Post by D6 on Sept 22, 2019 23:23:47 GMT -5
Observations: Somehow, some way, unbeaten Lions hang on for another win
Thoughts in ****
Observations: Somehow, some way, unbeaten Lions hang on for another win
The Lions faced Philadelphia in a Week 3 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field.
Observations: Somehow, some way, unbeaten Lions hang on for another win
Updated 5:28 PM; Today 4:26 PM
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
PHILADELPHIA -- It wasn’t pretty, for a third straight week. But they didn’t lose, for a third straight week.
The Lions committed four penalties on third downs, scored just once on their seven second-half possessions, punted from Philadelphia’s 40-yard line, had a field goal blocked in the waning moments, then watched Darren Sproles catch a pass deep in Detroit territory that could have set up at least a game-tying field goal. Except, a flag -- and at last, this one wasn’t on Detroit.
Sproles was cited for offensive pass interference against Tavon Wilson. Carson Wentz’s desperation heave on fourth down fell incomplete. And somehow, some way, the Lions held on for a 27-24 win on Sunday against the Eagles.
The win is the Lions’ second in a row, and they remain unbeaten at 2-0-1 heading back home for a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs. For a team facing one of the most difficult first months in football, Detroit’s unbeaten record stands out, giving the club a chance to play meaningful football in the second half of the season.
Jamal Agnew opened the scoring for Detroit with a 100-yard touchdown on his first kick return of the game. It was a moment of redemption for a guy who was benched last week because of ball security issues, and sparked a special day for the special teams, with Agnew also doing well on punt return and Sam Martin booming a couple mooonshots himself.
But special teams have been a serious problem all year, including Martin having a punt blocked in Week 1 and Matt Prater missing a couple kicks last week. Then he had his 46-yard attempt blocked by Malcolm Jenkins with 1:53 remaining, giving Philadelphia the ball at midfield with Detroit clinging to just a three-point lead.
And Wentz had the Eagles threatening when he hit Sproles streaking into the red zone on fourth-and-5.But Sproles was flagged for pushing off on Wilson. Wentz’s ensuing pass fell harmlessly to the ground. And just like that, for a second straight week, Detroit had snuffed out a late comeback attempt for an occasionally ugly, certainly hard-won victory.
**** The Lions are very fortunate to have won this game. Props to the Lions Defense battling to help secure the victory. Even factoring in the Eagles two mega dropped passes on their final possession, which became their final set of downs. The Lions Offense and Special Teams came up short in crunch time. This put the Lions Defense in bad situations that were preventable with with execution that's needed on the NFL level.
Granted, the Eagles injuries going into this game proved very costly for them today. Yet, the Lions faced major injury adversity as well with Mike Daniels and Darius Slay going down. Jarrad Davis missed a few plays because of injury, which the Eagles took advantage of. It was a gutsy effort by the Lions Defense in unseasonable heat in Philadelphia. Even with the mistakes the Lions made on Defense, the effort and resolve were apparent. The three forced fumbles in the 2nd QTR, two that the Lions recovered, only resulted in 6 points. That was a major reason why the game was in doubt in the last minute of the game. ****
Here are some more instant observations:
-- Matthew Stafford wasn’t as sharp as in recent weeks, but put a bunch of air under the ball to hit Marvin Jones with a beautiful 12-yard touchdown pass on a corner route at the start of the fourth quarter. That gave the Lions a 27-17 lead, and proved to be the difference in the game once Philadelphia mounted its comeback attempt. Jones disappointed last year and started a little slow this year, but was excellent against Philadelphia, catching six passes for a team-high 101 yards and the one score.
-
**** Marvin Jones was arguably the Lions best player on Offense in this game. Taylor Decker had a huge rebound game and believe he is in the conversation for the Lions top Offensive Player. Frank Ragnow had a strong all around game, including making the tackle on the Blocked FG return. A blocking in the back penalty on Malcolm Jenkins- who blocked Matt Prater's FG ( I'm not blaming Prater ), negated much of Rasul Douglas' long Blocked FG Return.
On the other hand, Matthew Stafford wasn't consistent enough. He got away with a throw in the middle of the field under pressure that was incomplete. He threw to Marvin Jones on a completion that was off target that easily could have been a TD instead of a good gain First Down, if the ball was on target. He threw an incompletion to Jones that WR didn't catch in bounds because the ball was thrown late. Tbe 3rd Down incompletion to Jones that gave the Eagles the ball back following a touchback ( their 2nd to last possession ) is a throw that Stafford rushed after leaving the pocket, even though he had time to set himself better mechanically. That resulted in the ball being short to Jones. Stafford did make his share of good throws, at least a couple that were highly impressive. He also sensed pressure well when there was pressure. Yet, the mistakes Stafford made in this game could have cost the Lions the game. Thankfully, the Eagles dropped around 7 passes. ****
- The Lions offense scored a touchdown on its first touch, driving 13 plays for 75 yards before Kerryon Johnson helicoptered into the end zone for a 1-yard score. Johnson had a big pick up on third-and-1 earlier on the drive, while Kenny Golladay made a highly difficult catch on another third down and tight end Logan Thomas speared a beautiful catch to set up the score. It was a methodical scoring drive that set the tempo for a decent day from the Lions offense. Stafford finished 18 of 32 passing overall for 201 yards, no picks and the one score.-
**** The two Lions TD drives were excellent. Including, big time 3rd Down plays. Kerryon Johnson's greatest value in this game was the excellent job he did in pass protection. ****
- The running game was supposed to be Detroit’s thing this year. But through three weeks, it continues to be a problem. J.D. McKissic needed just one carry to lead the Lions in rushing, although that one carry -- a 44-yard pickup after he took the pitch on a reserve -- was a spectacular one. Kerryon Johnson scored a touchdown from the goal line, but otherwise struggled to get going and finished with just 36 yards on 20 carries. Detroit entered the day 25th in yards per carry, and averaged just 3.1 on 28 attempts against Philadelphia’s stout front.
**** The Lions pass blocking was clearly better than tbe team's run blocking. Both teams often had a Safety ( or other extra Defender) in or near the box, which made it difficult for either team to have anything close to successful consistency running the ball. )****
-- Penalties and injuries let Philadelphia hang around. The Lions defense was flagged four times on third down, each time giving Philly a new set of downs. Trey Flowers committed an especially costly one late, getting flagged for roughing the passer, although he was rolled up on during the play. Jarrad Davis screwed up an ensuing coverage on Darren Sproles, then was flagged for unnecessary roughness as he tried to recover. Given second and third chances, Wentz delivered a touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor that trimmed Detroit’s lead to 27-24 with 6:59 left, making the game closer than it should have been.
**** I understand why the Officials called the Roughing the Passer on Trey Flowers, though I think they should have picked the flag up. The Jarrad Davis personal foul was the right call. Flowers and Kevin Strong both had encroachment/ off side penalties. The one on Flowers, early in tbe game, gave the Eagles a 1st Down on a 3rd and 5 situation. The False Starts by T.J. Hockenson and Logan Thomas put the Lions in bad Down and Distance situations. ****
-- Disaster struck in the third quarter, when Slay came up limp after nearly picking off Carson Wentz. He immediately grabbed his hamstring, then headed to the locker room moments later. He did not return. Mike Ford took his place, and Wentz came right after him, although Ford forced an offensive pass interference that killed the drive.
**** Mike Ford did a good job, all things considering. But he was fortunate that WR Mac Hollins dropped a 2nd down pass on the Eagles final possession. Ford did a good job kaking sure the ball wasn't caught once Hollins didn't secure it. ****
-- Defensive tackle Mike Daniels and receiver Danny Amendola also left the game with injuries.-
**** Mike Daniels' injury is very concerning as it's a foot injury. I'm not sure if it's the same and foot he had the injury with Green Bay last season.
Danny Amendola made a terrific 3rd Down catch in Eagles territory that gave the Lions a first Down in the last few minutes of the game. All of the injured players from today's game would be major losses if they are out for one of more games. ****
- Middle linebacker Jarrad Davis made his season debut after sitting out the first two weeks with an ankle injury. He was in the starting lineup, along with Devon Kennard and Christian Jones, although the Lions curbed his role a bit to build in some extra breathers in the high heat. Davis usually plays almost 100% of the snaps, but was spelled by Jahlani Tavai on occasional series and then left the game briefly in the second half after appearing to re-injure his ankle. It proved to just be a scare and was able to finish the game. He did commit a key unnecessary roughness penalty in his return to the field though, setting up Philly’s final touchdown. He finished with six tackles, making him the first player in team history with at least 200 tackles and eight sacks in his first three seasons.
**** Other than the penalty and some rust, there were many positives from Jarrad Davis in this game. Including, the forced fumble that Darius Slay recovered in the 2nd QTR. He's a key player on Defense for sure, including his versatile skills and leadership. ****
-- Quandre Diggs is a very good tackler. Quandre Diggs has not been a very good tackler this year, and he certainly wasn’t a very good tackler in Philadelphia. He missed at least three of them against the Eagles, including coming up with air on a catch by Nelson Agholor late in the third quarter. Agholor raced for the easy score, trimming Detroit’s lead to 20-17 with 4:15 left.
**** True. However, in each game Quandre Diggs made an impressive tackle. In today's game, the Eagles went on to score a TD. But in the other 2 games, his respective key / impressive tackles were huge in the outcome of the games. ****
-- The Lions forced fewer turnovers than everyone except the Raiders last year. So Matt Patricia went to work, acquiring players and designing drills that would force the ball out. So far, so good. Detroit entered the game with three takeaways, which was 10th in the league, and then forced two big ones against Philly in the first half. First A’Shawn Robinson pounced on a fumble, leading to one field goal, and then Darius Slay scooped up another and returned it 33 yards, leading to another field goal. That helped stake Detroit to a double-digit lead at halftime.-
**** The plus 2 takeaways vs. turnovers in this game, along with Jamal Agnew's Kickoff Return for a TD after the Eagles made it 3-0 on the opening drive of the game, were easily tbe difference in tbe game....along with the Eagles dropping around 7 passes. ****
- With temperatures in the upper 80s at kickoff, the Lions brought back the bench canopies that proved so successful in Miami last year. The Lions killed the Dolphins that week, and stayed cool thanks to a handful of staffers who held up makeshift shade on the sideline. Detroit used the same setup this week.
**** Good job by Matt Patricia with this and those that executed his strategy on the sideline.
The Eagles certainly didn't anticipate heat of this magnitude when they decided to wear their green jerseys. The Lions wearing white jerseys today was a huge break. ****
-
- Matt Patricia continued to use his timeouts conservatively. After sacking Carson Wentz with more than 40 seconds left in the first half, Detroit still had two timeouts left with Philly facing a third-and-long. But Patricia elected to take his timeouts into the half, content to ride out a 20-10 lead and get the ball back to start the second half.
**** I thought that was good strategy when factoring in the Lions 20-10 lead, the Lions getting the ball in the beginning of the 3rd QTR, and Carson Wentz being the Eagles QB.
On the other hand, I thought Matt Patricia made a huge mistake by challenging that the Eagles committed pass interference on a 2nd Down incompletion in the 3rd QTR. Not surprisingly, the call on the field stood. That mistake could have cost the Lions the game. ****
-- Rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson has been good, but not today. He was flagged twice, had a touchdown catch nullified because he stepped out of bounds and then dropped another would-be touchdown. He finished with one catch for the second straight week, this time for 4 yards.
**** It looked like pass interference could have been called on the pass in the end zone T.J. Hockenson didn't catch. CB Rasul Douglas was the defender on both the Hockenson plays in the end zone that he didn't secure for a TD. Douglas is a long physical CB. Definitely a bright spot for the Eagles today. ****
-- Nick Bawden hurdled a guy. Yes, Nick Bawden is a fullback. I just thought you should know.
**** Nick Bawden is an impressive athlete. He needs to be more consistent as a run blocker but there's plenty of upside ability. It's great to see him overcome a torn ACL. ****
.......
This thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions at Eagles preview: Game # 3 ( 2019 )
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/393/lions-eagles-preview-game-2019?page=1&scrollTo=1632
Thoughts in ****
Observations: Somehow, some way, unbeaten Lions hang on for another win
The Lions faced Philadelphia in a Week 3 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field.
Observations: Somehow, some way, unbeaten Lions hang on for another win
Updated 5:28 PM; Today 4:26 PM
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
PHILADELPHIA -- It wasn’t pretty, for a third straight week. But they didn’t lose, for a third straight week.
The Lions committed four penalties on third downs, scored just once on their seven second-half possessions, punted from Philadelphia’s 40-yard line, had a field goal blocked in the waning moments, then watched Darren Sproles catch a pass deep in Detroit territory that could have set up at least a game-tying field goal. Except, a flag -- and at last, this one wasn’t on Detroit.
Sproles was cited for offensive pass interference against Tavon Wilson. Carson Wentz’s desperation heave on fourth down fell incomplete. And somehow, some way, the Lions held on for a 27-24 win on Sunday against the Eagles.
The win is the Lions’ second in a row, and they remain unbeaten at 2-0-1 heading back home for a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs. For a team facing one of the most difficult first months in football, Detroit’s unbeaten record stands out, giving the club a chance to play meaningful football in the second half of the season.
Jamal Agnew opened the scoring for Detroit with a 100-yard touchdown on his first kick return of the game. It was a moment of redemption for a guy who was benched last week because of ball security issues, and sparked a special day for the special teams, with Agnew also doing well on punt return and Sam Martin booming a couple mooonshots himself.
But special teams have been a serious problem all year, including Martin having a punt blocked in Week 1 and Matt Prater missing a couple kicks last week. Then he had his 46-yard attempt blocked by Malcolm Jenkins with 1:53 remaining, giving Philadelphia the ball at midfield with Detroit clinging to just a three-point lead.
And Wentz had the Eagles threatening when he hit Sproles streaking into the red zone on fourth-and-5.But Sproles was flagged for pushing off on Wilson. Wentz’s ensuing pass fell harmlessly to the ground. And just like that, for a second straight week, Detroit had snuffed out a late comeback attempt for an occasionally ugly, certainly hard-won victory.
**** The Lions are very fortunate to have won this game. Props to the Lions Defense battling to help secure the victory. Even factoring in the Eagles two mega dropped passes on their final possession, which became their final set of downs. The Lions Offense and Special Teams came up short in crunch time. This put the Lions Defense in bad situations that were preventable with with execution that's needed on the NFL level.
Granted, the Eagles injuries going into this game proved very costly for them today. Yet, the Lions faced major injury adversity as well with Mike Daniels and Darius Slay going down. Jarrad Davis missed a few plays because of injury, which the Eagles took advantage of. It was a gutsy effort by the Lions Defense in unseasonable heat in Philadelphia. Even with the mistakes the Lions made on Defense, the effort and resolve were apparent. The three forced fumbles in the 2nd QTR, two that the Lions recovered, only resulted in 6 points. That was a major reason why the game was in doubt in the last minute of the game. ****
Here are some more instant observations:
-- Matthew Stafford wasn’t as sharp as in recent weeks, but put a bunch of air under the ball to hit Marvin Jones with a beautiful 12-yard touchdown pass on a corner route at the start of the fourth quarter. That gave the Lions a 27-17 lead, and proved to be the difference in the game once Philadelphia mounted its comeback attempt. Jones disappointed last year and started a little slow this year, but was excellent against Philadelphia, catching six passes for a team-high 101 yards and the one score.
-
**** Marvin Jones was arguably the Lions best player on Offense in this game. Taylor Decker had a huge rebound game and believe he is in the conversation for the Lions top Offensive Player. Frank Ragnow had a strong all around game, including making the tackle on the Blocked FG return. A blocking in the back penalty on Malcolm Jenkins- who blocked Matt Prater's FG ( I'm not blaming Prater ), negated much of Rasul Douglas' long Blocked FG Return.
On the other hand, Matthew Stafford wasn't consistent enough. He got away with a throw in the middle of the field under pressure that was incomplete. He threw to Marvin Jones on a completion that was off target that easily could have been a TD instead of a good gain First Down, if the ball was on target. He threw an incompletion to Jones that WR didn't catch in bounds because the ball was thrown late. Tbe 3rd Down incompletion to Jones that gave the Eagles the ball back following a touchback ( their 2nd to last possession ) is a throw that Stafford rushed after leaving the pocket, even though he had time to set himself better mechanically. That resulted in the ball being short to Jones. Stafford did make his share of good throws, at least a couple that were highly impressive. He also sensed pressure well when there was pressure. Yet, the mistakes Stafford made in this game could have cost the Lions the game. Thankfully, the Eagles dropped around 7 passes. ****
- The Lions offense scored a touchdown on its first touch, driving 13 plays for 75 yards before Kerryon Johnson helicoptered into the end zone for a 1-yard score. Johnson had a big pick up on third-and-1 earlier on the drive, while Kenny Golladay made a highly difficult catch on another third down and tight end Logan Thomas speared a beautiful catch to set up the score. It was a methodical scoring drive that set the tempo for a decent day from the Lions offense. Stafford finished 18 of 32 passing overall for 201 yards, no picks and the one score.-
**** The two Lions TD drives were excellent. Including, big time 3rd Down plays. Kerryon Johnson's greatest value in this game was the excellent job he did in pass protection. ****
- The running game was supposed to be Detroit’s thing this year. But through three weeks, it continues to be a problem. J.D. McKissic needed just one carry to lead the Lions in rushing, although that one carry -- a 44-yard pickup after he took the pitch on a reserve -- was a spectacular one. Kerryon Johnson scored a touchdown from the goal line, but otherwise struggled to get going and finished with just 36 yards on 20 carries. Detroit entered the day 25th in yards per carry, and averaged just 3.1 on 28 attempts against Philadelphia’s stout front.
**** The Lions pass blocking was clearly better than tbe team's run blocking. Both teams often had a Safety ( or other extra Defender) in or near the box, which made it difficult for either team to have anything close to successful consistency running the ball. )****
-- Penalties and injuries let Philadelphia hang around. The Lions defense was flagged four times on third down, each time giving Philly a new set of downs. Trey Flowers committed an especially costly one late, getting flagged for roughing the passer, although he was rolled up on during the play. Jarrad Davis screwed up an ensuing coverage on Darren Sproles, then was flagged for unnecessary roughness as he tried to recover. Given second and third chances, Wentz delivered a touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor that trimmed Detroit’s lead to 27-24 with 6:59 left, making the game closer than it should have been.
**** I understand why the Officials called the Roughing the Passer on Trey Flowers, though I think they should have picked the flag up. The Jarrad Davis personal foul was the right call. Flowers and Kevin Strong both had encroachment/ off side penalties. The one on Flowers, early in tbe game, gave the Eagles a 1st Down on a 3rd and 5 situation. The False Starts by T.J. Hockenson and Logan Thomas put the Lions in bad Down and Distance situations. ****
-- Disaster struck in the third quarter, when Slay came up limp after nearly picking off Carson Wentz. He immediately grabbed his hamstring, then headed to the locker room moments later. He did not return. Mike Ford took his place, and Wentz came right after him, although Ford forced an offensive pass interference that killed the drive.
**** Mike Ford did a good job, all things considering. But he was fortunate that WR Mac Hollins dropped a 2nd down pass on the Eagles final possession. Ford did a good job kaking sure the ball wasn't caught once Hollins didn't secure it. ****
-- Defensive tackle Mike Daniels and receiver Danny Amendola also left the game with injuries.-
**** Mike Daniels' injury is very concerning as it's a foot injury. I'm not sure if it's the same and foot he had the injury with Green Bay last season.
Danny Amendola made a terrific 3rd Down catch in Eagles territory that gave the Lions a first Down in the last few minutes of the game. All of the injured players from today's game would be major losses if they are out for one of more games. ****
- Middle linebacker Jarrad Davis made his season debut after sitting out the first two weeks with an ankle injury. He was in the starting lineup, along with Devon Kennard and Christian Jones, although the Lions curbed his role a bit to build in some extra breathers in the high heat. Davis usually plays almost 100% of the snaps, but was spelled by Jahlani Tavai on occasional series and then left the game briefly in the second half after appearing to re-injure his ankle. It proved to just be a scare and was able to finish the game. He did commit a key unnecessary roughness penalty in his return to the field though, setting up Philly’s final touchdown. He finished with six tackles, making him the first player in team history with at least 200 tackles and eight sacks in his first three seasons.
**** Other than the penalty and some rust, there were many positives from Jarrad Davis in this game. Including, the forced fumble that Darius Slay recovered in the 2nd QTR. He's a key player on Defense for sure, including his versatile skills and leadership. ****
-- Quandre Diggs is a very good tackler. Quandre Diggs has not been a very good tackler this year, and he certainly wasn’t a very good tackler in Philadelphia. He missed at least three of them against the Eagles, including coming up with air on a catch by Nelson Agholor late in the third quarter. Agholor raced for the easy score, trimming Detroit’s lead to 20-17 with 4:15 left.
**** True. However, in each game Quandre Diggs made an impressive tackle. In today's game, the Eagles went on to score a TD. But in the other 2 games, his respective key / impressive tackles were huge in the outcome of the games. ****
-- The Lions forced fewer turnovers than everyone except the Raiders last year. So Matt Patricia went to work, acquiring players and designing drills that would force the ball out. So far, so good. Detroit entered the game with three takeaways, which was 10th in the league, and then forced two big ones against Philly in the first half. First A’Shawn Robinson pounced on a fumble, leading to one field goal, and then Darius Slay scooped up another and returned it 33 yards, leading to another field goal. That helped stake Detroit to a double-digit lead at halftime.-
**** The plus 2 takeaways vs. turnovers in this game, along with Jamal Agnew's Kickoff Return for a TD after the Eagles made it 3-0 on the opening drive of the game, were easily tbe difference in tbe game....along with the Eagles dropping around 7 passes. ****
- With temperatures in the upper 80s at kickoff, the Lions brought back the bench canopies that proved so successful in Miami last year. The Lions killed the Dolphins that week, and stayed cool thanks to a handful of staffers who held up makeshift shade on the sideline. Detroit used the same setup this week.
**** Good job by Matt Patricia with this and those that executed his strategy on the sideline.
The Eagles certainly didn't anticipate heat of this magnitude when they decided to wear their green jerseys. The Lions wearing white jerseys today was a huge break. ****
-
- Matt Patricia continued to use his timeouts conservatively. After sacking Carson Wentz with more than 40 seconds left in the first half, Detroit still had two timeouts left with Philly facing a third-and-long. But Patricia elected to take his timeouts into the half, content to ride out a 20-10 lead and get the ball back to start the second half.
**** I thought that was good strategy when factoring in the Lions 20-10 lead, the Lions getting the ball in the beginning of the 3rd QTR, and Carson Wentz being the Eagles QB.
On the other hand, I thought Matt Patricia made a huge mistake by challenging that the Eagles committed pass interference on a 2nd Down incompletion in the 3rd QTR. Not surprisingly, the call on the field stood. That mistake could have cost the Lions the game. ****
-- Rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson has been good, but not today. He was flagged twice, had a touchdown catch nullified because he stepped out of bounds and then dropped another would-be touchdown. He finished with one catch for the second straight week, this time for 4 yards.
**** It looked like pass interference could have been called on the pass in the end zone T.J. Hockenson didn't catch. CB Rasul Douglas was the defender on both the Hockenson plays in the end zone that he didn't secure for a TD. Douglas is a long physical CB. Definitely a bright spot for the Eagles today. ****
-- Nick Bawden hurdled a guy. Yes, Nick Bawden is a fullback. I just thought you should know.
**** Nick Bawden is an impressive athlete. He needs to be more consistent as a run blocker but there's plenty of upside ability. It's great to see him overcome a torn ACL. ****
.......
This thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions at Eagles preview: Game # 3 ( 2019 )
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/393/lions-eagles-preview-game-2019?page=1&scrollTo=1632
