Lions News

[edindetroit]

I dont expect this to be anything nefarious, I expect it to be dumbassery.

He seems to be good at that.

[Whitley]

That or he grabbed some off the shelf "energy booster" that has a banned stimulant in it, something like that. He certainly doesn't appear to be on steroids.

I remember the first Tiger that got suspended for PEDs it was Alex Sanchez who looked like a Barbie doll would whup his ass

[Forsh]

I dont expect this to be anything nefarious, I expect it to be dumbassery. Jamo just seems to have the maturity level and common sense of a 15 year old. Can’t get out of his own way.

An immature 15 year old at that

[whatever_gong82]

Lions film review: Who stepped up and where the defense needs work after first post-Hutchinson performance

Justin Rogers
Oct 22


Allen Park — Against the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions' defense coalesced to overcome the absence of one of the league’s best players and an early-season front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year.

It was anything but easy in Detroit’s first game sans Aidan Hutchinson. The Vikings were efficient, averaging 7.4 yards per play, well above the 5.5 Lions’ opponents have averaged, and the worst they’ve allowed this season by a notable margin.

Minnesota averaged 6.6 yards per carry, and generated explosive plays on the ground and through the air — scoring on a 34-yard run and 25-yard touchdown toss to All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson — but it still only amounted to 23 points. And that’s typically more than adequate for a Detroit team scoring more than 30 per week.

So what went wrong and what went right? What’s sustainable and what’s not? We take a lot at all of that in this week’s film review.

Things started poorly as the opponent attacked an area of the field the Lions have struggled to defend this season. Through six games, no one is allowing more yards on runs around the left edge (9.8 yards per carry).

On the second snap of their first series, Vikings running back Aaron Jones exploited that weakness, bouncing his handoff around the outside for a 34-yard scoring scamper.

The Vikings came out in a condensed formation with only Jefferson split wide to the right. Off left tackle, the Vikings had tight end Josh Oliver and two receivers. Detroit countered the three-wide personnel with a nickel package and revealed themselves to be in man coverage via pre-snap motion.

That coverage decision contributed to the play as both the outside and nickel corner to the left side were sucked inside by the releases of their coverage assignments. Safety Brian Branch shot an inside gap as a blitzer, while rookie defensive end Isaac Ukwu failed to set a hard edge.

Jones pressed into the line after taking the handoff, drawing Arnold another two steps out of position, before cutting hard to the left, around the blitzing Branch into daylight.

A better edge set by Ukwu and Arnold reading the key of his coverage assignment showing immediate intent to block could have prevented this run.


The Vikings added another three points their next possession, driving 41 yards on nine plays before stalling.

Facing third-and-1 early in the drive, the Vikings went to Jefferson on an in-breaking route over the underneath layer and between the outside and middle-field zones of Detroit’s Cover-3 look. The 18-yard gain wasted outstanding pocket push by the interior tandem of Alim McNeill and DJ Reader.


The Lions surrendered another first down via a penalty — a blatant holding infraction against cornerback Carlton Davis III — before a series of quality plays by the linebackers shut the Vikings’ attack down.

Jack Campbell stopped Jones for no gain on first down when an unblocked Pat O’Connor forced the back to bounce his run to the outside. Alex Anzalone’s sticky man coverage limited a toss to tight end Johnny Mundt in the right flat to a gain of 2. And on third-and-8, Detroit’s zone spacing was excellent in the deeper parts of the field, forcing a check-down to Mundt, which Trevor Nowaske read quickly and stopped immediately.


The field goal following Nowaske’s stop would be the Vikings’ final points of the first half. The team’s next three possessions ended in a pair of quick punts and an interception.

The first punt came after a three-and-out where the Lions forced a pair of holding infractions. Rookie Mekhi Wingo drew the first while crashing the edge on a first-down handoff. And McNeill garnered the second after being taken to the ground while bowling over guard Ed Ingram.

Add in a false start from the Minnesota offense line and they couldn’t dig out of the hole.


Detroit caught a break the first play of Minnesota’s next possession when quarterback Sam Darnold didn’t see Davis and Branch collide, resulting in a wide-open deep shot that might have gone for six.

A Campbell blitz, even though it was picked up, forced the QB to scramble. But that gift was also a curse because it left the middle of the field open for Darnold to gain 19 yards.



But that was the extent of the drive’s damage.

Anzalone and Paschal shut down a stretch zone run for no gain on the next snap, Branch cleaned up a crossing route for a short gain after Arnold got caught out of position on pre-snap motion, then Branch ended the series with stellar man coverage on Josh Nailer’s crosser from the right slot. The playmaking safety stayed in the receiver’s back pocket through the receiver's release, reaching over the top for a clean breakup as the ball arrived.


The Vikings appeared back on track with their next possession, starting with a slick, 15-yard, zone-beat curl for Jefferson. Two snaps later, momentary hesitation by Malcolm Rodriguez allowed Jones to get the corner on a swing pass for 12 more across midfield.

But the threat was ended two plays later by Branch, who undercut a deep crossing pattern to Jordan Addison for a leaping interception. Why he even had the opportunity, I’ll never understand.


The Vikings ran play-action with Jones running open into the left flat after Rodriguez got hung up in traffic. But despite Darnold seeing it, he got greedy and was baited by deep safety Kerby Joseph cheating underneath, disguising Detroit’s Cover-2 defense to look more like Cover-1.

Because of the deception in the back end, Darnold never anticipated Branch being as wide as he was, which allowed the safety to undercut the pattern for the takeaway. This play also highlights the chemistry Detroit’s safety tandem has forged.


After being held scoreless through the second quarter, the Vikings came out of the locker room with their best drive of the day, a nine-play, 80-yard march that heavily featured Jefferson.

It was a particularly rough series for Rodriguez, who largely delivered a quality performance the rest of the day. On the first snap, the Vikings went to Jefferson on a quick out where the linebacker got blocked up, resulting in a 15-yard gain.

Later in the series, the Vikings ran directly at Rodriguez’s gap on back-to-back, nearly identical snaps, resulting in gains of 10 and 9 yards.



From there, the Lions worked it to third-and-8 after Branch made a quick stop on a checkdown and Darnold turfed the second-down snap following a miscommunication on the play call.

But stars do what stars do as Jefferson beat Robertson for a 25-yard scoring grab on a vertical stem, utilizing a subtle, lightning-quick push-off to get late separation against otherwise stellar coverage by the nickel corner, who maintained inside leverage throughout the route.


Robertson had another close-but-no-cigar moment the next series when Darnold dropped a second-and-15 pass just over the defender’s outstretched hand on a leaping effort. After the game, Robertson told me he wished he turned and ran to the spot instead of trying to backpedal into position to make the play.

To make matters worse, Davis missed a tackle after the catch, allowing the 19-yard pass to turn into a 33-yard pickup.

The Lions rebounded from the mistake to get the Vikings into third-and-long, but a continued lack of pass rush sans Hutchinson proved costly as Jones beat Rodriguez on a long-developing crossing pattern from the right slot for 17 yards.


Knocking on the door of the red zone, Detroit’s pass rush finally came through as Paschal quickly dropped Darnold on second-and-7 on a play-action rollout.

Then, on third down, James Houston successfully bent the edge, flushing the QB from the pocket, while the coverage on the scramble drill was stellar, giving Darnold nowhere to go with the ball before he tucked it away and scrambled.


Holding an eight-point edge with 10 minutes to go, Lions punter Jack Fox pinned the Vikings deep in their own territory, but it took just one snap for the field position to be flipped.

A rare miscue by Branch, giving too much attention to Jefferson’s underneath route as a deep Cover-2 defender, put the safety out of position to adjust to Addisio’s vertical route from the left slot. The speedy receiver proved able to split the deep zones for a 51-yard gain.


The Vikings picked up another first down on a cheap penalty against Davis for illegal contact beyond 5 yards before stalling and settling for a field goal.

For the second straight drive, the pass rush came through late, but only after Jack Campbell did a good job sniffing out a trick play that saw Darnold break from the backfield late as the intended target on a reverse pass back to the QB.

After that trickeration attempt, O’Connor did a nice job pushing back a double team, while Josh Paschal took away Darnold’s outside escape lane, allowing Campbell to score the cleanup sack when the QB stepped through the middle of the line.


Rush lane integrity by Houston was equally critical on third down, allowing Rodriguez to clean up the pressure originally generated by his blitz off a stunt.

Note, with both sacks, Detroit's coverage was smothering.


Following a fumble return for a touchdown, the Vikings tried to extend their lead to three with a two-point conversion, but the defense executed at a high level, both pre and post-snap.

The Lions showed an advanced feel for passing off coverage assignments on pre-snap motion, with responsibility switching twice after Nailor reversed to his original alignment.

The ability to smoothly switch was also critical after the snap as Branch passed Nailor’s vertical route off to Arnold and drove on the slant try to Addison, scoring the PBU.

This was a great example of premium coaching and execution.


Trying to run out the clock, the Vikings opened a late-game drive with two runs, only for Nowaske to be in position to make quick stops on both tries. The Lions then caught a break on third down when Jefferson came open on a designed rollout but Darnold misfired high while on the move.

The three-and-out set up the Lions' game-winning drive.


After Jake Bates’ go-ahead field goal, the Vikings had a Hail Mary shot that was squashed by an overload blitz that overwhelmed the offensive line, leading to Nowaske coming through clean for an easy sack.


Concluding thoughts

● This was one of the best coverage performances I remember from a Lions’ secondary in the past few seasons. The back end played a ton of man coverage and didn’t provide as much doubling help on Jefferson as you would have expected entering the day. They still managed to limit the superstar receiver to 84 yards, with more than half of that coming on the first possession of the first quarter.


Arnold continues to show developmental progress, although the blown contain on Jones' touchdown run provides an area needing correction.

And I’m not sure what more can be said about Branch. Outside of the slip-up on the bomb to Addison in the fourth quarter, the safety had breakups in man coverage on third down and the late-game two-point try, plus the slick interception out of the coverage disguise.

Simply put, he’s playing at an all-pro level.


● The linebackers stepped up in a big way. Campbell was consistently in the right positions, while Anzalone was diagnosing plays quickly and flying to the ball, particularly on some of the Vikings’ underneath throws.


I know I highlighted a few snaps where Rodriguez struggled, but overall, he was stellar against the run. He remains highly instinctual and plays with good leverage, allowing him to quickly disengage blockers near the line of scrimmage.

Finally, Nowaske popped off the tape in limited snaps. He, too, has impressive instincts and absolutely explodes toward the ball once he makes the read. It's really starting to feel like the Lions have something in him, even if there's plenty of development to go.


● McNeill, Reader and O’Connor gave the Lions some pass-rush juice up the middle, at times, but the edge rush was as concerning as initially thought.


Josh Paschal largely did his job, setting firm edges against the run and scoring a key sack, but Ukwu and Wingo were non-factors, generating minimal pocket push on their rush attempts.

Houston deserves some credit for a third-down disruption that ended one drive, but the coverage deserves more for holding up after the wide-looping rush allowed Darnold to easily escape the pocket.

The third-year rusher was much better with his lane integrity a little later in the fourth quarter. It was his best snap of the nine he played, allowing Rodriguez to get the sack.

Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

X: Justin_Rogers



© 2024 Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network
jrogers@detroitfootball.net

[Mainevent]

An immature 15 year old at that

I’m around a lot of 15 year old boys nowadays that my daughter is in high school, and those guys are a bunch of idiots.

[-Deborah-]

DETROIT – Detroit Lions Coach Dan Campbell commented Tuesday morning on the second suspension for wide receiver Jameson Williams.

Williams, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, has caught 17 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns so far this season.

But he’ll reportedly miss the next two games due to a suspension for using a performance-enhancing substance.

This would be the second suspension in the three-year career of Williams, who missed 11 games due to injury as a rookie and four games for breaking the NFL’s gambling policy in 2023.

Campbell joined Jon Jansen and Jim Costa on 97.1 The Ticket for his weekly interview and was asked about the possible suspension right off the bat.

“Yeah, I can‘t, there again, I can‘t really say anything about it,” Campbell said. “Until the league gives judgement and it comes out on their end, I’m not supposed to really comment on it.

“All I can tell you is we‘re prepared to not have him, and we‘ll be fine. That‘s why we’ve got (Kalif Raymond) and (Amon-Ra St. Brown) and (Sam) LaPorta and (Tim Patrick) and Allen Robinson, among other things, with David Montgomery, (Jahmyr) Gibbs.

“So we‘ll be fine. We‘ll move on. When this thing comes down, if it does, when it comes down, we’ll be fine.”

It‘s got to be a frustrating situation for Campbell. The Lions offense is one of the most potent in the NFL, and that‘s partially thanks to Williams’ ability to stretch the field.

He‘s also been an excellent downfield blocker, and has picked up 11 first downs.

If the suspension is indeed two games, Williams will miss a home matchup against the 1-5 Titans and a trip to Green Bay to take on the 5-2 Packers.

[whatever_gong82]

DETROIT – Detroit Lions Coach Dan Campbell commented Tuesday morning on the second suspension for wide receiver Jameson Williams.

Williams, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, has caught 17 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns so far this season.

But he’ll reportedly miss the next two games due to a suspension for using a performance-enhancing substance.

This would be the second suspension in the three-year career of Williams, who missed 11 games due to injury as a rookie and four games for breaking the NFL’s gambling policy in 2023.

Campbell joined Jon Jansen and Jim Costa on 97.1 The Ticket for his weekly interview and was asked about the possible suspension right off the bat.

“Yeah, I can‘t, there again, I can‘t really say anything about it,” Campbell said. “Until the league gives judgement and it comes out on their end, I’m not supposed to really comment on it.

“All I can tell you is we‘re prepared to not have him, and we‘ll be fine. That‘s why we’ve got (Kalif Raymond) and (Amon-Ra St. Brown) and (Sam) LaPorta and (Tim Patrick) and Allen Robinson, among other things, with David Montgomery, (Jahmyr) Gibbs.

“So we‘ll be fine. We‘ll move on. When this thing comes down, if it does, when it comes down, we’ll be fine.”

It‘s got to be a frustrating situation for Campbell. The Lions offense is one of the most potent in the NFL, and that‘s partially thanks to Williams’ ability to stretch the field.

He‘s also been an excellent downfield blocker, and has picked up 11 first downs.

If the suspension is indeed two games, Williams will miss a home matchup against the 1-5 Titans and a trip to Green Bay to take on the 5-2 Packers.

I love Jamo, but his immaturity is annoying, to say the least.

[Coop]

Frustrating to say the least...certainly can't just look past the Titans, but he is really needed against Green Bay.

[Dan V]

You can tell a class guy like St Brown is getting sick of his antics too.
Ten cent head in a million dollar body

[Coop]

obviously don't know particulars...but what I will say about Williams is that his game was starting to elevate. Finally seeing the talent that the Lions drafted #1 two years ago. Now this.

[chemiclord]

JaMo could just be one of those guys who has to learn by making mistakes.