Detroit Lions Week 3 report card: Self-inflicted wounds lead to fourth quarter collapse
By Zach Payne
Run defense: 2/5 stars
The interior defensive line was doing a great job at forcing the Vikings’ running backs to bounce runs outside. Unfortunately, the backside defense was not able to follow through and finish those plays. Aidan Hutchinson and Charles Harris struggled to set the edge, oftentimes pushing inside too early and giving up the outside lanes.
The linebackers also struggled to clean up plays as a result. Too often, Vikings rushers were hitting the second level without being touched and it resulted in way too much stress being placed on the linebackers.
Pass defense: 2/5 stars
It was a really weird game for the Lions’ secondary. There were multiple instances of either miscommunication or just flat-out blown coverages resulting in wide open Vikings receivers.
Lions have to figure something else out at CB outside of Okudah. Total mess. Back-to-back nightmares there -- which has happened too many times here.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) September 25, 2022
The most egregious instance was on the Vikings’ final drive. After Detroit had called a timeout, Mike Hughes completely blew his assignment and gave up an easy touchdown. K.J. Osborn ran a simple deep corner route, and for some reason Hughes was completely left in the dust on the play.
Then to cap things off the secondary lost its leader, as Tracy Walker went down with an injury. According to Dan Campbell, it doesn’t look good.
Bad news on Tracy Walker.
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) September 25, 2022
"It doesn't look real good," Dan Campbell said. "Obviously it's the ankle area, possibly the Achilles."
Never, ever a good sign when the A-word is dropped
With the exception of one player, the secondary was just not good on Sunday.
Best defensive player: CB Jeff Okudah
Speaking of that one exception, Jeff Okudah is stringing together some really strong games. At the start of training camp, he was battling to just become a starter. Now, just three weeks into the season has unseated Amani Oruwariye as the Lions’ top cornerback.
Okudah was tasked with covering Justin Jefferson, arguably the best receiver in football, in this game. While he received plenty of help from different variations of coverage, Okudah did a phenomenal job against the Vikings’ star. Jefferson finished with just three catches for 15 yards, and that would not have been the case without Okudah’s play.
It was incredibly encouraging to see this type of performance out of Okudah. We had seen strong play throughout the first two weeks, but this was a different level. Okudah’s season is off to an incredible start given what reasonable expectations were coming in.
Worst defensive player: CB Amani Oruwariye
Speaking of Oruwariye, this was far from his best outing. He was the primary defender covering Adam Thielen often and he struggled in that matchup. Even when he wasn’t allowing catches Oruwariye picked up his fair share of flags too.
The validity of some of those calls, and the refs being a little trigger-happy, is a viable discussion. But Oruwariye had a tough go this week, putting a bit of a target on his back if he did anything to push the boundaries of the rules. Considering how good he was most of last season, it’s very discouraging to see his play trending down the way it is to start the new campaign.