Detroit Lions Week 8 PFF Grades: D-Line 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 Atlanta Falcons, shall we?

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With the First Pick

Offense

Best Grades:

Joique Bell: +2.4
Theo Riddick: +1.8
Larry Warford: +1.6
Dominic Raiola: +0.5
Jed Collins: +0.2

Worst Grades:

Riley Reiff: -5.8
Jeremy Ross: -2.3
Kellen Davis: -2.0
Corey Fuller: -1.9
Garrett Reynolds: -0.7

Analysis:

Things can change pretty quickly. Just ask Riley Reiff who went from the highest overall grade on the season to a -0.1 overall grade. According to PFF, Reiff was credited for giving up five quarterback pressures and one QB hit against the Falcons alone.

On the positive side, both Joique Bell and Theo Riddick received solid grades, although I’d have to disagree with PFF and say that I felt like Riddick was more impressive throughout the game. In fact, I’m not exactly sure what Bell did to induce a positive grade from PFF, but they have a history of giving him plenty of love with their grading system.

Stafford actually didn’t get too terrible of a game this time around, and most of the blame was put on his offensive weapons. Jeremy Ross, Kellen Davis and Corey Fuller all combined for a -6.2 overall grade. Davis didn’t catch a single pass on two targets and dropped an easy one. That’s not going to keep you around for very long.

Reynolds continues to struggle when called upon at right tackle, and has now committed four penalties in four starts, including two against the Falcons.

Defense

Best Grades:

Ndamukong Suh: +3.9
DeAndre Levy: +3.1
Jason Jones: +1.8
Ezekiel Ansah: +1.5
Devin Taylor: +1.4

Worst Grades:

Rashean Mathis: -3.0
Glover Quin: -1.6
Darryl Tapp: -1.6
Ashlee Palmer: -1.1
Tahir Whitehead: -1.0

Analysis:

I’ll be honest and say that I did not expect to see such a resoundingly positive reception from PFF in regards to our defensive line.

Suh was absolutely dominant yesterday against both the pass and the run and received the highest grade on defense. DeAndre Levy continues to add to his case for a Pro Bowl ballot with another strong performance, while the rest of the linebackers struggled against Atlanta’s passing offense.

Mathis’ struggles were very noticeable and it seemed as if he lost a step against Atlanta’s wide receivers. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him to see whether he bounces back in the future.

After earning a positive grade in his first six games, Quin now has been in the negatives for his last two. This was the first game of the year in which he earned a negative grade in pass coverage (-2.0).