After they were embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said his team would be ready to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night. It was not a perfect outing, with three turnovers (however iffy one was deep in the red zone) that included a pick-six and failures to cash in touchdowns (1-for-5 in the red zone).
The Lions' mistakes kept the Raiders in the game, carrying just a 16-14 lead well into the third quarter. Jahmyr Gibbs 27-yard touchdown run, as part of his banner night (152 rushing yards, 189 total yards), extended the margin heading into the fourth quarter.
A 52-yard field goal from Riley Patterson extended the Lions' lead to 26-14, at the end of a 12-play drive that took over six minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. Patterson later missed a 26-yard chip-shot field goal.
If Jimmy Garoppolo was a capable down field passer, the Raiders may have had a game turning 98-yard touchdown to Davante Adams.
Yes, that was probably going to be a 98-yard TD if Jimmy didn't fire that one into the Gatorade coolers pic.twitter.com/556TPv63M7
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) October 31, 2023
The Lions sacked Garoppolo three times in a four-play stretch later in that drive, with the Raiders in four-down territory,
Detroit Lions take care of business against the inept Raiders
The Raiders' defense came to play on Monday night. That's a good thing, because they were on the field for 81 plays and nearly 40 minutes of game time. They just didn't have enough gas in the end, left hung out to dry by an inept offense.
The Raiders put up just 157 yards of offense on Monday night, with 75 of those yards coming on their lone touchdown drive. They are the only team in the NFL that has yet to score 21 points in a game this season.
The Lions have closed out games against inferior teams multiple times this season, with a time-consuming drive, timely defensive plays, etc. The Raiders were that inferior team this week.
Most of the box score says the Lions really should have blown the Raiders out on Monday night by an ugly score. But they did what good teams do when things don't go perfectly (as is prone to happen). Overcome mistakes, and beat an inferior team by double-digits anyway.
The Lions are 6-2 going into their bye week, which is nicely placed at a mid-point of the season.