After the Detroit Lions’ thrilling victory over the Denver Broncos, position grades were given high.
That kind of resounding victory was just what Detroit Lions supporters needed after a dismal month of football. In addition to completely dominating the resurgent Denver Broncos, the Lions’ performance was a team effort, with both the offense and defense exhibiting outstanding development.
Prepare yourself for a few extra Chuck E. Cheese tokens because this week’s report card will have some really amazing grades.
Quarterback: A
During his first three drives of the game, Jared Goff had a pretty bad start to the game. His perception of the field was poor. There were no open receivers for him. He simply had an odd appearance. However, his performance in the last three quarters was so outstanding that it has no bearing on his final grade.
For most of the game, Goff was at ease, in control, and his throws were incredibly accurate. For the second time in his career, he finished with five passing touchdowns, and his passer rating of 134.6 was both the second-best as a Lion and the sixth highest of his career. Where are the haters now, his teammates asked in the locker room following the game?
Running backs: A+
Although there were some significant gaps to deal with (more on that later), Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery both had incredible energy. Both were breaking tackles on a regular basis and converting gains of 6-7 yards into gains of 10–20 yards.
With just 28 carries, Gibbs and Montgomery combined for 185 yards (6.6 YPC). Add two touchdowns from Gibbs. I don’t believe I have to explain this grade. Watch this one more time.
Tight ends: A
LaPorta Sam. That is all. That’s the whole justification. Alright, all right. I’ll carry out my duties. Six objectives. Five grabs. 56 feet. Three points scored. LaPorta is once again one of Goff’s top targets, and for good reasonhe has dependable hands, can find openings, and even completes impressively timed open-field runs like this one:
Wide receivers: A
Considering the combined wide receiver statistics: 15 catches, 217 yards, and 1 touchdown (on just 21 targets).Everyone took part: Amon-Ra St. Brown made a tremendous comeback, recording his seventh 100-yard performance of the year. Once more, Josh Reynolds produced a few huge plays. Moreover, HI JAMESON WILLIAMS.
He finished with four catches for 47 yards, marking the first time in his career that he had more than two touches in a game. Despite failing to make a deep ball catch during the game, he accomplished something that might be more remarkable than anything else he’s done in his NFL career so far:
Offensive line: A+
Massive gaps were left in the running game by the offensive line major gaps. Detroit largely handled Denver’s deceptive pressures without showing any signs of struggle, despite the fact that Goff was sacked twice against the Broncos. Despite the seven quarterback hits the Broncos recorded, Goff had the entire day to pass. When the Lions have all of their starting offensive linemen available, it’s obvious.
Defensive line: B+
The Lions pass rush appeared to vanish for a spell, but overall, we’ve seen the defensive line get better every week, and this continued on Saturday night. Josh Paschal is still making two or three huge plays per game, Aidan Hutchinson was disruptive for a large portion of the game, and Detroit’s big men are still struggling with the run game. Denver gained 57 yards on 24 carries (2.4 YPC) of total offense, wiping out the Broncos’ 26 rushing yards on the game’s final drive.
Linebackers: B-
The linebacking group is still a valuable source of pass rush, despite some tackling mishaps and Alex Anzalone’s 44-yard pass interference penalty. Anzalone had a tackle for loss in addition to two quarterback hits.
The linebacking team had a fairly quiet day overall. Derrick Barnes, who would eventually return from an injury that kept him out of the game for part of it, finished with just three tackles, while Jack Campbell finished with just five.
Defensive backs: A-
While there were some coverage gaps, they were far less frequent than usual. I found Detroit’s secondary to be most impressive when they made plays with the ball. At least one pass breakup was recorded by Ifeatu Melifonwu, Brian Branch, Cameron Sutton, Khalil Dorsey, and Kindle Vildor, several of which prevented Detroit from losing significant gains to the Broncos, a team that has been producing big plays of late.
The defensive backs for the Lions were also unstoppable blitzers. Along with Vildor and Branch getting to Russell Wilson, Melifonwu had two quarterback hits, a sack, and a forced fumble, all of which evidently affected the pass on every play.
Special teams: C
Jack Fox had a pretty rough day, biffing two opportunities to pin the Broncos inside their own 20-yard line. Kalif Raymond was also ineffective as a punt returner, earning just 8 yards on two returns. That said, good on Michael Badgley for nailing all six of his extra points after winning the kicker battle.
Additionally, coverage units were perfectly fine, as Denver’s longest kick return was 20 yards. And Malcolm Rodriguez sealed the game with a clean onside kick recovery. What can’t that guy do?
Coaching: A+
Dan Campbell knew that Sean Payton would be visiting Detroit with the intention of embarrassing the Lions. However, on Saturday night, Campbell played the UNO reverse card, screaming at his own franchise quarterback while transforming Payton into a human volcano on the Broncos sideline.
Check out this poignant statement from Goff following the game to get an idea of how adept Campbell is at preventing his team unlike Payton from riding the highs and lows of emotion.
“How we react is our superpower, and it starts with Dan and flows through the offense, coordinators, coaches, and all of us.” Our ability to react as a group, as a team, and as a unit is our superpower.
As a team, we have faced numerous challenges and endured a three-game losing streak. Since it’s not the worst thing we’ve experienced, we take great pride in our ability to recover, and tonight was a significant one.
There isn’t much to evaluate Campbell on because he didn’t have to make many decisions during the game. Regarding the coordinators, Ben Johnson was essentially back in control against the Broncos, with nearly every call sheet item functioning. When Detroit started the game with five straight passes and their first three drives resulted in punts, I’ll admit that I got a little worried, but other than that, the offense was playing almost flawlessly.
A few defensive back blitzes against the Broncos appeared to be very successful as defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn keeps upping the pressure. Glenn should also be commended for attempting new things, something that many of you have been pleading with him to do. The Lions have improved as a result of his tough personnel decisions, which sent former captains Tracy Walker and Charles Harris to the bench. Additionally, they executed some fresh game plans against Denver.
Campbell remarked, “AG called a heck of a game. We felt like there were a few wrinkles in there that would be good for us, and they really were.” “What we learned was that there was something we hadn’t done. Since we haven’t done that in a while, we were able to apply pressure to his face and trap it on the outside, which allowed us to learn that lesson. I simply believed that we were adequately prepared.