Detroit played some of their cleanest football under the most challenging conditions. That and more in this week’s look at advanced key statistics from Lions-Packers.
It was a wet and windy affair for the Week 9 matchup between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, but it was the team dressed in white from head to toe that played the cleaner game of football.
As we’ll do every week throughout the season for this Lions team, we have some data we can comb through courtesy of PFF that better helps us understand the football the Lions have played thus far—and what to look forward to in the coming weeks. Let’s take a closer look at the Lions by the numbers after their third straight win at Lambeau Field.
PFF’s premium statistics are an invaluable data point for football fans to better understand the game. Consider subscribing to PFF to have full access to a plethora of stats and grades to keep you informed about the NFL—and college football, too. Also, NFL Pro is supplying some innovative and illustrative advanced statistics of their own that are worth checking out for the price of admission.
13.6% run defense stop rate
Give it up for the growth and development of Jack Campbell into a bona fide game changer at linebacker. Campbell finished as PFF’s fifth-ranked linebacker in run defense stop rate (13.6%) in Week 9 among 56 qualifying linebackers.
7 quarterback pressures
The Lions pass rush is still very much a work in progress—the addition of Za’Darius Smith is a step in the right direction—but Alim McNeill is doing everything to prove he was worth every bit of the contract extension he inked in October. Against the Packers, McNeill racked up seven quarterback pressures to finish tied for third among interior defensive linemen in Week 9.
29% forced incompletion rate
Even though the weather conditions provided a unique challenge to passing the football, the Packers still threw the ball 39 times. Despite losing Brian Branch on the backend early in this one, the secondary held up well in coverage and forced Jordan Love to try and extend plays in spots where a play wasn’t to be had.
A standout for the secondary was cornerback Carlton Davis. He posted a 29% forced incompletion rate in Week 9 against the Packers, the fourth-best mark among 73 qualifying cornerbacks.
3.47 yards after contact per attempt (YCO/A), six first downs
Last year, David Montgomery set the tone in his first game against the Packers as a member of the Lions, running for 121 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries. It was also the first taste of how much Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson were willing to commit to a relentless level of physicality on the ground.
It was more of the same this time around in Montgomery and the Lions return to Lambeau Field. While he didn’t have quite the same workload—just 17 carries this time around—Montgomery was a force in wearing down the Packers run defense and the clock. His tough running led to 3.47 yards after contact per attempt which ranked ninth out of 24 qualifying running backs with at least 12 rushing attempts. His ability to extend drives was also crucial on a day where ball possession was at a premium: Montgomery’s six first downs were tied for third among 73 qualifying backs in Week 9.
0.0001%, 34.5% catch rate over expected (CROE)
One of the most impressive statistics to come out of this game was the extension of a streak that still remains active heading into Week 10.
Amon-Ra St. Brown caught all seven of his targets for 56 yards and a touchdown against the Packers in Week 9, extending his catch streak to 30. Yes, of the past 30 targets thrown St. Brown’s way, he’s caught all of those passes from Goff. According to NextGenStats, the chances of this catch streak—which is based on the difficulty of each throw—is just 0.0001% (or ~1 in 780,000).
In addition to that incredibly improbable streak, St. Brown recorded a 34.5% catch rate over expected—a metric that measures how well a receiver performs relative to what would be expected based on the type of plays they receive. St. Brown’s 34.5% CROE was the best number of any pass catcher with at least four targets in Week 9.
