What to make of the Lions after their Thanksgiving reality check vs. Packers?
Dan Campbell looking on at GB vs. Detroit.jpg
By Colton Pouncy
2h ago
DETROIT — Underneath feel-good vibes, the first-place status, the shiny 8-3 record and the winning brand of football the Detroit Lions have proven capable of playing this season lies a team that could face a harsh reality come January, if it continues on its current trajectory.
That much was clear, after a 29-22 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and a not-so-happy Thanksgiving.
“They were ready, man,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “They played really well, and we did not. We didn’t play good enough and we did not complement each other.”
For the Lions on Thursday, there wasn’t much complementing among the three phases, and there wasn’t much to compliment. Choose your fighter. Offense? Defense? Special teams? Coaching? It’ll probably end the same way it did Thursday: with a loss.
This is the second game in a row that the Lions, at home, have been outplayed by an NFC North team with a losing record. The Bears had the Lions on the ropes with a little over four minutes to go, up two scores. It took a late-game surge to avoid a letdown vs. Chicago, in a game Lions players said they should’ve lost. They didn’t have to offer those sentiments against the Packers. The scoreboard said it all.
It begs the question: What should we make of the Lions when they’re playing like this?
Let’s begin with the defense, the typical starting point when asking questions about this team. We have 11 games of data, and the reality is this: The Lions possess a replacement-level defense in terms of talent. It can rise to the occasion every so often when things are clicking, depending on the matchup at hand. They’re tenacious against the run. And, to be clear, they’re an improved unit overall — ranked ninth in total defense entering Thursday after ranking 29th two years ago and 32nd last year.
But this defense’s limitations remain clear and obvious to anyone watching.
The Lions’ defense, as currently constructed, lacks star power capable of winning one-on-ones, turning pressure into sacks and generating defensive splash plays. A splash play is defined as a sack, tackle for loss, pressure leading to a throwaway, a run or pass stuff, an interception, a forced fumble or fumble recoveries, a pass defended or a stop on third and fourth down. Entering the day, the Lions ranked 28th in the NFL in splash plays with 195, per TruMedia. That’s the same number of splash plays they had during the first 11 weeks a year ago. They had only 13 on Thursday, well below the league average of roughly 22 per game.
The Packers neutralized the Lions’ pass rush and avoided mistakes. Jordan Love wasn’t sacked. The Packers didn’t turn the ball over. They hit on big plays of their own, were efficient, preyed on mistakes the Lions made and took down a better team on the road in the process.
“Here’s what we got to do, we have to get takeaways,” Campbell said. “We have to, that’s something that we desperately got to work on. That’s one of the things we did a really good job of this time last year. … We were pressuring the quarterback, affecting him, but then, man, we were getting these (turnovers). … That’s where we’re not getting those enough right now. And to me, that’s a mindset and it’s something we got to work on.”
“That’s just got to be our process while we’re out there on the field, you know, taking the ball the away, punching at it,” defensive tackle Alim McNeill said. “You know, picks and stuff will come with the coverages and stuff like that, but as far as fumbles, it’s got to be a train of thought for us.”
When those splash plays don’t come, and quarterbacks have time to sit back in the pocket or create out structure after an initial rush, they’re able to dissect a secondary that’s missing two of the three free agents the Lions signed to start in the backend — safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, out for the season with a torn ACL. The absence of speed rusher James Houston, whose eight sacks in the final seven games of last season made a sizable difference, isn’t helping either. It’s unclear when the Lions might get some of those reinforcements back — if at all.
In the meantime, what the Lions are left with is a defense with a razor-thin margin for error. It needs every wheel turning in motion. It needs its best players to be at their best. It needs its defensive coordinator to get more creative, because the rush and coverage aren’t executing and haven’t for some time. Until that changes, the week-to-week consistency will continue to escape this group.
This brings us to the perhaps unfair reality for Detroit’s offense.
After a shootout win over the Chargers two weeks ago, Campbell said the quiet part out loud.
“Honestly, if we don’t win that game, to me, I put that on the offense,” he said. “That’s where the game was going.”
Campbell, more than anyone, knows the pieces he has on offense are better equipped to win games than the defense. That’s because the offensive talent far outweighs that on defense. The Lions have the third-most expensive offense in the NFL, per Spotrac, led by an experienced, veteran quarterback in Jared Goff who needs to play better. They have a pair of dynamic running backs in David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs they’ve invested in, whether via financial resources or draft capital. They have one of the better and more dependable receivers in the league in Amon-Ra St. Brown and a budding young star tight end in Sam LaPorta. All of that is aided by an offensive line with three first-round picks that just so happens to be the highest-paid line in the NFL.
This is a good enough unit to expect week-to-week consistency, no matter the opponent, no matter the defense it’s facing. Offense is the strength of this team and has been for the better part of two years. But it has been far from that the past two weeks.
The Lions recorded 464 yards of offense against the Packers on Thursday. They had 22 points — 14 through the first 59:19 of action — to show for it. The offensive line had arguably its worst performance of the season, getting beat off the snap, in space and against pressure. Goff lost three fumbles — including one returned for a touchdown. The Lions have turned the ball over seven times in their last two games, putting opposing offenses in advantageous positions. On Thursday, they were 1-of-5 on fourth down, which gave Green Bay great field position for much of the day. That included a failed fake punt decision from Campbell that gifted Green Bay the ball at the Detroit 23, leading to an easy touchdown.
If this team has hopes for January and beyond, the offense has to be better than this. It’s fair to hold them to a different standard, because in many ways, they are the standard.
“I hold our offense to a certain standard because of that offensive line first and foremost,” Campbell said. “Because they’ve been here all together and I know what they’re capable of. Goff has played a lot of football, and that’s the first thing I look at when I think of, ‘We gotta function at a higher level, we got to be more efficient.’ Doesn’t mean that I’m giving the defense an out.”
In a game like this, there are no outs to be given. It was a team loss — offense, defense, special teams, coaching, you name it. The Lions are better than this, and the fact that they only lost by 7 despite playing uncharacteristic football speaks to a team that will rarely go down without a fight.
But the further along we get into the season, as we try to pinpoint this team’s ultimate ceiling ahead of the playoffs, there may be reality checks like this.
Colton Pouncy is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered Michigan State football and basketball for the company, and covered sports for The Tennessean in Nashville prior to joining The Athletic. Follow Colton on Twitter @colton_pouncy
Dan Campbell looking on at GB vs. Detroit.jpg
By Colton Pouncy
2h ago
DETROIT — Underneath feel-good vibes, the first-place status, the shiny 8-3 record and the winning brand of football the Detroit Lions have proven capable of playing this season lies a team that could face a harsh reality come January, if it continues on its current trajectory.
That much was clear, after a 29-22 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and a not-so-happy Thanksgiving.
“They were ready, man,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “They played really well, and we did not. We didn’t play good enough and we did not complement each other.”
For the Lions on Thursday, there wasn’t much complementing among the three phases, and there wasn’t much to compliment. Choose your fighter. Offense? Defense? Special teams? Coaching? It’ll probably end the same way it did Thursday: with a loss.
This is the second game in a row that the Lions, at home, have been outplayed by an NFC North team with a losing record. The Bears had the Lions on the ropes with a little over four minutes to go, up two scores. It took a late-game surge to avoid a letdown vs. Chicago, in a game Lions players said they should’ve lost. They didn’t have to offer those sentiments against the Packers. The scoreboard said it all.
It begs the question: What should we make of the Lions when they’re playing like this?
Let’s begin with the defense, the typical starting point when asking questions about this team. We have 11 games of data, and the reality is this: The Lions possess a replacement-level defense in terms of talent. It can rise to the occasion every so often when things are clicking, depending on the matchup at hand. They’re tenacious against the run. And, to be clear, they’re an improved unit overall — ranked ninth in total defense entering Thursday after ranking 29th two years ago and 32nd last year.
But this defense’s limitations remain clear and obvious to anyone watching.
The Lions’ defense, as currently constructed, lacks star power capable of winning one-on-ones, turning pressure into sacks and generating defensive splash plays. A splash play is defined as a sack, tackle for loss, pressure leading to a throwaway, a run or pass stuff, an interception, a forced fumble or fumble recoveries, a pass defended or a stop on third and fourth down. Entering the day, the Lions ranked 28th in the NFL in splash plays with 195, per TruMedia. That’s the same number of splash plays they had during the first 11 weeks a year ago. They had only 13 on Thursday, well below the league average of roughly 22 per game.
The Packers neutralized the Lions’ pass rush and avoided mistakes. Jordan Love wasn’t sacked. The Packers didn’t turn the ball over. They hit on big plays of their own, were efficient, preyed on mistakes the Lions made and took down a better team on the road in the process.
“Here’s what we got to do, we have to get takeaways,” Campbell said. “We have to, that’s something that we desperately got to work on. That’s one of the things we did a really good job of this time last year. … We were pressuring the quarterback, affecting him, but then, man, we were getting these (turnovers). … That’s where we’re not getting those enough right now. And to me, that’s a mindset and it’s something we got to work on.”
“That’s just got to be our process while we’re out there on the field, you know, taking the ball the away, punching at it,” defensive tackle Alim McNeill said. “You know, picks and stuff will come with the coverages and stuff like that, but as far as fumbles, it’s got to be a train of thought for us.”
When those splash plays don’t come, and quarterbacks have time to sit back in the pocket or create out structure after an initial rush, they’re able to dissect a secondary that’s missing two of the three free agents the Lions signed to start in the backend — safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, out for the season with a torn ACL. The absence of speed rusher James Houston, whose eight sacks in the final seven games of last season made a sizable difference, isn’t helping either. It’s unclear when the Lions might get some of those reinforcements back — if at all.
In the meantime, what the Lions are left with is a defense with a razor-thin margin for error. It needs every wheel turning in motion. It needs its best players to be at their best. It needs its defensive coordinator to get more creative, because the rush and coverage aren’t executing and haven’t for some time. Until that changes, the week-to-week consistency will continue to escape this group.
This brings us to the perhaps unfair reality for Detroit’s offense.
After a shootout win over the Chargers two weeks ago, Campbell said the quiet part out loud.
“Honestly, if we don’t win that game, to me, I put that on the offense,” he said. “That’s where the game was going.”
Campbell, more than anyone, knows the pieces he has on offense are better equipped to win games than the defense. That’s because the offensive talent far outweighs that on defense. The Lions have the third-most expensive offense in the NFL, per Spotrac, led by an experienced, veteran quarterback in Jared Goff who needs to play better. They have a pair of dynamic running backs in David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs they’ve invested in, whether via financial resources or draft capital. They have one of the better and more dependable receivers in the league in Amon-Ra St. Brown and a budding young star tight end in Sam LaPorta. All of that is aided by an offensive line with three first-round picks that just so happens to be the highest-paid line in the NFL.
This is a good enough unit to expect week-to-week consistency, no matter the opponent, no matter the defense it’s facing. Offense is the strength of this team and has been for the better part of two years. But it has been far from that the past two weeks.
The Lions recorded 464 yards of offense against the Packers on Thursday. They had 22 points — 14 through the first 59:19 of action — to show for it. The offensive line had arguably its worst performance of the season, getting beat off the snap, in space and against pressure. Goff lost three fumbles — including one returned for a touchdown. The Lions have turned the ball over seven times in their last two games, putting opposing offenses in advantageous positions. On Thursday, they were 1-of-5 on fourth down, which gave Green Bay great field position for much of the day. That included a failed fake punt decision from Campbell that gifted Green Bay the ball at the Detroit 23, leading to an easy touchdown.
If this team has hopes for January and beyond, the offense has to be better than this. It’s fair to hold them to a different standard, because in many ways, they are the standard.
“I hold our offense to a certain standard because of that offensive line first and foremost,” Campbell said. “Because they’ve been here all together and I know what they’re capable of. Goff has played a lot of football, and that’s the first thing I look at when I think of, ‘We gotta function at a higher level, we got to be more efficient.’ Doesn’t mean that I’m giving the defense an out.”
In a game like this, there are no outs to be given. It was a team loss — offense, defense, special teams, coaching, you name it. The Lions are better than this, and the fact that they only lost by 7 despite playing uncharacteristic football speaks to a team that will rarely go down without a fight.
But the further along we get into the season, as we try to pinpoint this team’s ultimate ceiling ahead of the playoffs, there may be reality checks like this.
Colton Pouncy is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered Michigan State football and basketball for the company, and covered sports for The Tennessean in Nashville prior to joining The Athletic. Follow Colton on Twitter @colton_pouncy
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