Detroit Lions Game Ball, Unsung Hero vs. Vikings

Handing out the game ball and unsung hero from the Lions’ resilient divisional road win of the previously-undefeated Vikings.

It was a rollercoaster of a heavyweight battle. The Detroit Lions were dealing with a case of quicksand early in Minnesota against a Vikings team fresh off a bye. Then the Lions floored it and turned a 10-0 deficit into a 21-10 lead. Unfortunately, in true back-and-forth thriller fashion, the Vikings scored 13 straight in the last frame, including a costly defensive scoop-and-score, to take the lead late in the fourth quarter before the Lions reminded everyone why they are the grittiest team in the NFL by securing the 31-29 victory.

There were a tremendous number of worthy candidates for Game Ball and Unsung Hero in another week where it was a challenge to narrow down the worthiest.

Game Ball – Jahmyr Gibbs

All of the Lions veteran offensive cornerstone pieces—Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, and Frank Ragnow—were deserving of game balls with each having one of their better performances of the season. But this week’s game ball goes to a player who, in my opinion, provided the most impressive performance of his career thus far in Jahmyr Gibbs.

In a game where David Montgomery was injured and not quite his usual self—which happens to the best of them—Gibbs performed better than even his breakout game from the “Monday Night Football” win over the Raiders last season.

Gibbs was the catalyst for the Lions getting their mojo back in this game. His 45-yard explosive touchdown run breathed life back into the team. The Vikings defense was only allowing 67.2 rushing yards/game (second best in the NFL). They had only allowed seven total 10+ yard rushes (also second) on the season. But Gibbs was overdue to blast off given his season-long rush, up until that point, was only 24 rushing yards. The acceleration and juke move to leave Vikings safety Josh Metellus, and the rest of the Vikings defense, in the dust was why Gibbs was a first-round pick.

Gibbs registered 160 total yards on the day. His 116 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards were both season highs for the second-year back. Gibbs also became only the 12th running back this season to record at least 160 total yards, while his 8.42 yards/touch were the third best among those dozen backs. He even became only the sixth running back the last five seasons to record multiple games with 160 total yards.

Gibbs added to his season-high accomplishments with a +6.4 EPA/Rush and +2.6 rushing yards over expectation per attempt (RYOE/Att). While he is not a workhorse, he routinely moves the offense down the field and helps to sustain scoring drives with his efficient touches and potential to erupt on any snap.

It wasn’t just Gibbs impact as a runner or receiver, he also demonstrated amazing and unselfish football awareness by throwing a downfield block to spring Kalif Raymond for his first touchdown of the season to give the Lions a 28-17 lead late in the third quarter.

On Jake Bates’ game-winning field goal drive, the Lions coaching staff trusted Gibbs to get them to the promised land and called his number three consecutive plays. Gibbs rumbled for gains of 4 and 14 yards on the ground to start, and then he topped it off with a huge catch along the sideline and a jaunt for 16 yards. Only three touches and Gibbs moved the into Vikings territory and on the verge of field goal position.

Gibbs stepped up in a game when the team needed him most, against one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL, to take the pole position for the NFC’s top seed. It’s unbelievable how much the Lions can rely on both Sonic & Knuckles on a game-by-game basis.

Unsung Heroes – The linebackers

While the offense scored another 30+ points for the third straight week, and Jack Campbell was just the Week 3 unsung hero, him and his fellow linebackers were vital in handing the Minnesota Vikings their first loss of the season.

Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Trevor Nowaske combined for 29 total tackles and technically 3.0 sacks. While tackles can be a misleading counting statistic at times, the linebackers were consistently flying to the ball in both the ground and passing game and making impact tackles.

In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, Anzalone had six defensive stops (tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense), Rodriguez had five, Campbell had four, and Nowaske had three. Anzalone even tied for the most defensive stops among linebackers in Week 7, while Rodriguez was tied for fourth, and Campbell was 12th. That’s a total of 18 defensive stops out of 56 Minnesota offensive plays (32%) that the linebacking core shut down.

To further click into how they limited the Minnesota offense, the Vikings offense’s 38.1% success rate was their third worst of the season and their 1.76 yards after contact per attempt was their worst of the season by far (200th lowest out of 210 games this season in the entire NFL). The linebackers played a big role in not limiting extra yards on the ground. When it came to the passing game, the Lions defense blitzed on 58.1% of the Vikings dropbacks, which was the heaviest blitz percentage they had faced in a game all season and it resulted in their third worst EPA/pass with only -0.03.

Every drive the linebackers were making plays in both facets of the game to force the Vikings into second and third-and-longs. The cherry on top was Nowaske, on the dreaded last play of the game, along with the blitzing Campbell and Anzalone, sacking Sam Darnold to end their perfect season.

With the emergence of Campbell as a reliable, well-rounded playmaker next to Anzalone, the two are quietly becoming one of the best linebacker tandems in the NFL. Add to that, in Derrick Barnes’ absence, Rodriguez elevating his game and Nowaske finding a role to create negative plays for the defense, and the spine off the Lions defense can be a unit that helps to carry them deep into February football.