Lions News

[whatever_gong82]

Raiders embarrassed by Lions on ‘Monday Night Football’



By Vincent Bonsignore Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 30, 2023 - 8:16 pm


DETROIT — Jimmy Garoppolo struggled in his return from a one-game absence, and the overmatched Raiders lost to the Detroit Lions 26-14 on Monday night.

Garoppolo, who missed last week’s game at Chicago because of a back injury, completed 10 of 21 passes for 126 yards and one interception. He had 31 yards passing on three completions in the first half.

Garoppolo was sacked six times, three on one possession in the fourth quarter.



Raiders star wide receiver Davante Adams caught only one pass for 11 yards. He was wide open for a possible touchdown late in the game, but Garoppolo badly overthrew him.


The Raiders (3-5) kept the game close through three quarters because of two forced turnovers when the Lions were driving. Cornerback Marcus Peters intercepted a Jared Goff pass and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. And defensive end Maxx Crosby recovered a fumble by Craig Reynolds on a second-and-goal play from the 4-yard line.

The Lions ate up the Raiders’ defense on the ground and through the air. Goff passed for 272 yards and one touchdown, and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six passes for 108 yards.

[whatever_gong82]

Raiders report card: Jimmy Garoppolo, offense flunk ‘MNF’ test


By Sam Gordon Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 30, 2023 - 8:39 pm

How the Raiders performed in a 26-14 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night at Ford Field:


Offense: F

It doesn’t much matter who quarterbacks the Raiders at this point. They have one of the NFL’s worst offenses and now an eight-game sample size to show for it.


Jimmy Garoppolo was pathetic behind center in his return from a back injury, completing 10 of 21 passes for 126 yards and one interception — and not a single pass to a wide receiver in the first half. Davante Adams caught one of seven targets for 11 yards, his third-down drop late in the third quarter far more impactful.

They failed on eight of nine third downs and all three fourth downs, finishing with 157 total yards — more than 125 fewer than their 28th-ranked weekly average of 284.1.


Defense: B

The Raiders played on this side of the ball well enough to win.

Cornerback Marcus Peters returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown, and defensive end Maxx Crosby and linebacker Luke Masterson forced fumbles the Raiders would recover.

But they would inevitably fatigue without support from their offense, allowing 486 yards on an average of 6 yards per play.


Lions quarterback Jared Goff passed for 267 yards, a touchdown and the pick to Peters.

Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs broke out for 152 rushing yards and a score on 26 carries, adding five receptions for 37 yards.


Special teams: C

Not that it much mattered, but rookie wideout Tre Tucker misplayed a kickoff early in the fourth quarter, forcing the Raiders to start a drive at their 2-yard line.

Punter AJ Cole was plenty active amid the offensive struggles, averaging 48.4 yards on five punts and placing two within the 20-yard line.

Daniel Carlson played through a groin injury, converting two extra points.


Coaching: D-

Josh McDaniels elected to stick with Garoppolo, though a turn to rookie backup Aidan O’Connell would have been warranted. His offense remains punchless and ineffective, recording fewer than 20 points for the eighth straight time this season and 10th in the past 11 games dating to last season.


His record in Las Vegas: 9-16.

At least there’s this: They can’t blow a lead without building one.

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.

[whatever_gong82]

3 takeaways from Raiders’ loss to Lions on ‘MNF’


By Ed Graney Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 30, 2023 - 9:00 pm


Three takeaways from the Raiders’ 26-14 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night at Ford Field in Detroit:


1. Jimmy G. returned, and the offense stunk

Jimmy Garoppolo returned as the Raiders’ starting quarterback after missing the debacle that was a 30-12 loss at Chicago last week with a back injury. That followed the concussion that cost Garoppolo playing earlier this season against the Chargers.

He didn’t do much Monday, completing 3 of 8 passes for 31 yards and an interception into double coverage in the first half. That’s when the team’s wide receivers didn’t record a touch. As in zero.

Garoppolo leads the NFL with nine interceptions. Things only got worse as the offense again offered no hope of a consistent attack, on the ground or through the air.


Davante Adams was as much a nonfactor as he has been all season. He was targeted seven times and finished with one catch for 11 yards. Garoppolo missed him twice on routes that would have gone for touchdowns, something Adams responded to by throwing his helmet to the ground after coming off late in the fourth quarter.

He was also the first one off the field after the game.


Garoppolo finished 10 of 21 for 126 yards with no scores and the pick.

Just a brutal showing.


2. A tired defense

Say what you want about allowing 26 points.

The Raiders’ defense was a casualty to the team’s ineptness on offense, running out of gas as the game wore on. It could have been much worse. The Raiders held the Lions to field goals on each of their first three trips to the red zone.

But it was too much to ask. The defense was done no favors by its counterpart.

The Raiders, one of the worst teams in the league in turnover margin, actually forced three miscues, one a 75-yard pick-six from cornerback Marcus Peters of Lions quarterback Jared Goff that cut the deficit to 16-14 early in the third quarter.

The Raiders also forced and recovered two fumbles, the first two of the season.

But when a defense is on the field for more than 80 snaps and over 36 minutes, the legs are eventually going to give out.

And that’s what happened.


3. Crosby vs. Hutchinson

Much of the pregame forecast dealt with opposing star defensive ends Maxx Crosby of the Raiders and Aidan Hutchinson of the Lions — two Michigan-born players who grew up Lions fans.

Crosby was his usual pestering self, finishing with eight tackles (one for loss) and a quarterback hit. He also forced and recovered a fumble at the Raiders’ 3-yard line midway through the third quarter as the Lions were on the verge of scoring.

The Raiders did a good job on Hutchinson, who had a tackle and two quarterback hits.

But the Lions were still able to get to Garoppolo, sacking him six times.

Earlier Monday, Crosby donated $1 million to Eastern Michigan athletics. The school, for which Crosby played from 2015 to 2018, will recognize the defensive end by naming its stadium’s playing surface after him.

But it won’t make him feel any better after this latest result.

Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions show Raiders how quickly a rebuild can bear fruit



This is from Sunday, but I thought that it's still important to read. whatever_gong82


By Vincent Bonsignore Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 29, 2023 - 5:49 pm


DETROIT — The Detroit Lions, of all franchises, are showing the rest of the NFL how to decisively and expeditiously orchestrate a rebuild.


The Raiders, and many others, should be taking notes.

Step one is being brutally honest. Step two is not wasting time questioning what needs to be done and just doing it.


Step three is being upfront with fans about the plan, however initially painful it might be. Step four is making sound personnel decisions.

Step five is enjoying the fruits of that labor as a team on the rise in the NFL, as the Lions (5-2) prepare to host the Raiders (3-4) on “Monday Night Football.”



By using that process, Detroit has lapped some teams that try to win now and rebuild simultaneously and end up stuck in perpetual no man’s land.

“It’s widely known that we tore it down pretty good when we first got here, and it was intentional,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes told the media last summer. “We had a plan of what we were trying to do.”




The Lions’ big decision was trading longtime quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams, which also required Detroit to be open-minded about the quarterback they got in return, Jared Goff (along with two first-round draft picks and a third-rounder).

Detroit stripped the rest of the roster to the bare minimum and rebuilt from the ground up.


Now, with the trade deadline looming, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he wants to be careful about disrupting what is already in place.

“I don’t ever want to do anything that’s going to mess the chemistry of this team up,” Campbell told the Detroit Free Press. “Cause we got the right guys here right now.”



The Lions tore the Band-Aid off three years ago with the arrival of Holmes, one of the point men in the Rams’ recent success, and Campbell, a high-energy former NFL tight end. Lions decision-makers went against the grain by hiring each independently of the other.

The first time Holmes and Campbell met was via a text facilitated by Lions president Rod Wood, who was part of the search committee that wanted to find two leaders who didn’t have a prior working relationship, but whose individual thoughts and views could organically mesh together.



The magic that ensued is undeniable. The Lions, long one of the biggest laughingstocks in professional sports, sit atop the NFC North standings, boasting a roster brimming with young talent led by Goff, who has found new life in Motown.

The decision to immediately move on from Stafford eliminated the Lions’ safety net, and they predictably fell from five wins in 2020 in Matt Patricia’s last season to a 3-13-1 mark in 2021 that included an 11-game winless streak (one tie) to start the season.


The pain was not without benefit. Thanks to a series of draft day trades in 2022 and this year, the Lions ultimately turned the three draft picks they got for Stafford into six players — safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, wide receiver Jameson Williams, defensive lineman Josh Paschal, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, tight end Sam LaPorta and defensive lineman Brodric Martin.

Meanwhile, the losing in 2020 and 2021 also meant better draft positioning, which is how the Lions ended up with a franchise offensive tackle in Penei Sewell and an equally impactful defense end in Aidan Hutchinson.



Lastly, while so many considered Goff merely a necessary piece to facilitate the salary cap implications of the Stafford deal, the Lions welcomed him. It helped that Holmes was part of the decision-making process to draft Goff No. 1 overall in 2016 while with the Rams.

“I never thought of him of just a bridge or stopgap or whatever just because I was all around the success he had early in his career in LA,” Holmes told the NFL+ streaming network. “It seems like when he got here when the trade was made that all that success was forgotten about. It was just this narrative that he was just a bridge. I always thought that was a lazy narrative.”


Two years later, Goff is firmly entrenched as the Lions’ quarterback of the present and future.

“I believe we’re right on track,” Holmes told WXYT-FM in Detroit. “You can make an argument that we’re a little ahead of schedule.”


Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.

[ghandi]

I dont envy anyone having to do the Raiders rebuild....What made the Lions work was a great GM and the right coach in place...The Raiders dont have either of those....and I guess their "stafford" would be either Crosby or Adams, but they wont get that big of a haul for non QBs.

[jaadam4]

Shit we’re lucky our Stafford brought back Goff or we might be stuck with Fields

[jaadam4]

Stroud would have been great.

[Mainevent]

I bet the Lions can get Garoppolo at a great discount now. Think of all the money they can save over Goff. The plan is coming together.

[froot loops]

Quarterbacks are so cheap and available, this year proves that.

[Cody_Russell]

Wait, did Lions fans actually want to replace Goff with Jimmy G at one point? Vaguely remember that.
I do remember Mike Florio trying to push Baker Mayfield on the Lions…

I dont envy anyone having to do the Raiders rebuild....What made the Lions work was a great GM and the right coach in place...The Raiders dont have either of those....and I guess their "stafford" would be either Crosby or Adams, but they wont get that big of a haul for non QBs.

The Raiders hired their own version of Quinntricia (Patriots GM + HC) and the last two seasons have gone to crap. Who would think this is possible… oh right, Lions fans.

[froot loops]

One Lions fan in here was sort of pushing it.

[edindetroit]

defensive end Maxx Crosby recovered a fumble by Craig Reynolds on a second-and-goal play from the 4-yard line.

And then the Raiders did eff all with it.

[chemiclord]

No matter how deep in rock bottom you think your team is, the one thing you shouldn't have that much patience about is the rebuild. If your team finds truly capable management, you should start seeing some results within two years. Too many teams think they were in some of unique hell that no other team has ever seen, so we just need to give the people in charge another year or two, and every time it's a mistake.

[ghandi]

Wait, did Lions fans actually want to replace Goff with Jimmy G at one point? Vaguely remember that.
I do remember Mike Florio trying to push Baker Mayfield on the Lions…



The Raiders hired their own version of Quinntricia (Patriots GM + HC) and the last two seasons have gone to crap. Who would think this is possible… oh right, Lions fans.

They said last night the Raiders have 9 former Patriots on the roster...sound familiar?

[whatever_gong82]