Lions Week 7 Report Card: Detroit throws everything at the Rams, but falls short

The Detroit Lions fell short again on Sunday, but the Week 7 report card against the Rams

This was a game many Detroit Lions fans have been dreading, the first game against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams. Everyone was expecting a blowout, in fact, the Rams were favored by 16.5 points.

While the final score was 28-19, the Lions were 12 yards away from taking a late lead before an untimely interception.

Detroit threw everything they had at the Rams, and it nearly worked. But like many games before, it just wasn’t enough to get Dan Campbell his first win a Lions’ head coach.

Offense- 3/5 Stars

The Lions posted their second-highest yardage total of the season on Sunday (415), behind only Week 1 against the 49ers. Their 137 rushing yards was a season-high. The streak of not scoring 20 points extended to six straight games though.

The duo of Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift was on full display in this game. The Detroit backs combined for 201 total yards, accounting for 48.4% of the Lions’ offense against the Rams.

T.J. Hockenson had a solid game too, racking up six catches for 48 yards. Kalif Raymond had an incredible day. He also grabbed six passes, for 115 yards. He had a few great grabs, and his speed was on full display when he got the ball in his hands.

Best offensive player: RB D’Andre Swift

Swift was absolutely electric in this game, as the Rams struggled to contain him all day. Whether he was jumping a defender in open space or running through someone, Swift found ways to maximize yardage every time he touched the ball.

He as solid on the ground (13 carries for 48 yards), but Swift set a new career-high with 96 receiving yards on eight catches. He opened the scoring on Sunday with this long catch-and-run.

https://twitter.com/Lions/status/1452367214594564097?s=20

This is exactly what the Lions need from Swift every game, and he delivered against the Rams.

Worst offensive player(s): Offensive line 

The Lions offensive line did a good job in run blocking for most of the game Sunday. There were a few short-yardage situations they couldn’t get enough of a push, but overall had a strong game in that department.

But ared Goff was under siege all day. If he held the ball longer than two seconds, he had to roll out to avoid pressure. It was insane how quick the Rams, even with the quality of defensive line they have, were getting to him.

Anthony Lynn did a good job of calling plays that allowed Goff to get the ball out fast, but that didn’t stop the Rams from disrupting him. And when Goff is under pressure it leads to throws like this:

https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1452408255100055556?s=20

I’ve been very hard on Goff all year, and the miscues he had Sunday made him an easy target again. But I decided to give him a pass due to overall improvement.

Defense- 3.5/5 Stars

If you told me the Lions’ defense would hold one of the best offenses in the league to under 30 points, I would have been shocked. I expected Stafford to have the game of his life, and he did top 300 yards with three touchdowns through the air.

But all things considered, this was a very gritty effort from Aaron Glenn’s unit again. They gave the offense a chance to win, and that’s all you could have hoped for.

While the Rams passing attack predictably had a good game, the Lions’ run defense was stout, allowing just 47 yards and 2.5 yards per carry.

Outside linebacker Julian Okwara had a great game, with a sack and a pass breakup on a fourth-and-one to turn the ball over on downs.

Safety Tracy Walker also shined again. When he hits someone, you can see the wind knocked out of their sails. It’s been really fun to watch him play this season.

Best defensive player: CB Jerry Jacobs

Jacobs wasn’t perfect, he gave up some catches including the Rams’ first touchdown. He also had a questionable defensive pass interference call, but he played really well.

Something I love about Jacobs is his attitude. He has absolutely no fear and he tries to make a play every single snap.

He had a couple of big plays, both in coverage and in run support, including a big tackle for loss. He’s not a perfect player, but he has played about as well as you could ask an undrafted free agent rookie to perform in his second career start.

Worst defensive player: CB Daryl Worley

Through no fault of his own, Worley was forced into action after an injury to AJ Parker. And it went exactly as everyone expected.

In a perfect world, Worley would never be called upon to cover one of the top receivers in the league this season. But as Lions fans know, this is far from a perfect world.

Special Teams- 5/5 Stars

I mean good grief we have three special teams’ highlights and none of them are Jack Fox punts.

First, we have an onside kick recovery after D’Andre Swift opened the scoring:

Then, we have two fake punts that resulted in first downs to extend drives:

The coaching staff knew they would need to dig into their bag of tricks, and the special teams delivered every single time. Not to mention the Rams averaged just 17.5 yards on kick returns on four tries. Throw in Austin Seibert having a perfect day kicking, and you have about as picture-perfect of a day from the special teams as you’ll see all season.

Coaching Staff- 4.5/5 Stars

As mentioned, the coaching staff knew they would have to pull out all the stops to compete with the Rams on Sunday. The aggressiveness Dan Campbell has brought is amazing, as he had his special teams attempt an onside kick and two fake punts–that all three were successful is icing on the cake that kept the game competitive.

This coaching staff knows how small the margin for error is, so they should continue to do whatever it takes to give their players the best chance possible to succeed.

I thought Anthony Lynn called another good game, and he managed to get Jared Goff to throw downfield more often–which was a welcome revelation.

And we have to appreciate the work Aaron Glenn and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant are doing with this secondary. Their starters at corner include a 2018 fifth-round pick, and two undrafted free-agent rookies. And all of them are playing pretty darn well. As this rebuild continues, my confidence in the future of this secondary is rising by the week.

The only thing I didn’t like was going for it on fourth-and-one from the Rams 18-yard line. Taking the points there would have given the Lions the lead at that point in the game. Although it’s understandable why Campbell went for it, he over-extended himself.

Final Thoughts

Coming into this week, expectations were low for the Detroit Lions, and fans were dreading watching their former gunslinger tear up this defense. While Stafford did have a great game, this turned into the most entertaining game the Lions have played start to finish this season.

Now here’s the challenge. For the past five or six weeks Detroit has bounced between good and bad performances. Next week they face an Eagles team that got beat pretty badly by the Raiders in Week 7. The Lions have an opportunity to build upon the work they did in Los Angeles going into the Week 9 bye.

Back to Sunday’s game. The Lions deserves props for hanging in there with a Super Bowl contender, and there are reasons for optimism moving forward.

Lions Final Week 7 Grade: 4/5 Stars

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