to the larger point, Detroit’s edges were not winning their one-on-ones.

Additionally, there is cause for mild concern in the run game. Aaron Jones finished with 93 yards and 6.6 yards per carry. And even if you take out his 34-yard touchdown run, he was relatively efficient with 59 yards on 13 carries (4.5 YPC). The loss of Kyle Peko may loom large.

Linebackers: A-

Alex Anzalone, Jack Campbell, and Malcolm Rodriguez all tallied at least seven tackles in this game, while Campbell and Rodriguez added sacks to their repertoire.

There wasn’t anything splashy about the linebacker play in this game, but I thought the tackling from this unit was superb. Sam Darnold often had to check the ball down, and the Lions did an excellent job limiting yards after the catch following those completions. Campbell and Rodriguez, in particular, seemed like they were always around the ball, and more often than not, they were making the tackle.

Oh, and Trevor Nowaske had the same-sealing sack.

Secondary: C-

First off, Brian Branch is fantastic. In all five games he’s played this year, he’s had at least two pass breakups, and that streak continued on Sunday. His interception was one of the most beautiful plays I’ve seen since… the one he made against the Dallas Cowboys. His other pass breakup ended a Vikings drive back when Detroit was still trailing.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single other pass breakup from the entire Lions defense. Detroit’s secondary gave up far too many big plays through the air, including a 50-yard bomb to Jordan Addison, a 25-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson, and a 33-yard pass to Jalen Nailor.

Additionally, Terrion Arnold lost contain on Aaron Jones’ touchdown run, and Detroit’s secondary was called for two more penalties.

All of that said, one thing that doesn’t show up on the statsheet is the number of times Darnold had to hold onto the ball for several seconds because Detroit’s coverage was holding up. I think part of the reason coverage looked so bad upon first watch was because of Detroit’s inability to pressure. It forced the defensive backs to cover longer, and that’s a tough ask against the Vikings receiving corps.

Special teams: A

There’s not too much to say about the kickoff/punting/return games. Jack Fox did average an impressive 54.8 yards per punt and pinned one inside the 10, and Detroit’s kick coverage units were 2-for-2 in holding returns before the 30-yard line.

However, this unit gets an A simply for Jake Bates. He made all four of his extra points, but drilling a 44-yard game-winning kick lifts the entire unit. That’s not only the highest-pressure moment of Bates’ career, but it came on the road in one of the loudest environments in football. That’s one hell of a kick for the newbie—who has still yet to miss a field goal through 10 attempts.

Coaching: B

Some will fairly criticize Dan Campbell for trying to pull off a fake punt on the very first drive of the game. It’s easy to not love that call after the result, but Detroit has not shied away from early fake punts from deep in their own zone, and they’ve mostly succeeded at it. So it’s hard to criticize the decision when it’s baked into everything we tend to love about Campbell’s aggressiveness. You could certainly make the argument that Minnesota is too good of a team to try that on, though.

While I know it drove some people crazy, I think Campbell and company deserve a ton of credit for how they handled the end of both halves. It was a perfect mixture of being aggressive while also burning a lot of clock. In the first half, the Lions got the ball with 5:39 left and managed to burn all but 23 seconds off while still finding the end zone.

At the end of the game, while Greg Olsen was losing his mind about how much time the Lions were burning, Campbell had the exact right approach. Again, I understand some would’ve liked to see the Lions get aggressive on the final set of downs to just put the game completely away, but with the Vikings kicker as good as he is, it was imperative for Detroit to burn the Vikings’ timeouts and as much clock as possible. They did that, giving Minnesota only 15 seconds to get in field goal position, and they couldn’t. If Detroit had thrown just once on those final three offensive plays and missed, Minnesota would’ve had 30-40 more seconds, and that likely would have been enough to win.

Nitpicking here, but I didn’t like that Detroit accepted an illegal formation penalty on the Vikings, erasing a third-and-10 opportunity on defense for a second-and-15.

As for the offensive and defensive game plans, I think Ben Johnson continues to prove he’s the best offensive coordinator in football. While I came out of this game a little uninspired by Detroit’s defensive plan. Aaron Glenn was very aggressive in his blitzes, but they rarely got home, and it often left his secondary on an island.