Detroit Lions get stuffed on Thanksgiving, season outlook has familiar theme
Defense
The Minnesota Vikings seemed to move the ball at will for most of the first half, in particular. They ended up possessing the ball for almost ten more minutes that the Lions on Thursday. The Vikings surpassed 400 yards of offense, 136 on the ground.
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The Lions barely harassed Vikings quarterback, Case Keenum, at all. The Lions were down by two touchdowns before the end of the first quarter. A blocked extra point was the highlight for the Lions through the first fifteen minutes.
Lions end, Ziggy Ansah, registered one sack, while end Anthony Zettel, and tackle Akeem Spence split the other. Keenum was usually very comfortable finding his receivers and tight end, Kyle Rudolph, who had 62 yards and two scores. On his first touchdown, Lions linebacker, Paul Worrilow, let Rudolph release almost untouched into the end zone, where Rudolph caught the ball with no one around him. Pretty much how the day went for Detroit.
The lack of pass rush was evident, which left the Lions corners exposed. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, the Vikings dynamic duo at wide receiver, both had good games and made the Lions secondary look bad.
Overall, the entire defense didn’t make plays. When they needed stops, or a turnover, they gave up a catch or run to extend a Vikings drive. You didn’t have to watch this game to have seen this episode.