Detroit Lions Week 8 Report Card: Turnovers, red zone woes barely hinder dominant effort versus Raiders

Typically when a team wins by two scores, you would assume it was a game that went really well. For the Detroit Lions on Monday night , a 26-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders was more of a mixed bag.

The Lions outgained the Raiders 486-157, dominating the line of scrimmage and dictating the pace of play with almost 40 minutes time of possession. The margin of victory was not reflected in the box score.

But a win is a win no matter how it looks, and the Lions head into their bye week at 6-2 with a firm grip on the NFC North.

Here is the Week 8 report card for the Lions.

Detroit Lions Week 8 Report Card

Offense: 3.5/5 Stars

Mystifyingly, the Lions only scored 26 points in this game and a pick-six gave the Raiders seven of their points. The Lions turned the ball over three times, and two of them were fumbles from Josh Reynolds and Craig Reynolds. Going 1-for-5 in the red zone might have been costly against a better team.

Ultimately it didn’t matter. Despite numerous injuries on the offensive line, Detroit dominated the trenches and had 222 rushing yards.

It was a fairly pedestrian performance from Jared Goff. He made several good throws, but the throw that yielded the pick-six was one of the worst he has made as a Lion.

At the end of the day it was bit of a mixed bag for the Lions' offense, but the good outweighed the bad on Monday night.

Offensive player of the game: RB Jahmyr Gibbs

For those who have been waiting for the Jahmyr Gibbs breakout, the time has come. After being the only positive for the team in Week 7, Gibbs continued his ascent with a monster performance against the Raiders.

With whopping 31 touches for 189 total yards, Gibbs single-handedly out-gained the Raiders. He was consistently breaking tackles at the line, fighting for extra yards, and making people miss in space.

With David Montgomery out of the lineup, Gibbs has stepped up as the Lions' workhorse back. He’s starting to show the traits that made him the 12th overall pick in April's draft.

Defense: 5/5 stars

It was difficult to imagine the Lions' defense ever having a better day than it did in Week 4 against the Packers. But outside of the Raiders' lone scoring drive, which covered 75 yards, Aaron Glenn's unit was dominate.

There were moments where it looked like the secondary might break down, but when it did the defensive line stepped up to force a bad throw. And when the Lions’ offense made mistakes, the defense stepped up and made up for it.

A nice bounce-back for the defense after the rough showing in Week 7.

Defensive player of the game: DT Alim McNeill

McNeill showed what he has been doing all season on the Monday night stage, with two sacks, two tackles for loss and a batted down pass.

McNeill ended the game with a team-high six pressures according to Next Gen Stats. His performance on the interior anchored the defensive line and helped establish the Lions' dominance up front

Rookie report

For the second straight week, we’ve already discussed Gibbs in the player of the game segment so no need to repeat that here

After tripping on a blitz, Jack Campbell took a bad roughing the passer penalty, hitting Jimmy Garoppolo right in the knee. Aside from that it was a pretty quiet day from Campbell. He’s still being used in the SAM linebacker role, which is all well and good when he drops into coverage. But he still leaves much to be desired off the edge. In his defense, he’s not an edge rusher so not sure what you can expect from him in that role.

Sam LaPorta continues to dominate in his rookie campaign. With another eight catches for 57 yards and a score, he etched his name in Lions history.

Incredibly, he has set the franchise record for catches by a rookie tight end only halfway through the season. For reference, T.J. Hockenson caught 32 passes in 12 games during his rookie year. LaPorta now has 43 catches in just eight games.

Brian Branch was his usual self. He’s one of the Lions' best defensive backs, and he played like it again. He was a lot more noticeable against the run in this game, while not making mistakes in coverage.

Broderic Martin was active for the first time this season Monday night. He wasn’t especially noticeable (11 snaps), but he got on the field. Time will tell if he continues to be active on game days.

Colby Sorsdal made his first NFL start at right guard. A holding penalty is the only nit-pick with his performance.

Needs improvement: Red zone efficiency

The red zone offense was uncharacteristically out of sync against the Raiders. For as good as Gibbs was, it’s clear they miss David Montgomery in that area of the field.

Detroit has the weapons to create mismatches in the short passing game, but it didn’t come to fruition Monday night.

Play of the game: Jahmyr Gibbs’ 27-yard touchdown run

The third quarter was lackluster for the Lions. After the Goff pick-six made it a two-point game, the Lions drove down the field, only for Craig Reynolds to fumble on the goal line. After a Raiders punt, the Lions once again started driving into Raiders territory. Desperate for a game-turning play, the Lions went back to their most consistent weapon. And Gibbs came through with a nice touchdown run.

A workload like Monday night's won't be repeated by Gibbs, as long as David Montgomery is healthy. But he has shown why he'll get plenty of touches moving forward.