Defense was not the issue for the Detroit Lions on Sunday night, as they held the Philadelphia Eagles to 272 yards of offense and 16 points despite regularly left in tough spots by Dan Campbell being too aggressive on fourth downs.
Despite being without safety Kerby Joseph and cornerback Terrion Arnold, the Lions' held Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to season-lows in completion rate (50 percent), passer rating (63.8) and EPA per dropback (-0.34).
After he was back to being the squeaky wheel during the week leading up to the game, it was fair to assume (for better or worse) Eagles' wide receiver A.J. Brown was going to get some grease on Sunday night.
Indeed, Brown got a team-high 11 targets while no one else has more than five. His seven catches also led the team, while no one else had more than two, but that he posted just 49 yards was a big win for the Lions' defense.
Rock Ya-Sin was fully up to the task against A.J. Brown
With Arnold out and Amik Robertson more likely to regularly line up across from DeVonta Smith (which he did, as Smith finished the game with one catch for eight yards), Rock Ya-Sin was the defacto No. 1 cornerback for the Lions on Sunday night.
That also made Brown Ya-Sin's primary coverage assignment throughout the game, with the full expectation the Eagles' game plan would heavily prioritize their No. 1 wide receiver.
An awful late pass interference penalty on Ya-Sin greatly aided the Eagles being able to pull out a win Sunday night, and it incited a reaction from NBC color analyst Cris Collinsworth that everyone could get behind.
Rock Ya-Sin is called for pass interference on this…. pic.twitter.com/AdF4wjduaE
— Chatterbox Sports (@CBoxSports) November 17, 2025
Referee Alex Kemp's explanation after the game only stoked the fire of criticism about the call.
Here’s the pool report for the late-game DPI on Rock Ya-Sin: pic.twitter.com/OwaXpZOQrE
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) November 17, 2025
READ MORE: Jaelan Phillips showed Lions what they missed out on with impactful performance
According to Next Gen Stats, eight of Brown's 11 targets on Sunday night came with Ya-Sin in coverage on him, along with four of his catches and 39 of his yards. But Ya-Sin was absolutely up to the task against Brown all night long, with 14 of their 19 matchups coming in man coverage.
In his third start of the season, Rock Ya-Sin faced off against A.J. Brown 19 times, allowing 4 receptions for 39 yards on 8 targets.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 17, 2025
Ya-Sin spent 19.4 seconds within 1 yard of Brown, the 2nd-most time in tight coverage Brown has faced in a matchup in his career.#DETvsPHI |… pic.twitter.com/232ifDQbO1
No one is criticizing Ya-Sin for the awful late pass interference penalty, which he also clearly thought was going to go the other way. Even with that in mind, the attention on the play should not obscure his overall performance against one of the league's most physically-gifted wide receivers.
The whole NFL world knew targets were going to be forced Brown's way on Sunday night in an effort to pacify him. Ya-Sin did not back down from the assignment, while also limiting the Eagles' No. 1 wide receiver in a way only his offensive coordinator and quarterback otherwise seem able to.