GBU: RAMming it down their throats in OT

[chemiclord]

Gibbs showed up fine? Dude had about 80 yards of total offense in a game where the Sun God had 13.

What had me grinding my gears was the Lions trying to continually force plays to the middle of the field when the Rams were quite deliberately clogging that zone, and not even trying to be discreet about it. JaMo had a field day, St. Brown's few positive gains were to him in the flat, and LaPorta's best plays were when they ran him to the post or to the sidelines... yet Johnson and Goff kept trying to force that ball in between the hash marks far too much for my tastes.

I guess you can argue that it set the stage for the Lions being able to bully the Rams straight down the field in OT, but I'd counter that better adjustments to what the Rams defense was giving them means the game doesn't go to OT in the first place.

[Cody_Russell]

Haven’t read anyone’s take or analysis about the game. Promise to do so this evening after work + gym. The game ended near midnight EST and I woke up around 6am. Busy busy. So here’s my uncorrupted and original thoughts that would normally be posted after the game ended:

G:
- Big win on prime time.
- Tough win while playing not at your best.
- Lions offense on the last possession in regulation and OT. Finally looked like 2022-2023 Lions offense.
- Monty and the OLine get a shoutout there.
- GIBBS and JAMO.
- Lions defense as a whole played well IMO. Some of that has to do with the Rams OLine issues and Nacua out. At the same time, they were facing an opposing QB that individually played unworldly.
- Special teams. Jack Fox, Jake Bates.
- Lions fans and the “Jared Goff” chant. Love it every time.

B:
- Nearly blowing a 17-3 lead.
- Lions offense much of the night. People that dissect film will have the answers, but my live thoughts noticed the Rams took away the middle/ intermediate part of the field. Seemed like there was a lot of zone coverage. Rams LBs and safeties focusing on that. It would explain how Goff only had 60 yards passing to non-Jamo targets prior to that game tying drive.
- Arnold PIs in the end zone. Though one was ticky tac IMO. Not a big deal. He’s a rookie CB making his first start. Anything more than mixed bag play from Arnold is a pleasant surprise. Arnold had a positive 1st half.

U:
- Refs treating Hutchinson like Shaq. Many missed calls. He was held all game.

[Mainevent]

What had me grinding my gears was the Lions trying to continually force plays to the middle of the field when the Rams were quite deliberately clogging that zone, and not even trying to be discreet about it. JaMo had a field day, St. Brown's few positive gains were to him in the flat, and LaPorta's best plays were when they ran him to the post or to the sidelines... yet Johnson and Goff kept trying to force that ball in between the hash marks far too much for my tastes.
.

Yeah, they need to have better answers, because teams know Goff loves working the middle of the field. They are going to clog it up and insist that he beats them outside the numbers. Now, Goff wasn't his sharpest tonight and did miss some opportunities, but they were too often running routes right into the middle of four defenders.

They also still haven't figured out how to use Gibbs the best in the passing game. Throwing the ball to him (or Monty) 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage isn't great. Get Gibbs vertical on option routes against LBs. They had the one late down at the goal line where he fell down, but I want him on the move more.

[Coop]

Hard to add anything to what has been said:

Good: Win.
Bad: nothing really bad to say. One could point at the Goff INT that changed momentum, but they overcame adversity to win. THAT IS WHAT GOOD TEAMS DO.
Ugly: nothin

BEST: No injuries!

[froot loops]

One of the things about working the middles and not the flats is Goff really isn't great at that. He isn't capable of doing that like Stafford did last night.

Here's the thing, John Johnson made a great play on that int in the red zone. It's a different game if they score on that drive. Sometimes guys make plays.

The real UGLY was Channel 4/NBC came back from commercials too late in OT. Local 4 viewers did not see the kick return of the reverse of that OT drive.

[froot loops]

Also with Gibbs, he was wide open on that wheel route and he lost his footing like a bunch of the Lions did yesterday.

[Mainevent]

Thought the INT to Johnson was a misread by Goff - St. Brown appeared to throttle down between the defenders while Goff threw it as he was going to continue directly into Johnson.

[froot loops]

It was definitely a misread but still a great play, it's the hazards of working the middle.

[Mainevent]

But that's what you need to do when you are good team - your QB/passing has an off game but make enough plays and the rest of the team carries you through. That's the whole point of having a well-rounded team.

[froot loops]

That's correct.

[Iron Lion]

Typical Stafford though. Slice the other team up all day, but when you can put the game away, miss a guy on 3rd down and never see the ball again (aside from the last 17 sec which don't really count).

If I had a nickel every time Stafford lost twice in a row at Ford Field...

Ok yeah I used to love the guy but he wanted out so fuck'm!

[ghandi]

Gibbs showed up fine? Dude had about 80 yards of total offense in a game where the Sun God had 13.

What had me grinding my gears was the Lions trying to continually force plays to the middle of the field when the Rams were quite deliberately clogging that zone, and not even trying to be discreet about it. JaMo had a field day, St. Brown's few positive gains were to him in the flat, and LaPorta's best plays were when they ran him to the post or to the sidelines... yet Johnson and Goff kept trying to force that ball in between the hash marks far too much for my tastes.

I guess you can argue that it set the stage for the Lions being able to bully the Rams straight down the field in OT, but I'd counter that better adjustments to what the Rams defense was giving them means the game doesn't go to OT in the first place.

That is what stood out to me...Rams tried taking away the middle of the field...Its a smart strategy against Goff...There were a couple games last year where teams overloaded the middle and Goff had a great game working outside the hash marks, but I think overall his strength is quick passes over the middle.....Early in the game the Rams were playing 5 down linemen and the Lions struggled against that it seemed....To be honest, I was sort of expecting a slow start from the offense...Most of them didnt play a down in preseason and it showed (as it did with some other teams yesterday also)

[froot loops]

Jeff Risdon counted seven slips by the Lions in the second half. Weird!

[Iron Lion]

That is what stood out to me...Rams tried taking away the middle of the field...Its a smart strategy against Goff...There were a couple games last year where teams overloaded the middle and Goff had a great game working outside the hash marks, but I think overall his strength is quick passes over the middle.....Early in the game the Rams were playing 5 down linemen and the Lions struggled against that it seemed....To be honest, I was sort of expecting a slow start from the offense...Most of them didnt play a down in preseason and it showed (as it did with some other teams yesterday also)

I mean... McVay did have a whole offseason to prep for Goff. Pretty unfair IMO.

And I hope Glenn gets a head coach job because he's another one of MCDC's blind spots.

[El Axe]

I mean... McVay did have a whole offseason to prep for Goff. Pretty unfair IMO.

And I hope Glenn gets a head coach job because he's another one of MCDC's blind spots.

The Rams DC, Shula, is new and a longtime friend and former college teammate of McVey. I'm guessing they put together a completely different defensive package specifically for this game, which would be really hard to adjust to if you're Ben Johnson.

I suspect that there are going to be a lot of games this year where the Lions get the best shot and special packages from the other team. We are the team that gets circled now.