Ssshhhhh…. GBU Lions at Texans

[Forsh]

Man how far would that kick have been good from? Had to be 70 ... as long as it stayed in

[Coop]

Good: Got a very tough come back from behind road win against a very good Houston Texans team.
Bad: Not having Taylor Decker. Our Oline did not block well for Goff
Ugly: The obvious..5 INTs, although I will only fault Goff directly for 2 of them.

Best: Jake Bates. That kid is having a very good rookie season thus far, despite a shaky camp and start to the season. Credit Holmes/Campbell for seeing his talent and sticking with him. I am hoping he is our true successor to Jason Hanson.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions film review: How the Texans frustrated the NFL's top-scoring offense

Justin Rogers
Nov 12


Allen Park — Regardless of the metric, the Detroit Lions entered Sunday night as one of the NFL’s top offensive teams, pacing the league in scoring after topping the 40-point threshold three times in the previous five games.

But for the first time since the first month of the season, the Houston Texans made the high-octane attack look fallible, flustering quarterback Jared Goff, stymying Detroit’s two-headed monster backfield, and forcing five interceptions, doubling Detroit’s turnover total on the season.


The Texans, to be clear, came into the matchup with established credentials. They ranked near the top of the league in yards per game, yards per play, pressure rate, and completion percentage against, where they’re first by a wide margin.

It’s unquestionably a well-coached unit. But so is Detroit’s offense, which has proved tough to slow for most opponents the past three years.


For this week’s film review, we’ll look at why Houston was able to have success because future opponents will certainly be looking to replicate the results through degrees of imitation.

Let’s start with the ground game since Detroit’s offensive success frequently hinges on its balance. The 3.3 yards per carry against Houston was the team’s worst of the season.


Things started well enough for Detroit, going two-for-two with efficient gains on the opening drive, and really three-for-three if we include the well-designed and executed shovel pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown that converted the team’s first third down on the contest.

Still, you could see some early execution errors with the blocking that would be recurring as struggles mounted later in the contest. On Jahmyr Gibbs’ first carry, backup offensive tackle Dan Skipper whiffed on his assignment, forcing the back to cut left into an unblocked (by design) defender, limiting the gain to 5 yards on the 2nd-and-10 carry.



And on David Montgomery’s first carry, two snaps later, his lane was cluttered by wide receiver Kalif Raymond, who bounced off a defender while trying to assist on guard Graham Glasgow’s second-level block.

Trouble showed up the next two series, leading to a three-and-out and nearly a second, before things momentarily clicked for the only time in the first half.


Detroit was put behind the sticks and proved unable to recover on its second series when St. Brown couldn't drive crashing safety Jalen Pitre out of the run lane, resulting in a no-gain run for Montgomery.

Perimeter blocking was problematic early on the third possession, as well, with tight end Brock Wright late breaking off his combination with Skipper and failing to get a body on Pitre, who slowed Gibbs in the backfield long enough for support to arrive, resulting in a 6-yard loss.



Gibbs’ next carry was also derailed by a tight end when LaPorta whiffed on his pull block, which allowed defensive end Danielle Hunter to slow the back long enough for the Texans' interior linemen to shed their blocks and make the no-gain stop.

Those two failed runs set up third-and-long situations, but Detroit dug its way out of both with passes to Jameson Williams, leading into a stretch of three straight efficient runs for Gibbs with a 6-yard gain on first-and-10, 3 yards on second-and-4 and another 5 yards on first-and-10.

But each carry contained at least one missed block, two by tight ends, resulting in meat left on the bone. Regardless, Detroit had enough success running the ball during the possession that it helped set up a play-action touchdown to LaPorta for the team’s only points of the opening half. We’ll come back to that play later.

The Lions went back to Montgomery to open the next series, but it was another no-gain effort as Skipper failed to get to his second-level assignment and Glasgow lost at the line of scrimmage.



Montgomery stayed inefficient to open ensuing possession when guard Kevin Zeitler was bumped off his second-level path coming off a combo, leaving the linebacker unblocked and LaPorta, unsurprisingly, wasn’t able to seal Hunter one-on-one, limiting the carry to 2 yards.

Taking the ball back with 1:51 remaining in the half, the Lions started with two shotgun handoffs for Gibbs that went nowhere. On the first, St. Brown wasn’t able to reach the crashing safety, who filled his run lane and limited the gain to a 1 yard. And the second was ineffective because blocks by LaPorta in the second level and the pulling Zeitler didn’t displace Texans defenders, also resulting in a single yard for Gibbs.

The Lions failed to gain a first down each of those three drives.


For the first half, the Lions were efficient on just 5-of-12 carries, averaging 1.8 yards per attempt, had a long of 6 yards, and gained zero first downs on the ground. Not surprisingly, they also finished with 7 points with seven possessions.

Like the game’s opening drive, things started promising in the third quarter when Montgomery doubled the day's long gain with a 12-yard romp around the right side of Detroit’s formation. This time, the perimeter blocking came through, particularly from Wright and LaPorta, who provided a strong lead block coming in motion.



The success was short-lived as Montgomery lost a yard on the next snap out of a funky shotgun alignment with wide spacing up front where neither LaPorta nor Wright were unable to reach their blocking assignments.


That drive ended with an interception the next snap, while Montgomery created his own success the next possession. He made a tackler miss in the backfield on first-and-10 to squeeze 4 yards out of the busted play. Then, on first-and-goal from the 3, the back did what he does best, making a defender miss in a tight space for the short, scoring run.


Unfortunately, the Lions were unable to convert the ensuing 2-point conversion because LaPorta missed his block.

Much like Montgomery’s run to open the half, Gibbs started to find some success on the perimeter, as well, opening a series with a well-executed shotgun pitch for 12 yards, with Sewell able to serve as a lead blocker because St. Brown does an excellent job of sealing the defensive end inside.



But consistent success on the ground remained elusive. Detroit’s next possession was marred by four consecutive inefficient runs, leading to a punt. The final carry was a classic Lions maneuver, trying to sneak in a run on a clear passing down. But the third-and-7 shotgun handoff to Montgomery was blown up when Hunter dove under Zeitler’s pulling block, muddying the lane, and tight end Shane Zylstra tripped, failing to slow down the backside pursuit.


For all the struggles and inefficiency, Detroit closed on a high note. Montgomery powered for a third-and-1 conversion during a fourth-quarter touchdown drive before Gibbs broke free for perimeter gains of 15 and 20 yards to set up a game-tying field goal on the next possession.

Like the others chunk gains before them, both were right-side successes.

The first, and inside zone, offered Gibbs an initial hole created by Sewell walling off the defensive end to the outside and Wright clearing the inside with a wham block on the defensive tackle. That allowed center Frank Ragnow to climb to the second level, where Gibbs darted around that block and another provided by St. Brown.


The second, an outside zone, was blocked well all the way around, but particularly by Detroit’s three receivers. Tim Patrick and Williams delivered crushing blocks coming from the outside in, while St. Brown walled the corner out of the lane in the second level.

If not for a desperation shove by safety Calen Bullock that drove Gibbs out of bounds, the back likely houses this one for a 59-yard score.


Concluding thoughts


The struggles were more execution than schematic. Houston played aggressively, particularly the dynamic Pitre, putting stress on Detroit’s receivers and tight ends to execute.

In terms of positives, Sewell and Ragnow were stellar, while Zeitler executed at a reasonably high level.

The left side of Detroit’s offensive line was below average in this one, not surprising given the absence of Taylor Decker. But the majority of the blocking breakdowns came from non-linemen. The tight ends collectively had one of their worst days of the season, and although he picked it up and had some key blocks down the stretch, St. Brown struggled mightily with his assignments in the first half.

continued..

[whatever_gong82]

Pass game

Houston barely blitzed in this game, opting to drop seven and cloud Goff’s passing lanes. The strategy worked well, particularly with their ability to affect the pocket with just four rushers.

Let’s open the conversation with the five interceptions. Well, we'll look at four. There’s no reason to waste time dissecting the Hail Mary effort from 55 yards out at the end of the first half.

Goff’s first pick came on the game’s opening possession, while facing a second-and-11 after an illegible man downfield infraction. The Lions weren’t looking to get it all back in one snap, instead attempting to create a third-and-manageable with a swing pass to Gibbs in the right flat. But the QB failed to recognize Pitre coming off the edge on a safety/nickel blitz.

Coach Dan Campbell only blamed one interception of Goff in the postgame, and, in my opinion, this is the one. The QB never took his eyes off his primary read and threw it directly into the blitzer, resulting in the deflection and interception.



Goff was picked again halfway through the second frame while looking for Williams on a deep dig pattern against what appears to be a Cover-3 match look from the Texans.

It was going to be a tight-window throw with cornerback Derek Stingley mirroring Williams' break well, but a rare pass-rush loss by Sewell made it a moot point. The right tackle was knocked off balance by Denico Autry’s bull rush, allowing the defender to bend the edge and hit the quarterback’s arm while throwing. That caused the ball to pop into the air where it was snagged by linebacker Henry To'oTo'o.


Goff was intercepted twice in the third quarter, with the first ending a red-zone threat.

A huge portion of the result goes to safety Eric Murray, who unintentionally disrupted the timing of Sam LaPorta’s skinny post pattern while trying to pick up Gibbs running a wheel route out of the backfield.

After taking the snap, Goff looked left, attempting to hold the deep safety to that side of the field before firing the timing route to LaPorta, not realizing it had been altered by the collision.

Off schedule, the tight end didn’t get his head around in time to locate the ball, allowing rookie cornerback Kamari Lassiter to create the turnover.


The fifth and final interception came on a deep shot to Williams. Immediately after the game, Campbell said the receiver should “be a little higher angle(d)” on the throw, but it feels like the blame is shared.

Williams was running a corner route, and the Lions got the one-on-one look they wanted when the corner to that side stayed with St. Brown’s out route.


Williams’ angle was too shallow, toward the sideline, while the QB’s throw matched what Campbell was describing. But even if the receiver was on the desired path of the play call, it would have been a 50/50 ball, at best, based on the depth of the throw. Overall, it felt like some residual rust from the receiver’s recent two-game suspension.

One thing that can’t be blamed is the protection. Goff’s pocket was clean on the throw.


Despite being among the league leaders coming into the game, and Goff being one of the NFL’s least-mobile quarterbacks, the Texans proved unable to sack him in the contest. Still, they made the QB feel the heat with five hits and forcing five throwaways.

That showed up on the game’s opening snap, when Houston didn’t bite on a play-action rollout, forcing Goff to turf it before LaPorta got to his break while running a corner pattern from his in-line alignment off right tackle.


The Texans also challenged the Lions with unique coverage shells more commonly seen in the college game on third-and-long situations, putting three safeties deep and making it difficult to quickly read early in the snap.

At different points in the contest, they played both zone and man from this look.


Detroit’s best success in the passing game came on two-play action shots to LaPorta, plus a series of screen passes in the second half.

The first to LaPorta, in the second quarter, resulted in a touchdown. St. Brown was key to the play's success, helping sell the outside zone run before buying Goff time in protection on the rollout. LaPorta was able to blow by his coverage assignment, who was held tight to the line while processing his keys on the the fake.



The Lions got another 34 yards on a play-action throw to LaPorta in the third frame, setting up Montgomery’s touchdown run. This throw beat a Cover-3 match as the outside corner committed to St. Brown's out route, leaving LaPorta isolated with the safety in single coverage.

Initially angling the route outside from the right seam, a sharp post cut caught the safety off balance, and Goff delivered an accurate ball, in stride, to the target.


As far as the screen game, Detroit executed one to each of their backs, generating gains of 33 and 24 yards, their two longest on the day behind the LaPorta throw above.

The one to Gibbs was particularly impressive because Sewell was a one-man wrecking crew, swatting veteran edge defender Jerry Hughes to the ground at the snap before firing into space around the right edge, shoving linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair out of the way and redirecting to safety Calen Bullock for a third block. What a monster.


Sewell also provided a key block, along with Zeitler and Patrick, on a tunnel screen to St. Brown that went for a 9-yard score in the fourth quarter.


Concluding thoughts


Watching it a third time (live, broadcast replay, all-22 film), it really felt as if Houston had a strong grasp on many of Detroit’s preferred pass-game concepts, putting them in position to make Goff uncomfortable, even when his pocket held up.

In terms of pressure, there was less than initially thought based on the live viewing of the game. Skipper had a few lapses, despite being provided plenty of help throughout the contest, but that was to be expected. Less expected were Sewell’s stumbles, which included two of the five hits on Goff, with one inducing an interception.

Glasgow also gave up a pressure, on a third down, resulting in a rushed throw and incompletion.

Goff was clearly not at his best, but he wasn’t five-interception bad. I'd put two on the QB's tab. But it did feel like he unnecessarily forced it to Williams deep not just on the fifth pick, but also a first-half throw that was nearly intercepted against quarters coverage. On that play, St. Brown was open on a deep dig.

I don’t know how much we’ll see other teams running the staggered, three-deep shells the Texans were utilizing. It doesn’t feel like a midseason addition to the playbook. But it’s a neat wrinkle that could see pop up more in the future, across the league.


Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

X: Justin_Rogers

[ghandi]

It could have been 6 when he was trying to hit JaMo on a deep ball in the first half but the DB dropped it.....Let's hope the Texans didnt figure out something that is a trend and other teams will be able to use it also....Most of the problems came when Goff was trying to hit the deep ball. he may just have to be more selective in the future.

[CGVT]

I don't expect Sewel to ever have as bad a half as he did the first half against Houston. Decker being injured made a difference as well.

They're fine.

[Mainevent]

Sewell nearly got dumped by Denico Autry who then turned the corner on him to hit Goff’s arm on INT number two. That was the second week in a row somebody got him like that with a power move.

He was awesome in the 2nd half though.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions film review: Breaking down top performances from defensive-fueled win

Justin Rogers
Nov 12



The Detroit Lions have had some outstanding defensive performances this season. They held Tampa Bay — still at full strength with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans — to 216 yards, kept Arizona out of the end zone the final 10 drives after giving up a touchdown to open the game, befuddled Dallas, and forced four turnovers in a blowout victory over Tennessee.

But Sunday’s win over the Houston Texans is in contention for the unit’s finest showing of the year.

It wasn’t without its hiccups. They couldn’t keep Houston out of the end zone when they took over in Detroit territory following an interception on the game’s opening possession. The defense also had multiple breakdowns during a dreadful two-minute drive at the end of the first half that increased Detroit's deficit to 17 at the break.

But after weathering that stormy first half, one where the Texans' average starting field position on six possessions was their 46-yard line, Detroit slammed the door closed, shutting out the opposition across the final two quarters to pave the path for an improbable comeback.

The Lions finished the night allowing just 248 yards and fewer than 100 across the final two quarters, and after struggling mightily to defend the run the previous three weeks, the Lions allowed a paltry 56 yards on 28 attempts against the Texans. That was highlighted by holding featured back Joe Mixon to 1.8 yards per carry, his worst efficiency in five years.

Instead of a drive-by-drive look at the performance, let’s take a look at some of the individual performances that were the driving forces of the whole.

Alim McNeill

McNeill was strong against the run but had a greater impact as a pass rusher from interior alignments.

Let’s start with his sack in the third quarter, which came one snap after he drew a hold that had already put the Texans behind the sticks. As with most sacks, it starts with quality coverage. You won’t see it in the clip below, but the Lions were playing a stick Cover-1 with Brian Branch as a robber in the back end, which forced the QB to hold the ball.

At the snap, McNeill wards off Shaq Mason’s punch and drives the guard back 5 yards before ripping around the blocker’s right side and quickly swallowing C.J. Stroud for the 10-yard loss.


In the second quarter, McNeill split a double team, and even though he overran Stroud, he forced the QB off his spot and put too much air under this throw. That gave Branch the extra beat to come down to break up the pass; a perfect marriage of rush and coverage.


The next play, McNeill jolted his blocker at the snap on a stretch zone concept and was able to quickly shed the block, getting hands on Mixon in the backfield to score a tackle for loss.


Then, in the fourth quarter, McNeill was able to partner with Branch to stop Mixon for no gain a snap before forcing Stroud to tuck and scramble after getting an edge on Mason once again.


Brian Branch

Yes, I hit on Branch a few times in the McNeill section, but don’t worry, there’s more. The do-everything safety was all over the place against the Texans, delivering his typical all-around impact.

On Detroit’s second defensive snap, the versatile defensive back was making uncommon contributions. Lining up in the box, Branch went around the edge formation on a stretch zone run, lunging under the widest blocker, tight end Teagan Quitoriano, to trip up Mixon for a loss.


In the second quarter, Branch showed remarkable closing speed paired with an outstanding pursuit angle and open-field tackling, coming from 15 yards deep to stop Tank Dell for a gain of 1 yard on a play-action pass thrown back across the formation.


Those same three attributes showed up again when he shut down a wide receiver screen after a yard, slicing through traffic to make the stop on Robert Woods.


And the very next snap, Branch flashed his man coverage skills, switching on to Xavier Hutchinson after following Dell's motion across the formation, then making a diving breakup on the dig route from the right slot.


Run support, man, zone, it doesn’t matter, Branch can do it all.

Carlton Davis

What you have to love about Davis is his fearless contributions in run support. In this contest, he made multiple solo tackles on Mixon when the play was funneled to the perimeter.


But let’s talk about the obvious, Davis’ two interceptions. The first came on the opening snap of the third quarter, with the veteran corner driving on an out route to Dell to make the diving grab.

After the game, Davis said he had played soft, allowing a couple out routes early in the game, and his film study told him that Houston would go back to it because of that early success.

Davis was playing about 9 yards off at the snap. With the receiver and QB both in his line of vision, he broke on the ball simultaneously with Dell’s route stem, beating the ball to the spot.


The second pick was capitalizing on a bad throw by Stroud.

The Lions were in Cover-3 on the play-action pass. You can see the communication in the back end between the deep defenders, with Davis alerting his teammates to Hutchinson running a crossing pattern and Terrion Arnold pointing to Dell going deep.

Possibly hunting for an interception of his own, safety Kerby Joseph decides to drive on the crosser. It’s a questionable decision, leaving Davis to pick up Dell running into space on the opposite side of the field.

If Stroud leads Dell to the back corner of the end zone, Davis likely can’t get there. Instead, the ball hangs and is short, allowing the cornerback to undercut it for his second takeaway of the game.


Josh Paschal

Returning to action after a two-game absence, Paschal was a high-motor force who played a key role against the run, in particular.

It showed up during the opening series when he beat the block of a motioning tight end, forcing Mixon wide. And when the back escaped Davis’ tackle attempt, Paschal was there to clean it up for an 8-yard loss.


Almost every time the Texans made the mistake of trying to block Paschal with a tight end or a receiver he made them pay. In the second quarter, the defender drove Cade Stover into the backfield for a shed-and-stop on Mixon.


And poor, 195-pound John Metchie predictably got tossed aside when Branch forced a run back to Paschal’s gap.


Pat O’Connor

It’s not easy to take dominant defenders such as McNeill and DJ Reader off the field, but the big fellas need breathers. It’s a little easier to make those substitutions when you have backups making plays like O’Connor did in limited work against the Texans.

After the game, O’Connor hit me with this line, “Don't count my plays, make the plays count.”

That hit harder the next morning when I noticed he only had eight defensive snaps. In those eight plays, he had a tackle for loss, cleaning up a reverse where multiple defenders were effective, led by backside edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad.


O’Connor also had his first, full sack since 2020, when he withstood an early double team that he split when the blocking had to address the oncoming blitz of linebacker Jack Campbell.


Bonus observations

It was a great day for Arnold. He lacked awareness on the opening drive, not reading his keys and getting sucked too far inside to prevent Mixon from getting the left edge on an 8-yard touchdown run.

Arnold also had a long pass interference infraction when he arrived too early on a deep ball, allowed a touchdown reception on an in-breaking route to Metchie in the closing minute of the first half, gave up a slant that converted a third-and-6 on Houston’s last drive, and got away with a blatant DPI on the next third down, another in-breaking pattern.

What I found encouraging about his performance was his communication, both on the Davis interception and another pre-snap motion later in the game. Additionally, outside of the TD run, Arnold was strong in run support on multiple snaps.

James Houston didn’t have as much impact as I initially believed. His sack in the first quarter was interesting because it came after he dropped in coverage. He only had one great rush off the edge, when he blew by left tackle Laremy Tunsil, dipped under the block, and caused pocket chaos that ultimately led to Stroud fumbling.


Houston had some other positive moments but with lesser impact. He read a quick pass and made a leaping effort at deflecting the throw. He dropped into coverage a second time and delivered a pretty stiff jam that knocked the receiver off his route. And I thought Houston continued to make improvements with his rush integrity, which is key to preventing escape lanes for the QB.

Campbell had some continued struggles in coverage. His work in man was actually pretty good, he just was the victim of some pretty great tight-window throws from Stroud, one of which was dropped by Stover. In zone, Campbell still has moments of shaky awareness, where he loses track of the man in his area, putting him out of position to make a play on the ball.

Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

X: Justin_Rogers

[froot loops]

Houston has a top 5 defense in total yardage and DVOA. They were at home, they had the rest advantage and the Lions were coming off a huge win on the road at a bitter rival. They hit the Lions with all they had in the first half. By the end of the game the Texans defense was wore out and then Lions started gashing them

It's possible the Texans put a blueprint out there, but the blueprint is get heavy pressure rushing 4 lineman, stop the running game, rarely blitz and try to disrupt the timing of the routes. It's the same blueprint the Giants used to beat an undefeated Patriots in Superbowl XLII. It's the blueprint every NFL team tries to do in every game.

Goff was throwing it deep because they were stacking the box with 8 defenders most of the time, the soft part of the coverage was on deep throws and screens. He may have thrown two interceptions but because of those deep throws but it loosened up the coverage from what In could tell. In the second half, Goff didn't get much pressure, the running game started paying dividends and the Lions scored on 4 of their last 6 drives.

[DanO]

This game turned out to be good for numerous reasons. The whole offense played poorly but they still won. Houston put out a "blueprint for slowing down the Lions but it won't work. The Lions will use this and learn and adjust. This game made us better in many ways. Not good for the rest of the NFL.

[El Axe]

Houston has a top 5 defense in total yardage and DVOA. They were at home, they had the rest advantage and the Lions were coming off a huge win on the road at a bitter rival. They hit the Lions with all they had in the first half. By the end of the game the Texans defense was wore out and then Lions started gashing them

It's possible the Texans put a blueprint out there, but the blueprint is get heavy pressure rushing 4 lineman, stop the running game, rarely blitz and try to disrupt the timing of the routes. It's the same blueprint the Giants used to beat an undefeated Patriots in Superbowl XLII. It's the blueprint every NFL team tries to do in every game.

Goff was throwing it deep because they were stacking the box with 8 defenders most of the time, the soft part of the coverage was on deep throws and screens. He may have thrown two interceptions but because of those deep throws but it loosened up the coverage from what In could tell. In the second half, Goff didn't get much pressure, the running game started paying dividends and the Lions scored on 4 of their last 6 drives.

I'm interested in seeing whether the Texans come down with the Honolulu Blue Flu next week.

[ghandi]

This game turned out to be good for numerous reasons. The whole offense played poorly but they still won. Houston put out a "blueprint for slowing down the Lions but it won't work. The Lions will use this and learn and adjust. This game made us better in many ways. Not good for the rest of the NFL.

The Lions definitely need games like this every year...Adversity and difficulty is how you grow...I think it only makes them better in the long run.

[El Axe]

Oh, this was another (G) for the game -- James Houston started looking like his 2022 self again. He not only had the sack where he tracked down Stroud like a missile (similar to his Fields sack in 2022), but he flat out beat Tunsil twice, causing real difficulty for Stroud. Here's a breakdown

5:26 is the sack after Stroud scambles. 11:23 has him beat Tunsil on a speed rush, 15:13 is winning on a power rush. IIRC, Tunsil is a decent LT, so those are nice wins.

[Iron Lion]

A guy on Houston radio said he was more mad than the one time when his cohost told him it was National Donut Day when it actually wasn't.

[foxhopper]

I watched the game again. Unfortunately Houston still didn't really impress me. JMO