Lions Week 13 Report Card: Detroit finally gets first win under Dan Campbell

Ladies and gentlemen, it happened. At long last, the Detroit Lions have finally won their first game under Dan Campbell.

After having their hearts broken in new ways week after week, the Detroit Lions ended up on the other side of a last-second win on Sunday.

To make things even better, it came against a division rival in the Minnesota Vikings. And Detroit got revenge for the loss they suffered back in Week 5.

It almost feels wrong to dig into this team right now, because everyone should just sit back and enjoy the win.

Detroit Lions Week 13 Report Card

Offense- 3.5/5 Stars

For the first time since Week 1, the Lions scored 20 points in a game. In fact, they accomplished that feat in a single quarter Sunday, as they put up 20 points in the second quarter.

The game as a whole was very shaky, but the offense had its best day in a while.

They racked up 100 yards rushing and 272 yards through the air. That 372 yards was the most this offense has gained since Week 7 against the Rams, as the Lions found some mismatches in the passing game against a depleted Minnesota defense.

It was a very well-rounded attack, which is unusual for this team. The past few weeks every drive seemed to revolve around giving D’Andre Swift the ball and hoping for the best. But with Swift out, the game plan had to change.

Best offensive player: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

The rookie wideout out of USC had a team-high10 catches for 86 yards on Sunday, and his day was capped off by a walk-off touchdown to win the game.

As far as first career touchdowns go, it’s pretty difficult to top that one.

Worst offensive player: QB Jared Goff

What a rollercoaster of a game for Goff.

The second quarter was probably the best quarter he has played all season. The Lions scored 20 points in it.

In the second half though, Goff and the offense slowed down. And the Lions’ signal caller had some very questionable plays.

The most glaring was on 4th-and-1 late in the game. More on the play call itself shortly, but Goff stepped up away from pressure, then stopped moving and got strip-sacked.

Another bad moment came a bit before that. As the Lions were driving into Vikings’ territory, they faced a 3rd-and-4. Goff then made a throw that’s been a common sight this year.

It’s certainly not the first time he forced a pass into tight coverage this year, and also not the first time he missed a wide open receiver on the other side of the field.

However, Goff redeemed himself on the final drive, as he led the Lions 75 yards and delivered the walk-off strike to St. Brown. So even though he’s still in the “worst player” section this week, he doesn’t deserve nearly as much criticism as in many past weeks.

Defense- 2/5 Stars

Through the first half and the opening few minutes of the second half, this defense was playing the bend-don’t-break style pretty well. They were giving up yards, but the Vikings struggled to finish drives off, and touchdowns turned to field goals.

Unfortunately, the Vikings eventually broke through. And they scored three touchdowns in the second half. They also went 0-for-3 on two-point conversions, which proved to be the difference in the game.

The Lions also generated pressure on Kirk Cousins, especially early on. But that dried up in the second half. Bootlegs particularly got the Lions. There were at least half a dozen instances where  Cousins would fake a handoff or a toss, roll out, and have no defender within five yards of him.

In the end though, the defense did their part by keeping it close. That’s all you can ask them to do on a week-to-week basis.

Best defensive player: OLB Charles Harris

Harris was a force to be reckoned with in this game. The Vikings’ offensive line had no answers for him at times.

Harris had two sacks, one of which was a strip-sack that was recovered by Julian Okwara.

Harris is now up to six sacks on the year, as he continues to have a career year. Coming into the season, he had 6.5 sacks over his first four seasons in the league.

Worst defensive player: CB Amani Oruwariye 

Through no fault of his own, Oruwariye had a bad day against Justin Jefferson. As it did in Week 5, though mostly in the first half of that game, it all applies once again for Sunday–with a shift to the second half.

The Lions simply don’t have anyone capable of covering Jefferson, not that most teams do. It’s not entirely Oruwariye’s fault, it’s just how things play out.

Special Teams- 4/5 Stars

There were some worrisome returns given up early on. But after they stopped kicking the ball to Kene Nwangwu, things settled on that front.

On the other side, Godwin Igwebuike had a nice 30-yard return, but other than that both he and Kalif Raymond were quiet in Detroit’s return game.

Jack Fox averaged over 55 yards per punt on his three kicks, with a long of 62 yards. So just an average game of excellence for him

Riley Patterson was perfect, hitting all three pf his field goals (with a long of 49 yards) and both extra points he attempted.

That was just a solid game all around for the Lions’ special teams unit.

Coaching Staff- 3/5 Stars

Much like Goff, this was a very up-and-down game for the coaching staff. But I want to focus on head coach Dan Campbell specifically here.

Campbell easily had his best game as a play-caller, but it was still far from perfect.

The Lions had two fourth-and-short situations where they kept the offense on the field and went for it. Jamaal Williams, who they brought in to be something of a short yardage back, received zero touches in those situations.

In the aforementioned instance where Goff fumbled, that never should have happened. A pass should not have been called there, and that play in particular seemed destined to fail. Even if they opted to try a sneak with Goff instead of running with Williams, there had to be a better play on Campbell’s menu sheet than what was called.

Like Goff, Campbell redeemed himself on the last drive, earning his first win as coach of the Detroit Lions.

Final Thoughts

As many know, there was a shooting at Oxford (MI) High School last week. There were multiple casualties and injuries resulting from the incident.

Over the last two days, the Lions and the Michigan Wolverines honored those affected. And Campbell made sure that was the first thing he talked about to open his press conference after the game.

After the Wolverines won on Saturday, possible No.1 pick in the 2022 draft Aidan Hutchinson suggested to his team they dedicate the game to one of the victims, Tate Myre.

After the Lions win, Goff also talked about the tragedy in his press conference.

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