Post by D6 on Sept 18, 2022 23:50:55 GMT -5
Thoughts in ****
www.mlive.com/lions/2022/09/instant-observations-amon-ra-st-browns-record-day-huge-pass-rush-lead-detroit-lions-to-first-win.html
Instant observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown’s record day, huge pass rush lead Detroit Lions to first win
Updated: Sep. 18, 2022, 5:54 p.m.|Published: Sep. 18, 2022, 4:16 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- They dropped passes and ran wrong routes and had no answers for the opposing quarterback. The Lions were so bad in their opener, and lost because of it.
But they never looked that bad in training camp. They certainly didn’t have issues with dropping passes and running wrong routes and getting after the quarterback. While the loss was a disappointment, it felt like improvement was inevitable.
On Sunday, they showed it.
Quarterback Jared Goff threw four touchdown passes -- two of which went to Amon-Ra St. Brown in another historic day for the second-year wideout -- and Aidan Hutchinson added three sacks to lead the Lions to a 36-27 win on Sunday against the Washington Commanders at a wild Ford Field. The Lions improve to 1-1, which might not sound like much, but this marks the latest they’ve been .500 in a season since 2019.
Going back to last season, they’ve won three of their last five games. They’ve also scored at least 35 points in three straight games, the longest current streak in the NFL, and their longest such streak since doing it in four straight games in 1952-1953. They won championships both of those seasons, too.
**** The Lions won the 2021 regular season finale vs. the Packers but lost to the Falcons and Seahawks on the road. The Lions won 3 out of the last 6 games and 4 out of the last 8 games, since early December, 2021. ****
All of which offers yet more hope the rebuild is starting to find some stride. They’ll put that hope to the test next week when they open divisional play with a trip to Minnesota for a date with the Vikings.
**** Difficult game on the road for the Lions, especially with the current injury situation. But for now, I'm going to enjoy reflecting on the Lions win over the Commanders.****
St. Brown finished with nine catches for 116 yards overall, marking the eighth straight game where’s caught at least eight passes. That matches the NFL record set by Michael Thomas and Antonio Brown. He also had the two touchdown catches, marking the sixth straight game where he’s scored. That matches a club record. Throw in those 92 catches for 912 yards he had last season -- both club records for a rookie -- and St. Brown is propelling himself into the conversation to be one of the best young receivers in the NFL.
The fourth-round pick just might be the steal of the entire 2021 draft class.
St. Brown wasted no time getting started either, finding the crack in a misaligned defense for a 49-yard catch over the middle on the game’s second series. Then after the Lions stalled out at the goal line, St. Brown snagged a 13-yard touchdown catch right on the goal line. It came on third down too, helping ensure Detroit’s red-hot start turned into points.
****Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the best young WRs in the NFL and certainly merits consideration for the steal of the 2021 Draft. St. Brown is a difference maker for the Lions. He plays many roles on the Lions Offense at a winning level. Tremendous draft selection by Brad Holmes. ****
That gave the Lions a 12-0 lead, and aided by Hutchinson’s three sacks -- matching an NFL record for a rookie -- they didn’t look back while exploding to a 22-0 lead by halftime. A lead they wound up needing after Washington scratched its way back into the game in the third quarter.
**** Taking nothing away from Aidan Hutchinson, who had an impactful 1st half, and battled through a leg injury to help the Lions get in position to close out the game. Though sacks weren't an official NFL stat until the 1982 season, Lions DE Al 'Bubba' Baker had 5 sacks in the Lions win over the Bucs in Tampa, in week # 2 of the 1978 season. The game was played on a Saturday Night, as was the game with a number of early season Bucs home games in their early days in the NFL. Baker had 23 sacks as a rookie in the 1978 season, a remarkable accomplishment. ****
Finally protecting Carson Wentz long enough for him to look downfield, the veteran quarterback hit Curtis Samuel (15 yards) and Logan Thomas (20 yards) with touchdown passes in the span on three series to open the second half. Just like that, a 22-point lead had been whittled to 22-15. The crowd was growing restless.
The 3 scores occurred on 3 out of 4 series. On the Commanders 2nd series in the 2nd half, Will Harris had an interception, after the ball deflected off of Tracy Walker. Great play by Harris, who got beat on multiple big receiving plays in the 2nd half. ****
And who could blame them? They’re Lions fans, after all. They’ve watched six decades of this team losing games in every possible way. A 22-point lead is a lot; if there’s anything we’ve learned over the years, no lead is enough for this team.
Then the young stars around which Detroit wants to build stepped up. On the first play of the next drive, the crowd still audibly fidgeting in their seats from Washington’s 15-point outburst, St. Brown took the first handoff around the right side and didn’t stop running until he was 58 yards downfield.
****Great execution on the play, including by WR Quentez Cephus, who made a key block. Cephus is also surprisingly developing into a good Special Teams player, including as a Punt Gunner. Great play call as well by Ben Johnson, when the Lions definitely needed to get momentum back, and ultimately points in what became a 22-15 game.****
Then on third-and-15 and facing a heavy rush, Goff flipped the ball to D’Andre Swift. The running back -- playing on one good ankle -- fell to the ground, then scrambled back to his feet and cut back toward the middle of the field for a remarkable 22-yard touchdown. That extended Detroit’s lead to 29-15, and helped blunt the damage of Washington’s second-half surge.
**** Good play by Jared Goff under pressure, as Penei Sewell missed a blocking assignment on the 3rd Down play, in which the Commanders blitzed. Terrific play by D'Andre Swift, who showed tremendous heart in this game, playing with the ankle injury, and being a difference maker in the Lions win. DJ Chark made a key block on the play. The Lions WRs have contributed substantially as blockers to the Lions 71 point Offense in the First 2 games."
John Cominsky made sure it stood up too, sacking Carson Wentz on fourth down to seal Detroit’s first win of the season.
**** It looked like Julian Okwara got the game sealing sack, with a contribution from John Cominsky. Both were significant contributors to the Lions win. Okwara has differential movement pass rushing skills****
What a day for the pass rush. What a day for Amon-Ra St. Brown.
What a day for the Detroit Lions.
-- D’Andre Swift is special. The Lions have been saying it since the day they drafted the running back, but it has taken time for him to realize it. There have been frustrations within the organization, especially with Swift not finishing off plays, and not knowing when to fight through injuries. Then after practicing just once all week while dealing with an ankle injury he suffered while piling up 175 yards of offense last week, he racked up another 87 yards on just seven touches against Washington, a limited workload because of the injury.
Swift broke a 51-yard run in the first quarter, making him the first Lions running back to have 50-yarders in back-to-back games since -- you already know the name, don’t you? -- Barry Sanders back in the 1990s. He added the touchdown on the screen pass to help Detroit maintain control of the game despite Washington getting on track. All told, Swift was a playmaker even while not at 100%. That’s what special players do, and Swift is finally starting to wear that cape.
****D'Andre Swift is rushing on a higher level than in his first 2 seasons. The gain of bulk strength has clearly helped Swift.****
-- Aidan Hutchinson is special too, even if the boxscore didn’t say it last week. He was destructive in practice throughout training camp, and not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Lions have a pretty good offensive line. Philadephia just didn’t have to pass a lot, and doubled Hutchinson a lot when they did. Detroit promised better things were coming, and we didn’t have to wait long to see it against Washington. Hutchinson notched his first career sack on the game’s first drive, which forced one punt, then added two more later in the half, which led to two more. Three sacks are a rookie record for Detroit.
**** The effort Hutch provides on each play is a huge part of his success and success the Lions Defense has. ****
Hutchinson wasn’t alone. Charles Harris added a sack-fumble in the end zone, a safety that gave Detroit a 5-0 lead, while John Cominsky added another on fourth down to seal the win late in the first quarter. The Lions finished with five sacks overall, plus the safety and an intentional grounding.
**** Charles Harris' impact in the 1st half was certainly a huge part of the Lions Defensive Shutout at halftime. The Safety that Harris caused on the sack/ QB fumble not only bailed Dan Campbell out for going for a TD on 4th and Goal from the 3 yard line but it also led to Kalif Raymond's long Kick Return, following the Safety. That helped set up the TD from Goff to St. Brown on a 3rd Down Red Zone play that made the score 12-0, following the PAT. Great throw under pressure and great catch in tight coverage.****
-- Already without one starting cornerback (Amani Oruwariye), the Lions lost another when Jeff Okudah went down with leg cramps early in the fourth quarter. Okudah has played well in his return from the Achilles injury that sidelined him for most of the last calendar year, but has also left both games this season with leg cramps. That forced the Lions to play converted safeties Will Harris and Bobby Price at cornerback for most of the final quarter.
**** This contributed to the necessary strategy of Aaron Glenn using Zone Coverage. The final Commanders TD drive was around 14 plays. It didn't occur until after the two minute warning, which made the Commanders task difficult even before the missed PAT that kept the score at 36-27.****
-- Harris was responsible for a couple long catches, per usual, but he also picked off an errant Carson Wentz pass in themiddle of Washington’s third-quarter surge. Wentz airmailed a pass to former Lions tight end Logan Thomas on the play, and Harris made a diving catch to get Detroit the football back. Harris has been such a disappointment since he was taken in the third round of the 2019 draft, so much so he was moved to cornerback this season. But then just two games into the year, making an emergency start against a talented trio of receivers, he picked off the first pass in his 51-game career. Massive.
**** Credit to LBs Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez for their pass Defense drops(depth) on the play action pass play that Will Harris came down with the Interception, after it deflected off of Tracy Walker. Both LBs had winning level performances. From my point of view, Rodriquez was even more impressive in this game than against the Eagles. He made a number of plays against the run that were not routine.****
-- Dan Campbell got aggressive once again, and it backfired again, though the decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Commanders’ 3-yard line made sense at the time. Washington has a really good passing game -- ranked fifth coming into the week -- that could score in bunches. Field goals were never going to win this game, and after Washington’s 27 second-half points, that’s obvious. The fault for the play not working lies with Jared Goff, who missed St. Brown with a touchdown pass on third down, then also missed DJ Chark while stepping up into the pocket on fourth down. He has to make those plays. Or his head coach will stop calling them.
**** The Lions Defense bailed out Dan Campbell. I understand that the Commanders were going to start at their only 3 yard line if an incomplete pass occurred on 4th Down. Yet, with the Lions being without all 3 projected interior Offensive Line starters, I thought the Lions needed to take the highly likely 3 points. ****
-- The Lions started so fast in all the ways. Offense, defense, special teams, you name it, they out-everything’d Washington in it. Midway through the second quarter, they were averaging nearly 10 yards per play while Washington remained without a first down. Hard to lose like that. Hard to nitpick, too. Having said that, the lead could have been so much more if not for the struggles of Jared Goff. Again, nitpicking here. Goff completed 11 of his first 17 passes for 149 yards and had touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josgh Reynolds. But he also misfired on third- and fourth-down passes into the end zone, which forced a turnover on downs at the goal line. He also underthrew DJ Chark on a trick play where he handed off the football to Craig Reynolds, who then dished the ball back to Goff, who then fired deep for Chark in the end zone. The defense wasn’t bad on the play, but Chark had a step. Goff just threw short, which allowed the defense to catch back up and break up the play. Better throws there, and the wheels would have been off well before halftime.
**** There were also at least two more drops in this game, one by D'Andre Swift, another by T.J. Hockenson. If I recall correctly, both were late in the 2nd QTR. Jared Goff could have made some better throws. But in the 2nd half when the Commanders cut the score to a one possession game a couple of times, Goff came through. He was a major part of this win.****
-- Dan Skipper, a 6-foot-9 offensive tackle, earned the start for Jonah Jackson at left guard. He was shaky early -- allowing a sack -- but also delivered a key second-level block on Swift’s 51-yard run. Meanwhile, Evan Brown started for Frank Ragnow at center and Logan Stenberg started for Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Tommy Kreamer at right guard.
**** Logan Stenberg gave up a sack a number of QB pressures. While Dan Skipper probably got away with multiple holding calls (the officials weren't calling Holding Penalties for either team), Skipper had a much more effective performance than Stenberg. Gutsy effort for Dan Skipper. As for Evan Brown, he likely graded out very high Pass Blocking. I thought he did a good overall job run blocking as well. Brown is the definition of high caliber depth. Stenberg had some good blocks, but he's been far too inconsistent in the first 2 games. Hopefully, the experience he's gaining playing in the regular season will help him become more consistent with technique and awareness.****
Just so many injuries, taking out the entirety of the interior offensive line. Yet Detroit rolled for 36 points anyway, while running for 191 yards. Good teams win when they’re not at their best. Detroit might not be a good team yet, but things sure seem to be trending that way.
**** While I have concerns about Dan Campbell with game management decisions, it's a credit to him and the Lions Coaching Staff that the team played as well as the Lions did in the first half and then close out the game. The Lions injury situation, especially on the Interior Offensive Line, was quite a challenge to overcome. The Lions accomplished this. Though the game became a one score game a couple of times in the 2nd half and would have a 3rd time if not for the missed PAT, the Lions earn props for closing out the game. Baltimore, Cleveland, and Las Vegas failed to do so in Week 2, each losing after having large leads. ****
..........
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions vs. Commanders preview: Game # 2 ( 2022 )
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1542/lions-commanders-preview-game-2022
www.mlive.com/lions/2022/09/instant-observations-amon-ra-st-browns-record-day-huge-pass-rush-lead-detroit-lions-to-first-win.html
Instant observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown’s record day, huge pass rush lead Detroit Lions to first win
Updated: Sep. 18, 2022, 5:54 p.m.|Published: Sep. 18, 2022, 4:16 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- They dropped passes and ran wrong routes and had no answers for the opposing quarterback. The Lions were so bad in their opener, and lost because of it.
But they never looked that bad in training camp. They certainly didn’t have issues with dropping passes and running wrong routes and getting after the quarterback. While the loss was a disappointment, it felt like improvement was inevitable.
On Sunday, they showed it.
Quarterback Jared Goff threw four touchdown passes -- two of which went to Amon-Ra St. Brown in another historic day for the second-year wideout -- and Aidan Hutchinson added three sacks to lead the Lions to a 36-27 win on Sunday against the Washington Commanders at a wild Ford Field. The Lions improve to 1-1, which might not sound like much, but this marks the latest they’ve been .500 in a season since 2019.
Going back to last season, they’ve won three of their last five games. They’ve also scored at least 35 points in three straight games, the longest current streak in the NFL, and their longest such streak since doing it in four straight games in 1952-1953. They won championships both of those seasons, too.
**** The Lions won the 2021 regular season finale vs. the Packers but lost to the Falcons and Seahawks on the road. The Lions won 3 out of the last 6 games and 4 out of the last 8 games, since early December, 2021. ****
All of which offers yet more hope the rebuild is starting to find some stride. They’ll put that hope to the test next week when they open divisional play with a trip to Minnesota for a date with the Vikings.
**** Difficult game on the road for the Lions, especially with the current injury situation. But for now, I'm going to enjoy reflecting on the Lions win over the Commanders.****
St. Brown finished with nine catches for 116 yards overall, marking the eighth straight game where’s caught at least eight passes. That matches the NFL record set by Michael Thomas and Antonio Brown. He also had the two touchdown catches, marking the sixth straight game where he’s scored. That matches a club record. Throw in those 92 catches for 912 yards he had last season -- both club records for a rookie -- and St. Brown is propelling himself into the conversation to be one of the best young receivers in the NFL.
The fourth-round pick just might be the steal of the entire 2021 draft class.
St. Brown wasted no time getting started either, finding the crack in a misaligned defense for a 49-yard catch over the middle on the game’s second series. Then after the Lions stalled out at the goal line, St. Brown snagged a 13-yard touchdown catch right on the goal line. It came on third down too, helping ensure Detroit’s red-hot start turned into points.
****Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the best young WRs in the NFL and certainly merits consideration for the steal of the 2021 Draft. St. Brown is a difference maker for the Lions. He plays many roles on the Lions Offense at a winning level. Tremendous draft selection by Brad Holmes. ****
That gave the Lions a 12-0 lead, and aided by Hutchinson’s three sacks -- matching an NFL record for a rookie -- they didn’t look back while exploding to a 22-0 lead by halftime. A lead they wound up needing after Washington scratched its way back into the game in the third quarter.
**** Taking nothing away from Aidan Hutchinson, who had an impactful 1st half, and battled through a leg injury to help the Lions get in position to close out the game. Though sacks weren't an official NFL stat until the 1982 season, Lions DE Al 'Bubba' Baker had 5 sacks in the Lions win over the Bucs in Tampa, in week # 2 of the 1978 season. The game was played on a Saturday Night, as was the game with a number of early season Bucs home games in their early days in the NFL. Baker had 23 sacks as a rookie in the 1978 season, a remarkable accomplishment. ****
Finally protecting Carson Wentz long enough for him to look downfield, the veteran quarterback hit Curtis Samuel (15 yards) and Logan Thomas (20 yards) with touchdown passes in the span on three series to open the second half. Just like that, a 22-point lead had been whittled to 22-15. The crowd was growing restless.
The 3 scores occurred on 3 out of 4 series. On the Commanders 2nd series in the 2nd half, Will Harris had an interception, after the ball deflected off of Tracy Walker. Great play by Harris, who got beat on multiple big receiving plays in the 2nd half. ****
And who could blame them? They’re Lions fans, after all. They’ve watched six decades of this team losing games in every possible way. A 22-point lead is a lot; if there’s anything we’ve learned over the years, no lead is enough for this team.
Then the young stars around which Detroit wants to build stepped up. On the first play of the next drive, the crowd still audibly fidgeting in their seats from Washington’s 15-point outburst, St. Brown took the first handoff around the right side and didn’t stop running until he was 58 yards downfield.
****Great execution on the play, including by WR Quentez Cephus, who made a key block. Cephus is also surprisingly developing into a good Special Teams player, including as a Punt Gunner. Great play call as well by Ben Johnson, when the Lions definitely needed to get momentum back, and ultimately points in what became a 22-15 game.****
Then on third-and-15 and facing a heavy rush, Goff flipped the ball to D’Andre Swift. The running back -- playing on one good ankle -- fell to the ground, then scrambled back to his feet and cut back toward the middle of the field for a remarkable 22-yard touchdown. That extended Detroit’s lead to 29-15, and helped blunt the damage of Washington’s second-half surge.
**** Good play by Jared Goff under pressure, as Penei Sewell missed a blocking assignment on the 3rd Down play, in which the Commanders blitzed. Terrific play by D'Andre Swift, who showed tremendous heart in this game, playing with the ankle injury, and being a difference maker in the Lions win. DJ Chark made a key block on the play. The Lions WRs have contributed substantially as blockers to the Lions 71 point Offense in the First 2 games."
John Cominsky made sure it stood up too, sacking Carson Wentz on fourth down to seal Detroit’s first win of the season.
**** It looked like Julian Okwara got the game sealing sack, with a contribution from John Cominsky. Both were significant contributors to the Lions win. Okwara has differential movement pass rushing skills****
What a day for the pass rush. What a day for Amon-Ra St. Brown.
What a day for the Detroit Lions.
-- D’Andre Swift is special. The Lions have been saying it since the day they drafted the running back, but it has taken time for him to realize it. There have been frustrations within the organization, especially with Swift not finishing off plays, and not knowing when to fight through injuries. Then after practicing just once all week while dealing with an ankle injury he suffered while piling up 175 yards of offense last week, he racked up another 87 yards on just seven touches against Washington, a limited workload because of the injury.
Swift broke a 51-yard run in the first quarter, making him the first Lions running back to have 50-yarders in back-to-back games since -- you already know the name, don’t you? -- Barry Sanders back in the 1990s. He added the touchdown on the screen pass to help Detroit maintain control of the game despite Washington getting on track. All told, Swift was a playmaker even while not at 100%. That’s what special players do, and Swift is finally starting to wear that cape.
****D'Andre Swift is rushing on a higher level than in his first 2 seasons. The gain of bulk strength has clearly helped Swift.****
-- Aidan Hutchinson is special too, even if the boxscore didn’t say it last week. He was destructive in practice throughout training camp, and not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Lions have a pretty good offensive line. Philadephia just didn’t have to pass a lot, and doubled Hutchinson a lot when they did. Detroit promised better things were coming, and we didn’t have to wait long to see it against Washington. Hutchinson notched his first career sack on the game’s first drive, which forced one punt, then added two more later in the half, which led to two more. Three sacks are a rookie record for Detroit.
**** The effort Hutch provides on each play is a huge part of his success and success the Lions Defense has. ****
Hutchinson wasn’t alone. Charles Harris added a sack-fumble in the end zone, a safety that gave Detroit a 5-0 lead, while John Cominsky added another on fourth down to seal the win late in the first quarter. The Lions finished with five sacks overall, plus the safety and an intentional grounding.
**** Charles Harris' impact in the 1st half was certainly a huge part of the Lions Defensive Shutout at halftime. The Safety that Harris caused on the sack/ QB fumble not only bailed Dan Campbell out for going for a TD on 4th and Goal from the 3 yard line but it also led to Kalif Raymond's long Kick Return, following the Safety. That helped set up the TD from Goff to St. Brown on a 3rd Down Red Zone play that made the score 12-0, following the PAT. Great throw under pressure and great catch in tight coverage.****
-- Already without one starting cornerback (Amani Oruwariye), the Lions lost another when Jeff Okudah went down with leg cramps early in the fourth quarter. Okudah has played well in his return from the Achilles injury that sidelined him for most of the last calendar year, but has also left both games this season with leg cramps. That forced the Lions to play converted safeties Will Harris and Bobby Price at cornerback for most of the final quarter.
**** This contributed to the necessary strategy of Aaron Glenn using Zone Coverage. The final Commanders TD drive was around 14 plays. It didn't occur until after the two minute warning, which made the Commanders task difficult even before the missed PAT that kept the score at 36-27.****
-- Harris was responsible for a couple long catches, per usual, but he also picked off an errant Carson Wentz pass in themiddle of Washington’s third-quarter surge. Wentz airmailed a pass to former Lions tight end Logan Thomas on the play, and Harris made a diving catch to get Detroit the football back. Harris has been such a disappointment since he was taken in the third round of the 2019 draft, so much so he was moved to cornerback this season. But then just two games into the year, making an emergency start against a talented trio of receivers, he picked off the first pass in his 51-game career. Massive.
**** Credit to LBs Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez for their pass Defense drops(depth) on the play action pass play that Will Harris came down with the Interception, after it deflected off of Tracy Walker. Both LBs had winning level performances. From my point of view, Rodriquez was even more impressive in this game than against the Eagles. He made a number of plays against the run that were not routine.****
-- Dan Campbell got aggressive once again, and it backfired again, though the decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Commanders’ 3-yard line made sense at the time. Washington has a really good passing game -- ranked fifth coming into the week -- that could score in bunches. Field goals were never going to win this game, and after Washington’s 27 second-half points, that’s obvious. The fault for the play not working lies with Jared Goff, who missed St. Brown with a touchdown pass on third down, then also missed DJ Chark while stepping up into the pocket on fourth down. He has to make those plays. Or his head coach will stop calling them.
**** The Lions Defense bailed out Dan Campbell. I understand that the Commanders were going to start at their only 3 yard line if an incomplete pass occurred on 4th Down. Yet, with the Lions being without all 3 projected interior Offensive Line starters, I thought the Lions needed to take the highly likely 3 points. ****
-- The Lions started so fast in all the ways. Offense, defense, special teams, you name it, they out-everything’d Washington in it. Midway through the second quarter, they were averaging nearly 10 yards per play while Washington remained without a first down. Hard to lose like that. Hard to nitpick, too. Having said that, the lead could have been so much more if not for the struggles of Jared Goff. Again, nitpicking here. Goff completed 11 of his first 17 passes for 149 yards and had touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josgh Reynolds. But he also misfired on third- and fourth-down passes into the end zone, which forced a turnover on downs at the goal line. He also underthrew DJ Chark on a trick play where he handed off the football to Craig Reynolds, who then dished the ball back to Goff, who then fired deep for Chark in the end zone. The defense wasn’t bad on the play, but Chark had a step. Goff just threw short, which allowed the defense to catch back up and break up the play. Better throws there, and the wheels would have been off well before halftime.
**** There were also at least two more drops in this game, one by D'Andre Swift, another by T.J. Hockenson. If I recall correctly, both were late in the 2nd QTR. Jared Goff could have made some better throws. But in the 2nd half when the Commanders cut the score to a one possession game a couple of times, Goff came through. He was a major part of this win.****
-- Dan Skipper, a 6-foot-9 offensive tackle, earned the start for Jonah Jackson at left guard. He was shaky early -- allowing a sack -- but also delivered a key second-level block on Swift’s 51-yard run. Meanwhile, Evan Brown started for Frank Ragnow at center and Logan Stenberg started for Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Tommy Kreamer at right guard.
**** Logan Stenberg gave up a sack a number of QB pressures. While Dan Skipper probably got away with multiple holding calls (the officials weren't calling Holding Penalties for either team), Skipper had a much more effective performance than Stenberg. Gutsy effort for Dan Skipper. As for Evan Brown, he likely graded out very high Pass Blocking. I thought he did a good overall job run blocking as well. Brown is the definition of high caliber depth. Stenberg had some good blocks, but he's been far too inconsistent in the first 2 games. Hopefully, the experience he's gaining playing in the regular season will help him become more consistent with technique and awareness.****
Just so many injuries, taking out the entirety of the interior offensive line. Yet Detroit rolled for 36 points anyway, while running for 191 yards. Good teams win when they’re not at their best. Detroit might not be a good team yet, but things sure seem to be trending that way.
**** While I have concerns about Dan Campbell with game management decisions, it's a credit to him and the Lions Coaching Staff that the team played as well as the Lions did in the first half and then close out the game. The Lions injury situation, especially on the Interior Offensive Line, was quite a challenge to overcome. The Lions accomplished this. Though the game became a one score game a couple of times in the 2nd half and would have a 3rd time if not for the missed PAT, the Lions earn props for closing out the game. Baltimore, Cleveland, and Las Vegas failed to do so in Week 2, each losing after having large leads. ****
..........
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions vs. Commanders preview: Game # 2 ( 2022 )
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1542/lions-commanders-preview-game-2022
