Post by D6 on Dec 6, 2021 4:27:30 GMT -5
Instant observations: Jared Goff delivers Lions’ first win on walk-off TD pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown
Thoughts in. ****
Instant observations: Jared Goff delivers Lions’ first win on walk-off TD pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown
Updated: Dec. 05, 2021, 5:48 p.m. | Published: Dec. 05, 2021, 4:34 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
Jared Goff’s cleats said “Detroit Over Everything.” After going winless in their first 11 games, fans would have settled for Detroit Over Someone. Anyone. Anyone at all.
On Sunday, 364 days since they last won a game, they finally did it again.
Goff overcame two fourth-quarter turnovers and a late Minnesota touchdown with a methodical 14-play drive, and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown at the buzzer to deliver the Detroit Lions (1-10-1) their first win by a 29-27 score against the Vikings at Ford Field.
The Lions hadn’t won since then-interim head coach Darren Bevell kicked off the post-Matt Patricia era with a win against Chicago on Dec. 6 of last season, a drought that went back 15 games, an NFL worst, and left Dan Campbell still searching for his first victory as a head coach.
Campbell had been close plenty of times before, including losing three times on buzzer-beaters. Baltimore stunned Detroit with an NFL-record 66-yarder off the crossbar at the horn back in Week 3. Two weeks later, Minnesota did the same thing from 54 yards.
No team in NFL history had ever lost twice on 50-yard buzzer-beaters in the same season. The Lions did it twice in three weeks, before losing for a third time at the buzzer just last week against Chicago on Thanksgiving.
A week later, Goff -- playing one of his best games since arriving in the Matthew Stafford trade over the winter -- finally exacted his revenge. He started this one on fire, jumping all over Minnesota on 11 of 13 passing for 167 yards in the second quarter alone and throwing touchdown passes to tight ends T.J. Hockenson (9 yards) and Brock Wright (23). Both scoring passes were brilliant, and the one to Hockenson was set up by an even more brilliant pass to Hockenson in triple-coverage.
Goff hit receivers near and far and everywhere in between, including two in the end zone, and strung together 11 straight completions at one point. He hadn’t played like this since the first half of the Green Bay game all the way back in Week 2, if at all.
Then the third quarter kicked off, and the old Goff ran out of the tunnel.
The Lions lost 8 yards on their first two drives of the half, while Minnesota scored 10 quick points to pull within 20-15. Detroit did add a field goal to make it an eight-point game, but then Goff committed the first of back-to-back turnovers, an awful interception while forcing a pass to Hockenson in double coverage -- even though he had St. Brown unmarked on the other side of the field.
One series later, Goff coughed up the ball again, this time fumbling it away on fourth-and-inches.
Six plays later, Justin Jefferson was standing in the end zone with a go-ahead touchdown pass that gave Minnesota a 27-23 lead.
This has been the book on Goff all season -- just too many mistakes, especially when it mattered most. But there was still 1:54 left on the clock, and this time, Goff put together one of his best, most methodical drives in Detroit.
He completed 9 of 11 passes on the drive for 80 yards, including a 13-yarder to Godwin Igwebuike on third-and-10 -- Detroit’s first third-down pickup of the whole day -- and then a 10-yarder to Hockenson on third-and-6. That gave Detroit the ball at Minnesota’s 11-yard line with 13 seconds, enough time to take a couple shots at the end zone.
**** An 8 yard completion to Amon-Ra St.Brown came after T.J. Hockenson's 3rd and 6 reception for a 1st Down and a spike to stop the clock. ****
Goff missed on his first pass to Josh Reynolds, setting up a climactic final play with 4 seconds left from the 11. Minnesota elected to rush only three, and with plenty of time to maneuver, Goff rifled the winning pass to St. Brown crouching on the other side of the goal line.
Not a bad time for the rookie to score his first career touchdown, eh?
Goff immediately ran to the sideline to hug Campbell, who had finally won for the first time since his hire in Detroit last offseason. And with that, the Lions are guaranteed not to become the first team to go winless in a 17-game season. Don’t look now, but they’ve actually been playing pretty well too, with their defense putting in four straight quality games while Goff has now strung together two of his best efforts in Detroit.
The Lions are still sitting on the No. 1 overall pick despite the win, although that race has now tightened heading into next week’s game in Denver against the Broncos.
**** I'm pleasantly surprised that Jared Goff took the Lions on a 75 yard Game Winning drive, with no timeouts and 1:50 remaining on the clock. With Goff throwing the Game winning TD, with the Lions having the ball at the Vikings 11 yard Line, something I didn't expect as well. Before the game winning drive, I lost practically any remaining hope Goff could be a long term solution for the Lions. As well as hoping that the Lions would find a better bridge option at QB for the 2022 season.
The 3rd Down interception by Vikings CB Cameron Dantizer was much like a number of other plays in which Goff didn't see a wide open receiver. In this case St. Brown. He appeared to keep his eyes on Hockenson, with Dantizer taking advantage of this.
Then after the Lions Defense forced the Vikings to Punt, Goff was off target to TE Brock Wright on a short pass in which he wasn't under pressure. An incompletion resulted with Wright not being able to secure the pass. That play easily could have been the difference in the Lions ending up in 4th and inches, instead of securing 1st Down on 2nd or 3rd Down. I don't blame Goff for what resulted on 4th Down. The first down inaccuracy was the issue.
To Jared Goff's credit, he overcame his mistakes with his most clutch play since coming to the Lions. The 11 yard TD throw to Brown, who I thought had the best game of any Lions players on Offense in the thrilling win over the Vikings, was the best throw Goff made in his first 11 games he had played with the Lions. The throw was made with great timing, crispness, and accuracy. Great job by Brown securing the ball, considering the moment. Because of the final drive and play, I think Goff has earned the opportunity to be evaluated the remainder of the season. ****
Let’s get to some more instant observations:
-- The Lions held a moment of silence before kickoff to honor the Oxford community after a shooter killed four students there on Tuesday. Ford Field is about 40 miles from Oxford. Lions safety Jalen Elliott, who wears No. 42, showed up for the game with “Myre” on the back of his jersey. Tate Myre, who wore No. 42 for Oxford, is believed to have died while trying to rush the shooter. Players on both teams wore a block “O” decal on the back of their helmets, and many Lions players and coaches -- including head coach Dan Campbell -- wore Oxford T-shirts before the game.
Dan Campbell later gave away the game ball from his first NFL win to the Oxford community. What a touching tribute.
**** Great job by Dan Campbell, Jalen Elliot, and the Lions & Vikings overall with their support for the Oxford, MI community. Tate Myre is an inspiration. He will always be a definition of a hero, team captain, and leader. My thoughts and prayers are with the Oxford community. The tragedy they are dealing with is unthinkable. ****
-- Goff has been the butt of jokes this season, and deservedly so. He’s been among the worst quarterbacks in the league no matter how you like to judge your quarterbacks. He’s not efficient, and he’s sure as hell not explosive. No one is less conservative than that guy, and while the lack of talent at receiver certainly plays into it, it has been a really tough season watching the quarterback position in Detroit. But since Goff returned from his oblique injury last week, he’s actually playing some pretty good football. He delivered his highest-rated game of the season on Thanksgiving against the Bears, then did just enough to beat Minnesota even without D’Andre Swift, Detroit’s leading rusher and second-leading receiver. Goff even was effective down the field, hitting guys like Josh Reynolds, T.J. Hockenson and even Brock Wright with downfield throws, the latter of which scored a touchdown.
**** The good by Jared Geoff ended up outweighing the bad in this game. Yet, the bad shouldn't be overlooked. Goff has the opportunity to correct his mistakes moving forward this season, without the weight of a winless season. Not to mention, this was Goff's first NFL win as a starting QB with a Head Coach / play caller other than Sean McVay.****
And in crunch time, Goff was cool and clinical, making the plays that were in front of him without forcing the ball to anyone. Those two second-half turnovers hurt, but he answered the adversity as well. Given all the criticism he’s faced since arriving in Detroit, he deserves a lot of credit for gutting this one out on a day when Detroit didn’t have its best offensive player. Goff finished 25 of 41 passing for 296 yards, three touchdown passes, one interception, one fumble and a QB rating of 97.2.
**** Under the circumstance of the Lions not converting in the 4th and inches situation near the Lions 29 yard line in the 4th QTR, the fumble was better than an incompletion. The Vikings started their drive at around the Lions 19 yard line, instead of at the around the Lions 29 yard line. The reason this was better is the Vikings drive was going to end sooner, barring one or more Lions penalties or a 4th Down conversion. Unlike against the Bears, the Lions were likely going to get the ball back with enough time to have a realistic chance of winning the game. The Lions avoiding a Defensive Penalty on what became the Vikings got ahead TD drive was the most important outcome. The Vikings barely getting a 1st Down ( Alexander Mattison run (on the 3rd and less than 2 situation) was probably a huge break for the Lions. If the Vikings would have converted on a 4th and less than 1 situation, anything but a TD, going out of bounds, or a Defensive Penalty (the one exception when a Defensive Penalty might have helped the Lions), would have made it much more difficult for the Lions to have had enough time left, if the Vikings scored points (which was highly likely). ****
-- Props to St. Brown too, whose first NFL touchdown was a walk-off. But he was good all day, and especially in the fourth quarter. He finished with a team-high 10 catches for 86 yards and the winning score. The rookie fell to the final day of the draft, but continues to show Detroit might have found a gem. With more talent around him, he’d be producing a lot more.
****Amon-Ra St.Brown also broke up a likely interception in the end zone, after Jared Goff's throw to the WR was altered. S Harrison Smith blitzed off the edge and affected Goff's throw as he got to the QB. St. Brown also had a strong blocking game and got out of bounds on the 8 yard pass to the Vikings 11 yard line. Great all around performance by # 14! ****
-- T.J. Hockenson hasn’t been able to match the production from his Pro Bowl season this year, and that’s a shame, because he’s certainly capable of it. He is Detroit’s best skill player this side of D’Andre Swift. But with nothing else worth shaking a stick at in the passing game -- and I do mean nothing whatsoever -- defenses have been able to collapse on him with bracketed coverage all year. On Sunday, Hockenson finally found a way to break back through. He found the soft spot in triple coverage for an outstanding catch at the start of the second quarter, then beat Minnesota on a 9-yard slant for a touchdown that gave Detroit a 7-6 lead. More talent in Detroit, and that’s the sort of thing we’d see with more regularity. Alas. Hockenson finished with four catches for 49 yards.
**** T.J. Hockenson had a disappointing 1st QTR with a dropped pass and below average run blocking. Hockenson's blocking improved after that but it still wasn't consistent enough. However, Hock's receiving was a huge factor in the Lions win. ****
-- Jared Goff added another touchdown pass to another tight end, undrafted rookie Brock Wright, later in the first half. That’s the first time two tight ends have caught touchdown passes in the same game for Detroit since 2016, and the first time an undrafted rookie has caught a TD pass at that position since Joseph Fauria in 2013.
****Brock Wright has played better than I expected. He probably has been a better run blocker in the post-bye week games combined than Hock. Very good job by Wright on the TD reception. ****
-- Speaking of undrafted rookies, Jerry Jacobs has impressed throughout the season while Jeff Okudah and Ifeatu Melifonwu were on injured reserve. And even with the return of Melifonwu on Sunday, a third-round pick, Jacobs started once again. That’s a nice vote of confidence in Jacobs, and he rewarded the coaches’ faith by opening the game with a pair of third-down tackles short of the sticks. He later left the game with a neck injury and was replaced by Melifonwu, before quickly retaking his place on the field opposite Amani Oruwariye. He finished with a career-high seven tackles, including two for loss.
****Jerry Jacobs had at least 4 tackles that had substantial impact for the Lions in this game ****
-- The star of the defense just might have been Charles Harris, who erupted for two more sacks in what has turned out to be quite the season for the former first-round pick. He was a bust down in Miami, and had just six sacks in his first four years combined. But the Lions saw something in him, and now Harris has six sacks in just 12 games in Detroit. He got one on back-to-back drives in the first half for Detroit, and the first one caused a Kirk Cousins fumble. The Lions came back the other way for another score while jumping to a 20-6 lead.
****Charles Harris also had a few other pressures. His only major negative was a Roughing the Passer penalty on the play of K.J. Osborn's reception. The Lions did a great job stopping the Vikings on the 2 point conversion attempt on a rushing play in a heavy formation, from the 1 yard line, following the penalty (half the distance from the 2 yard line. ). The Lions Defender in the front 7 who I thought had the second best performance was LB Josh Woods. He has impressed me greatly on Special Teams in a number of games and now looks like he might be a good option in the Off the Ball LB rotation. Brad Holmes needs to get Woods under contract for the 2022 season. ****
-- How about Riley Patterson, huh? After letting Matt Prater walk in free agency, the Lions turned to Randy Bullock, Matthew Wright, Zane Gonzalez, Austin Seibert, Ryan Santoso, Patterson and then Aldrick Rosas before spinnig the carousel back to Patterson on Sunday. And perhaps the Lions should give the spin cycle a break for a while, because Patterson sure looks like an NFL kicker to me. He converted all three attempts against Minnesota, including a 49-yarder that stretched Detroit’s lead back to 23-15 after a quick 10-0 run by the Vikings had made things closer coming out of halftime. That’s a huge kick, and it split the uprights with ample distance.
.
**** A quick 9-0 run, as the Vikings failed on that 2 points conversion (all 3 of them in total).
Great job by Riley Patterson!
Two questions that come to mind are, will the Lions give Patterson an opportunity on Kickoffs, and what's the assessment by the Lions brass of Patterson on his kickoffs in practice?****
-- The Lions opened the game without defensive tackle John Penisini, who developed a non-COVID illness late in the week, before losing another defensive tackle, Nick Williams, to a left wrist injury just two snaps into the game. That left a massive hole in the middle of Detroit’s defensive front for much of the first half, before Williams was able to retake the field in the second quarter -- and then wound up making a huge play in the fourth, blowing up a 2-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game. Instead, the Lions continued to cling to a 23-21 lead.
****Nick Williams came up big on the 2 point conversion attempt. I thought his overall performance was pretty good. Bruce Hector did a good to very good job vs. the run, especially in tbe Big 4-3 DE role that the Lions have used Michael Brockers and now former Lion Da'Shawn Hand in. Hector caused a critical red zone holding penalty by TE Tyler Conklin, on a drive he Vikings eventually had to settle for a FG. I think the Lions need to sign Hector to the 53 man roster soon! ****
.......
This thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions vs. Vikings preview: Game # 12 (2021)
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1271/lions-vikings-preview-game-2021
