Detroit Lions: 10 observations from the win at Lambeau
Monday Night’s 30-17 win over Green Bay puts the Detroit Lions in position to go on a run during the second half of the season.
That’s 2 out of 3 in Green Bay. We totally own the Packers. Alright, maybe I can’t type that with a straight keyboard, but whatever. Monday night’s 30-17 win puts the Detroit Lions back to .500 at the midway point of the season.
Here’s what I observed this time:
Quarterback Play
1. Matthew Stafford is looking healthy again. Stafford’s 361 yards last night gives him nearly 800 through the air over the last two games. If you’re a quarterback in the Big 12, that probably gets you benched these days, but by any other measure it’s impressive. He also added his 200th and 201st career passing TDs, both to Marvin Jones.
2. Brett Hundley is not Jimmy Garoppolo. Hundley might be the 2nd best Brett to ever start at QB for the Packers, but maybe that doesn’t get you very far after all. When Tom Brady has missed games, the Pats have been just fine (remember 11-5 with Matt Cassel?) This has not been the case for Green Bay. It’s hard to imagine them staying in the playoff hunt without Aaron Rodgers. Speaking of which…
3. It’s a lot easier without Aaron Rodgers in there. Maybe he would agree to sit out all games vs the Lions moving forward. Thank you in advance.
Complaints
4. ‘Running’ out of options. 33 carries for 64 yards last night. More fumbles than yards per carry. I’m pretty sure I saw T.J. Lang tackle Ameer Abdullah for a loss in the third quarter.
Rushing plays for the Lions have become the non-marshmallow pieces in a box of Lucky Charms at this point. Just hurry up and get them over with as soon as possible so we can get to the good stuff. Maybe Jim Bob Cooter can follow my old breakfast strategy: eat every one of those pieces of weirdly shaped grain immediately, maybe on the opening drive, and chow down on some real plays the rest of the game.
5. ‘Detailing’ drives in the red zone. The announcers kept talking about this tonight. I’m not sure what it means, but I think I agree with it. The Lions need to do a much better job of detailing their drives inside the 20. I doubt that ‘detailing’ drives involves fumbling from the two and then sending only ten guys onto the field for the next play though.
6. I’m complaining too much. Easy win at Green Bay? Shoot, I’ll take it! I don’t care who the Pack have playing QB either, it doesn’t take anything away from the win. What, like the Lions never had to sacrifice guys like Dan Orlovsky at the Lambeau altar in years past?
Things I have questions about
7. Where is Kenny Golladay? Vanished just as soon as he arrived on the scene. Once again, rookie receiver Golladay was nowhere to be found on the field for the Lions, missing another game with a nagging hamstring injury. I imagine getting him back in time for a late playoff push would be huge.
8. Darren Fells: “dual threat” tight end? Fells had a nice catch and run along the sideline in the first half, prompting the announcing team to label him a “dual threat”. This makes me laugh a little. Tight ends literally have two things expected of them. Block and catch. Why is it noteworthy that someone can do both of these things?*Note to self: Do not throw an Eric Ebron joke in here. Doubt it would be caught anyway.
9. Is the offensive line back for good? They’re clearly not creating many run lanes, but at least Stafford is being kept safe and sound right now. The O-line only gave up one sack, and I can only think of one other time when Stafford really took a hit from a defender. I’ll take that over a competent run game if I can only choose one.
Next: Were Detroit Lions right to retain Eric Ebron?
Moving Forward
10. The gauntlet seems to be finished.
The hardest part of the schedule appears to be over, leaving plenty of winnable games the rest of the way. The Lions have only one more game against a team currently with a winning record (Minnesota at home on Thanksgiving).
This includes Cleveland at home next week. The Browns have won 1 of their last 27 games. That’s about as close to a gimme as you can possibly get in the NFL. A double digit win at Ford Field on Sunday shouldn’t be too much to ask for, especially with Stafford starting to heat up.