Detroit Lions Week 4 report card: Offensive outburst cannot mask defensive woes

The Detroit Lions’ offense furiously tried to bring the team back against the Seattle Seahawks, but they could not overcome a pitiful defensive effort. 

Coming into this game, the Detroit Lions were missing several key weapons on offense. No D’Andre Swift, no Amon-Ra St. Brown and no DJ Chark, on top of the injuries already sustained to both starting guards. Yet, it was the Lions’ defense that ended up looking lost and searching for answers most of the game.

The game as a whole was a chaotic mess, as neither team had answers defensively. The second half is was especially so, as every time the Lions would bring the game back within a score, Seattle would answer and push the game back out of reach.

The push-and-pull nature of this game ended up being a weird combination of infuriating and exciting, depending on which team had possession.

So without further ado, let’s get into report cards for the Lions’ Week 4 loss.

Detroit Lions Week 4 Report Card: Lions’ defense was truly offensive

Run offense: 3/5 stars 

The box score stats look somewhat encouraging, as Detroit finished the day with 25 attempts for 145 yards (5.8 yards per carry).

The ground game was led by Jamaal Williams, who scored multiple rushing touchdowns yet again, highlighted by this 51-yard run.

However, for as great as that run was, it propped up the overall yards per carry average a lot. Taking that one run away, Detroit had 24 other attempts for just 94 yards–a much more pedestrian average of 3.9 yards per carry.

Overall the ground game was adequate, but the box score is a little deceiving.

Pass offense: 4/5 stars

Detroit put up its highest point total since Week 12 of the 2015 season on Sunday. To have accomplished that, despite the injuries they were dealing with, is impressive. It is also a feat that would not have been accomplished without Jared Goff. For a majority of the game, Goff once again looked very comfortable in the pocket, avoiding pressure and stepping up to hit throws into tight windows.

There was only one negative, a pick-six to open the second half to push Seattle’s lead to 16. It was a deficit the Lions failed to overcome. The throw was simply inexcusable, as Goff threw a wobbly pass toward T.J. Hockenson with a defender rapidly closing on him. Mistakes like that simply cannot happen. However, while it’s easy to point to that play as the difference in this game, due  to a three-point loss, there were plenty of other factors.

Goff, aside from that one brutal mistake, had a nice outung. An injury-thinned group of wide receivers did better than could have been expected, with Josh Reynolds as the proverbial No. 1 guy (seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown).

Best offensive player: TE T.J. Hockenson

With so many key contributors out, someone needed to step up. Hockenson not only answered the bell, but he also elevated his play to a level he hadn’t shown before.

He finished the game hauling in eight of 12 targets for a career-high 179 yards with two touchdowns and a two-point conversion. It was just the second time in his career that Hockenson has eclipsed 100 receiving yards, with the first instance being his NFL debut.

Hockenson was doing a phenomenal job as a receiver, finding soft spots in coverage, stretching out to make difficult catches and picking up yards after the catch. It was a special game for the fourth-year tight end.

Worst offensive player: WR Kalif Raymond

On a day where the Lions had to use more depth pieces, Raymond was given opportunities both as a rusher and a receiver. Unfortunately, on one of his few touches in this game, Raymond put the ball on the ground.

Those types of mistakes contribute to losses in one-score games. Like the Goff pick-six, this one play wasn’t a catalyst for the loss. But it certainly didn’t help, and it also won’t help Raymond earn more playing time going forward.

Run defense: 0/5 stars 

In Week 3 against the Vikings, Detroit struggled mightily to defend the edges in the run game. That trend continued into this one, as once again the edge defenders had a difficult time. The interior run defense also showed some cracks in this game, which put too much strain on the linebackers–who also had a rough day.

Seattle came into this game averaging 74.7 yards per game on the ground, which was 29th in the league. They finished Sunday with 33 attempts for 235 yards, good for 7.1 yards per carry, and three touchdowns.

Perhaps more frustrating, three of the game’s biggest plays came down to Detroit failing to stop the run in third-down situations with a chance to get off the field.

The first was on a 3rd-and-18. Detroit crowded the line of scrimmage to send pressure, and Seattle countered with a draw play. After breaking through the line, Rashaad Penny only had to make one man miss en route to a 36-yard score. The second was a similar play, 3rd-and-5 with just over two minutes to go in the game. Detroit had a chance to get a stop and give their offense an opportunity to win the game. Once again, Seattle countered a Lions’ blitz with a draw play. And once again, it went to the house, this time for 41 yards by Penny. Finally, on the last play of the game (aside from kneel-downs), the Lions once again had a chance to get off the field and give the offense a chance to go down and win the game, Penny once again said no. He sprinted right through the Lions’ front to seal the game, and send Detroit to 1-3.

From all angles the run defense was just not good, getting progressively worse as the game went on and costing the Lions in key moments.

Pass defense: 0/5 stars

The Lions’ pass defense was also pretty brutal on Sunday. There was one concept in particular that Detroit simply could not stop all day. A “waggle” concept, where on a play-action bootleg either the tight end leaks into the flat, or a receiver in motion does. It gave the Lions’ defense fits all day, as the linebackers simply had no ability to get to the flats in time to make a play.

Even when the flats weren’t targeted though, the pass defense still could not do anything. Jeff Okudah had his first bump in the road of the season as he struggled to defend DK Metcalf, Amani Oruwariye once again had a rough outing and it ended with an injury, and rookie safety Kerby Joseph didn’t have a very memorable first start.

The defense simply had no answers for what Seattle was doing offensively, which shouldn’t be the case facing a team who came in averaging just 15.7 points per game. Geno Smith threw for 320 yard–that may say enough, and it all.

Best defensive player: No one

Worst defensive player(s): Everyone

We established the defense as a whole had a very forgettable outing. Getting more specific, Charles Harris and Aidan Hutchinson have both been far too inconsistent. Hutchinson at least had a couple of flash plays whether it was getting pressure or shooting into the backfield to stop a run play. Harris meanwhile was completely invisible outside of one good pass rush rep where he drew a holding penalty.

As far as the linebackers go, all of them had lackluster performances. Malcolm Rodriguez was the only one who was at least tolerable, but he was far from perfect. Derrick Barnes continues to be inconsistent when he gets on the field, especially when it comes to shooting gaps. Chris Board was really quiet in his limited work, but he got washed out a lot in run fits too. Then there’s Alex Anzalone, who was consistently the worst of the linebackers once again—constantly overplaying his hand against the run, missing tackles, and blowing coverage assignments. This might have been his worst game as a Lion, but there was a lot of that going around on Sunday.

Already touched on the secondary but to go a little deeper, it is shocking how much worse things look without Tracy Walker. We knew he was the captain of the defense and an invaluable part of the team, but for the whole unit to look this lost is a terrible sign. Kerby Joseph as mentioned before had a forgettable day, but he’s still probably the best option to fill that void since he has the most upside of the reserve safeties. JuJu Hughes will likely factor in more going forward but it would be nice to see Ifeatu Melifonwu get some work as well. Joseph’s role should by no means be secure going forward.

Coaching Staff: 1/5 stars

The criticism being directed at Aaron Glenn is growing louder by the week. On Sunday his defense had by far its worst defensive performance since he was named defensive coordinator. Again, against a bottom-five offense. There have been a few concerning trends so far, and all of them reared their ugly heads on Sunday.

The first is the number of explosive plays being given up. Considering the league-wide shift to more two-high shells to prevent big plays, the Lions have not leaned into that in the way other teams have. As a result, a lot more shot plays have been available for opposing offenses, and a lot of them have been hit. From this game, there were the aforementioned Penny runs, but Metcalf and Tyler Lockett both also found success deep downfield. Lockett should have had multiple explosive receptions in this game, but one of them was overthrown by Geno Smith after Lockett had beaten Oruwariye downfield.

The second is the red zone defense. Against one of the worst red zone offenses in the league, Detroit had absolutely zero answers. Seattle just kept marching down the field and they wouldn’t stop in the red zone, aside from one instance where they had to settle for a field goal. The Lions have not been able to stop the run effectively, which has left them vulnerable to play-action plays, which Seattle also ran very effectively on Sunday.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, the third down defense. A lot of the Lions’ issues with explosive plays come back to third down as well, for two reasons. The first relates back to the run defense, as failing to stop the run has resulted in a lot more short-yardage situations on third down. The second has a lot more to do with Glenn’s play-calling.

Glenn likes to blitz, that’s no secret. Any time there is a third-and-medium/long, he stacks the line of scrimmage and sends an assortment of players at the quarterback. Now Glenn can design effective blitzes, so that’s not the issue here. The issue comes down to predictability. If teams know you are going to blitz, they will have checks in place to counter it. Seattle figured out how to solve the third-down packages Detroit would send, so the book is now out for the whole league to see.

This is not a call for Glenn to be fired. All of these issues have solutions, and as Dan Campbell said after the game Detroit will need to do some introspection to find those answers. The honeymoon phase is now squarely in the rearview mirror when it comes to Glenn. For as much as his young defense still has to learn, he is also still very new to being a defensive coordinator. But the results need to at least trend better soon.

Play of the game: T.J. Hockenson’s 81-yard reception 

Detroit had just given up a touchdown which pushed Seattle’s lead up to 38-23. On the first play of the following drive, the Lions took a holding penalty. Things were looking bleak, and the Lions needed something to go their way. Enter T.J. Hockenson, with the longest reception of his career.

One of the biggest criticisms of Hockenson in his career has been his tendency to just kind of fall down after every catch. In this game and on this play he showed a glimmer of hope, and it resulted in a massive gain that set up a touchdown.

Final thoughts

If you needed any more proof of how bizarre the 2022 Detroit Lions have been thus far, here are a few more stats.

It really has been a super odd start to the year, perhaps the Lions are due for some positive regression. Though, there are a number of self-inflicted wounds which need to be worked through first before focusing on that.

With the first four weeks of the season in the books, the door will be open for players on injured reserve to return to action. If any of Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike or Romeo Okwara can return to the lineup soon, it would be a massive boost for a unit that needs help.