Detroit Lions Week 6 PFF Grades: Defense Dominates

If you are not aware by now, Pro Football Focus is a website dedicated to grading NFL players’ individual performances based on in depth review of every snap of every game. If you’re interested, here is a look at their grading system.

Let’s take a quick look at what PFF had to say about the Detroit Lions and their victory over the Minnesota Vikings, shall we?

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Offense

Best Grades:

Riley Reiff: +2.7
Rob Sims: +2.7
Theo Riddick: +1.6
LaAdrian Waddle: +0.7
Jed Collins: +0.1
Worst Grades:

Matthew Stafford: -3.5
Dominic Raiola: -3.1
Eric Ebron: -2.4
Brandon Pettigrew: -2.4
Joique Bell: -2.4

Analysis:

To no one’s surprise, Theo Riddick was given some praise from PFF for his solid performance prior to suffering a hamstring injury. Joique Bell on the other hand, not so much.

Bell showed some flashes of his old self after hitting a couple of holes for some medium-sized gains, but he still doesn’t seem to have that same burst that he’s had the last couple of years.

The offensive line as a whole played pretty poorly at first glance, but apparently PFF disagrees after giving three of the five starters a positive grade, including both Riley Reiff and Rob Sims at a +2.7. This does surprise me quite a bit, because I thought the communication between Sims and Raiola was pretty poor.

There were at least a few instances where either Sims or Raiola had a defender blow right by them without getting touched. According to PFF, Sims didn’t give up a single pressure against the Vikings, though Raiola gave up three sacks and two hurries.

When watching football, it’s difficult to figure out exactly who to blame especially when you’re not calling the plays, so this doesn’t bother me much. Either way, the interior line has to fix their problems if they want to keep Stafford upright.

If you played tight end for the Lions yesterday, then you’re probably not a happy camper right now. Both Ebron and Pettigrew combined for a -4.8 grade with negatives in run blocking and/or pass blocking. Ebron also had a negative grade for penalties.

Defense

Best Grades:

Ezekiel Ansah: +6.7
Nick Fairley: +4.2
George Johnson: +3.7
Glover Quin: +2.1
Tahir Whitehead: +2.0

Worst Grades:

Rashean Mathis: -1.5
Ashlee Palmer: -1.1
Devin Taylor: -0.7
Darryl Tapp: -0.3
Josh Bynes: -0.2

Analysis:

First thing’s first, Ziggy Ansah was an absolute monster yesterday. PFF had him down for nine total pressures (four sacks, one QB hit, and four QB hurries). When you consider the fact that he was on the field for just 35 snaps, that makes his statline even more ridiculous.

Think about it. Ansah was in Teddy Bridgewater’s comfort zone once every four snaps when he was on the field. He completely dominated Matt Kalil and whoever else was across from him.

The entire defense had it going against the Vikings yesterday, but it all starts with the Lions’ front seven. The starters for their front seven combined for a total grade of +16.6 and eight official sacks.

it was a dominant performance from the entire defense, and if you haven’t already, I think it’s time to finally accept that the Lions have arguably the best defense in the NFL right now

There weren’t many negative grades to go around. Mathis was given the worst grade do to giving up five catches on seven targets, and getting called for a penalty.

All in all, it was a dominant performance from the entire defense, and if you haven’t already, I think it’s time to finally accept that the Lions have arguably the best defense in the NFL right now.

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