Category: Film Room

Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 9 notebook from Detroit’s downer vs. the Raiders

The Lions blew a win with sloppy mistakes trumping some amazing performances

Fresh off a win over the New York Giants in Week 8, the Detroit Lions made their final trip to Oakland to face the Raiders in the Black Hole.

The Raiders entered the game at 3-4, having lost two in a row, falling to the Packers and Texans. On a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, the Raiders were slightly favored (-2.5) to beat the Lions.

Pregame notes

Tracy Walker, Graham Glasgow and Mike Daniels were all out for Detroit among the starters. Darius Slay returned after missing one week, but RB Tra Carson was lost to IR after the Giants game. The Raiders were missing center Rodney Hudson and return man Dwayne Harris as regulars.

Shawn Hochuli is the referee. One of the first things the FOX broadcast crew notes is that Hochuli’s crew calls the most holding penalties of any officiating group and both coaches noted that in their pre-production meetings with the TV crew.

First quarter

The Lions came out throwing. The first four plays were all quick passes, with Matthew Stafford completing the first three to three different receivers. Oakland’s defense was coming off games where the short, quick passing games using RBs and crossing routes had destroyed them in their losses. Using Kenny Golladay as a big slot on a shallow cross was an excellent wrinkle. Nice to see Lions OC Darrell Bevell attacking that soft underbelly right away.

An impressive opening drive ends abruptly when J.D. McKissic mishandles a simple handoff from Stafford and boots it into the line. The Raiders recover. As with the prior run play, a nice 10-yarder from Ty Johnson, the Lions OL created a big hole. Interestingly, the game book credits the fumble to Stafford but it’s clearly on McKissic.

Oakland answers with an impressive, ground-oriented drive. Rookie RB Josh Jacobs quickly proves he can read his blocks and get downhill quickly. The Lions LBs, notably Jahlani Tavai, are consistently a step late or stuck in the wrong hole. Rookie safety Will Harris allows several extra yards on two runs by running right past a tackling opportunity. Jacobs scoots in easily from the 2 as Raiders guard Richie Incognito takes out three Lions pursuers with one block. Raiders go up 7-0. Terrible drive from the defensive rookies, Tavai and Harris.

It’s the earliest action Corey Moore has seen at safety all season, playing as the No. 3 with Harris and Tavon Wilson. Interesting that the Lions stick with the 3-safety look and roll with Moore instead of LB Christian Jones on most plays. The Raiders deploy just one TE, Darren Waller, and he’s almost never aligned in-line, so it does make sense from a tactical standpoint.

Jamal Agnew shows zero intention of returning either of the first two kickoffs, something he was clearly told before taking the field. The Lions blocking was not very intense either. Definitely by design.

Stafford to T.J. Hockenson on a naked bootleg play-fake is absolutely gorgeous. Four defenders bite on the fake to Ty Johnson, who is finding the hole and attacking well as a runner early on. The drive continues with a perfect throw down the field to Marvin Jones. He’s well-covered but hauls in the contested catch because the CB never locates the ball. Great throw, perfect catch. Stafford rewards Jones with the TD pill on 4th down, one play after McKissic drops what should have been a score on a quick out.

Worth noting that Jones got up slowly from the long pass and was again deliberately slow and kept teammates from touching him during the TD celebration. Stafford sensed it right away when he congratulated him on the great catch. Matt Prater’s extra point makes it 7-7.

Damon Harrison makes a couple of very nice run stuffs on Jacobs on the ensuing drives. He’s basically the only Lions defender playing well here.

Second quarter

We have our first bad call on the first play of the quarter. Davis gets flagged for pass interference. It’s a terrible call versus Davis on a terrible throw from Carr.

Da’Shawn Hand jumps offsides on 3rd-and-6, making it a short-yardage situation. Jacobs pulls off a simple A-gap dive play for the conversion to keep the drive moving. The Lions are not good enough to make these kinds of mistakes. A botched snap bails out the defense and forces Oakland to kick a field goal and it’s 10-7. This early-going is as bad as Tavai can possibly play.

Tyrell Crosby checks in as an extra tackle and promptly gets called (correctly) for holding on his very first snap. Taylor Decker gets flagged (correctly) for holding on the next play, which is actually beneficial because Hockenson was guilty of a crackback block where he dove at the back of a defender’s legs but it wasn’t called.

This happens next, on 1st-and-20:

Now that’s some truly dreadful defense by the Raiders, but the route concept, throw and run after the catch are all money in the bank. 14-10 Lions back up top.

The next drive for Oakland is Trey Flowers’ turn to be the one Lions defender playing well. Davis is playing in a spy role on Washington and he still gets lost two plays in a row. He runs into Christian Jones on a simple RB circle route that goes for big yardage by Washington.

Fortunately, Flowers comes up with two great stops in a row. He annihilates Incognito for a TFL while playing 3T on the right side. On the next rep he’s playing Wide-9 off the left edge and bulls the backup right tackle into Carr, forcing a hasty throwaway. The Raiders go for it but fail when Carr badly misses tiny slot receiver Hunter Renfrow on a quick out. Justin Coleman was beaten but Carr misses the throw by several feet. Lions ball.

A great cutback run by Paul Perkins gets the Lions rolling. Great blocks by Frank Ragnow and Rick Wagner set it up. The refs give one back to Detroit, calling Maxx Crosby for a trip on Perkins’ next run. It’s a legit call but one that gets flagged maybe one time out of 100.

Alas, the drive fizzles badly. On the next play, Stafford gets exactly what he wants with Golladay isolated on CB Daryl Worley, who has been terrible all game. It’s a jump ball by design but Stafford throws it too far inside. Golladay mistimes the jump just a bit and Worley comes down with the INT in the end zone. Not a good throw by Stafford, not a good play by Golladay — who had absolutely no separation — either.

The Raiders are doing a great job isolating Waller on Harris, who shows no anticipation on routes or ball awareness in coverage.

Tavai finally does something positive! A throw hits him in the back in coverage. He never made contact with WR Zay Jones in the zone coverage and the Raiders burn a timeout challenging the no-call. On that coverage note, the Lions have played more zone than man in this one, especially when Waller lines up split out.

The Raiders score on a TD plunge by Jacobs. Flowers did a fantastic job blowing up the lead block and opening the edge, but Wilson was late to fill and Davis got picked off by a block. Raiders go back on top 17-14.

Stafford gets sacked on the final play of the half on a miscommunication between Decker and Joe Dahl on a simple line twist. Based on the teammate reactions, it was Dahl’s error.

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Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 8 notebook from the win over the Giants

Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 8 notebook from the win over the Giants

The 2-3-1 Detroit Lions welcome the 2-5 New York Giants to Ford Field for a Week 8 NFC matchup.

Detroit was coming off a rough patch, losing two NFC North games in six days. The Week 7 loss to Minnesota was the worst defensive performance of the year and wasted a career day from WR Marvin Jones, who scored four TDs in the defeat.

New York had lost three in a row, including a home loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. Other than their Week 4 win over Washington, the Giants had allowed at least 27 points in every game and ranked 32nd in passer rating allowed entering this matchup.

Pregame notes

Da’Shawn Hand made his season debut along the defensive line for the Lions. Darius Slay and Mike Daniels missed the game with injuries. Starting safety Quandre Diggs was traded during the week and is replaced in the lineup by rookie Will Harris. Kerryon Johnson was placed on I.R. During the week as well, replaced by Tra Carson. The Giants were without WR Sterling Shepard, the only regular the visitors were missing as inactive. Scott Novak and crew officiated.

First quarter

It’s obvious from the very first Giants drive that both teams are focused on RB Saquon Barkley. Jarrad Davis is deployed as a Barkley spy right away and provides great man coverage on a designed wheel route. The Lions are in a straight 4-man front with Devon Kennard playing with a hand in the turf as a traditional DE.

Nice tackles on Barkley by Damon Harrison on an interior run and Mike Ford on a safety-valve outlet pass force the punt. Devon Kennard got pressure on QB Daniel Jones twice during the drive, both off 4-man rushes.

Tra Carson immediately impresses at RB by running aggressively downhill. No jump step, no delay, he attacks the hole. Good blocks from Frank Ragnow and Graham Glasgow create a couple of nice gains.

Matthew Stafford quickly gets into a rhythm with Danny Amendola. They connect three times in four snaps, with the fourth being a coverage sack of Stafford when he can’t find Kenny Golladay down the field. One of the worst throws Stafford has ever made ends the first drive. He forced the ball downfield to Marvin Jones, who was blanketed in bracket coverage. Stafford underthrew the ball under no real pressure. Awful decision and Janoris Jenkins makes him pay for it. He had Ty Johnson open across the field on the backside of the play.

Daniel Jones apparently takes Stafford’s terrible play as a challenge to do worse. And the rookie delivers nicely. After two impressive Barkley runs, the second ended on a potential TD-saving tackle by Tracy Walker, Jones gets absolutely spooked by Davis on a beautiful delay A-gap blitz. He flings the ball in the general direction of Barkley, but it’s a backward pass. Devon Kennard plucks the ball off the turf (Barkley quit on the play) and charges into the end zone for a TD.

Matt Prater’s conversion is nearly blocked but goes through and the Lions are up 7-0. Jalen Reeves-Maybin makes one of the best kick coverage tackles you’ll ever see on Slayton and the Giants take over inside their own 15.

Walker nearly picks off Jones’ next throw but he can’t quite get both feet inbounds on the leaping grab. Outstanding range and instincts in coverage from Walker nonetheless. For good measure, on the next play Walker makes a very nice open-field tackle on a scrambling Jones just shy of the conversion mark to force the punt. Very nice 3-and-out series from the Lions defense, notably Walker and Tavon Wilson.

Sometimes the broadcasters deserve credit. This is one such instance. Kenny Albert notes that the Lions bring in Marvin Hall as a speed option to stretch the defense and that Stafford seems anxious to look deep. This was the magnificent result:

Second quarter

Walker is playing in front of the LBs whenever the Giants have a TE in-line. The Lions clearly don’t respect Jones nearly as much as they fear Barkley running the ball. Davis continues to be a Barkley spy on every pass play and it’s working. But the Giants are learning and adapting…

Great play call by New York. Give them credit. Knowing Davis will mark Barkley, they split the RB wide right. The defensive shuffle reaction winds up with exactly the matchup the Giants want: Golden Tate covered by Will Harris. Two plays earlier Harris was very late to react to a route and now the Giants smell blood. It’s a big gain and sets up the Giants well into Detroit territory.

Jones finds Slayton for a touchdown from 22 yards out after a couple of well-blocked Barkley runs. Slayton easily wins the jump ball at the 2 over an unaware Rashaan Melvin and the pair falls into the end zone before Walker can get there. It’s not a good throw and Trey Flowers got decent pressure by splitting a double-team, but bad CB play costs Detroit and it’s 14-7.

The Lions first offensive play makes me want to throw my cat at the TV. It’s a shotgun handoff to a static RB in Paul Perkins, who might have the slowest acceleration of any RB in the league at that time. It’s a slow-developing run play to a runner who is standing completely still when he gets the ball. This is Jim Bob Cooter’s trash offense and I hope it never rears its ugly head again.

Thankfully Stafford finds T.J. Hockenson on a nice crosser to redeem the dreadful 1st down. Hockenson blew past Jabrill Peppers in coverage. Another nice throw to TE Logan Thomas over the middle gets the Lions into FG range. A chop block call on Hockenson (good call, it was obvious) stalls the drive. To make things worse, Prater pushes the 53-yard FG attempt wide right. The snap was not great but Sam Martin’s hold was excellent.

The Giants score another TD on almost exactly the same play as their first, just on the other side of the field. Hand gets nice pressure up the gut on Jones but he still feels confident enough to float a should-be jump ball to Slayton on Melvin. Once again, Melvin never figures out that the ball is up for grabs. Slayton catches it and lands in the end zone before Harris and Wilson can get there. Ruins an otherwise solid series from the Lions defense, notably Hand. He played a very good series on the shaded nose.

Fortunately the Giants miss the extra point to keep the Lions in front, 14-13.

Nice play design from the Lions offense. They align in bunch formation, trips right. Golladay drags across behind and deeper up the field than Amendola and Stafford slings it in. The throw is a bit behind Golladay but he makes a nice catch. If the pass is out in front Golladay easily goes for another 10-15 yards.

Every run play now is an absolute gift for the Giants defense. The New York LBs are sitting on it and swarming the box with more than the Lions can block. Stafford gets sacked again, another coverage sack. He didn’t come off his first read fast enough and the backside slot CB blitz catches him.

Martin acts his way into extending the Lions possession. A Giant dives into the general vicinity of his feet and Martin sells it well. The Lions keep the ball and up-tempo drive into FG range, no thanks to poor play from Decker at LT (well-earned holding penalty and a QB hurry allowed). Stafford just missed a wide-open Ty Johnson down the right sideline on 3rd down. Prater makes the FG and the Lions go up 17-13.

The Lions dodge a bit of a bullet when Slayton drops a nice throw from Jones on New York’s next play, which could have encouraged them to keep driving and try to score. Instead they kneel out the half.

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Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 7 notebook from the loss vs. the Vikings

The Lions get outcoached and outworked by the visiting Vikings, spoiling a career day from Marvin Jones

The Lions enter Week 7 coming off a short and frustrating week after the Week 6 Monday Night Football loss to the Packers. Now 2-2-1, Detroit hosts the division rival Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota is 4-2 and has won its last two games (NYG and PHI) by a combined score of 66-30.

Da’Shawn Hand and Mike Daniels are the only regulars who are inactive for the Lions. The Vikings are not missing any starters due to injury. Bradley Rogers is the referee.

First quarter

Lions get the ball first and it’s nearly a disaster right away. Matthew Stafford’s first pass should have been picked off by Eric Kendricks on a checkdown throw over the middle to Kerryon Johnson. Stafford is not sharp on this drive, missing throws to Marvin Jones and Jesse James. He dodges a bullet with a potential fumble that is overturned and ruled an incomplete pass on a play where the Lions OL fails to pick up blitzing slot CB Mackensie Alexander, who hits Stafford as he’s throwing. Give credit to the defensive scheme here as both LT Taylor Decker and LG Joe Dahl correctly locked up their marks, but nobody else was left available to block Alexander in a 7-man rush. That’s on Stafford.

The drive ends with a punt after a false start penalty on the field goal attempt (on long snapper Don Muhlbach) pushed the ball back farther than coach Patricia was comfortable with for Matt Prater’s attempt. Rather than try a 59-yard attempt, the Lions instead punted.

Detroit’s defense forces a punt on a nice 3rd-down sideline tackle by Tracy Walker, who forces the fumble out of bounds. On that play, the Lions showed eight on the line of scrimmage against a bunch formation but only rushed four. Good coverage on Adam Theilen by Darius Slay on both 2nd and 3rd downs. Jahlani Tavai posted a picture-perfect run fit on Dalvin Cook’s only carry, shedding the FB block and (with Christian Jones) striking and dropping the Vikings RB.

Graham Glasgow executes a fantastic RG pull that stonewalls the LB but K. Johnson cannot make safety Anthony Harris miss in the open field. Perfectly blocked run only gains six. It goes for at least 20 if Johnson can break Harris’ clutching at his calf.

Stafford has quickly identified his mismatch for the day: Marvin Jones vs. Xavier Rhodes on the outside. It’s basically the only viable passing target as neither Kenny Golladay nor Danny Amendola are getting any separation. Amendola cannot shake LB Anthony Barr on a quick slant. Golladay looks very sluggish early on, though he is also being held by Trae Waynes quite a bit.

Nick Bawden whiffs on a block on an edge run on his very first rep. Johnson goes down again on first contact. Stafford goes back to what’s working, finding Jones on the right sideline in the red zone. He puts a wicked spin on Waynes, gets a great seal block from T.J. Hockenson and scampers into the end zone. Prater’s conversion puts the Lions up 7-0.

Walker and A’Shawn Robinson both miss clean tackle-for-loss attempts on Cook’s first run on the next drive. The Vikings eventually score a TD on an absolutely gorgeous play fake by Kirk Cousins rolling into a bootleg to his left. Cousins feathers the ball into a microscopic window just over Quandre Diggs’s leaping and the back of the end zone to Theilen, who had a half-step on Slay but very little room. Legitimately one of the best throws I’ve ever seen.

Mike Ford just misses blocking the extra point, great effort. Tie game at 7-7.

Lions use a 3 TE set to start. Both Logan Thomas and Hockenson quickly lose their blocks and Johnson’s run goes nowhere. I love the quick screen to Jones on 3rd and short but he only gets it because of his own effort. Golladay and James both stood there and watched instead of blocking for him.

Ty Johnson takes over at RB and has some good reps, including a real nice circle route that gets the Lions into the red zone. Stafford bounces a throw to a wide open Hockenson in the back of the end zone on a play that gets negated by defensive holding. Great route, should have been six points.

A very decisive Stafford cashes in with the Jones-on-Rhodes matchup two plays later. Rocket throw, nice catch, a bewildered Rhodes looks for anyone to point a finger at for not helping him. 14-7 Lions.

Great Jarrad Davis blitz forces a scared Cousins to just chuck the ball away on the final play of the quarter. Davis blasted through the line and put two people on the ground on the way to Cousins.

Second quarter

Cousins connects with Diggs on another fantastic throw. Slay is in perfect phase in coverage but is late to recognize the ball. This is a fun matchup. The two respectfully tap one another’s behinds after the play.

The Vikings OTs, Riley Reiff on the left and Brian O’Neill on the right, are winning against the EDGEs, primarily Devon Kennard and Romeo Okwara, on just about every run attempt. It’s very noticeable on this drive. Tavai and Will Harris are missing their run fits and that’s not helping.

Legit defensive penalties on Slay and Coleman (negating a Tracy Walker end zone INT; Patricia challenged the call and lost) set the Vikings up for a too-easy Cousins TD pass to Olabisi Johnson. Nice play scheme by the Vikings sets up some natural picks, something the Lions simply do not utilize in the red zone. We’re tied at 14.

The Vikings learned from the Packers game in Week 6 that the Lions do not throw the ball out of 2TE sets well. Their safety is almost at the line of scrimmage waiting for the run plays every time the Lions have a dual TE on one side of the line. A great Sam Martin punt is the only saving grace of the Lions next possession.

I make the point about the safety usage for MIN because the Vikings are frequently deploying 2TE sets, but the Lions safety (Diggs on this drive but also Harris) don’t even take one step forward from their normal spot to counter the formation. Diggs is actually starting deeper than normal on some of these runs.

Coleman strips Stefon Diggs on a crossing route but the Vikings get lucky and recover the fumble. The next play, Damon Harrison goes down with an injury. He’d been nicely occupying the middle of the field against the run. The next run comes right at the gap and John Atkins is blown aside too easily. Another missed run fit for Tavai, who can’t get off the block. Cook runs almost at will and scores to put the Vikings up 21-14. The right side of the Lions defense (Okwara, Davis, Coleman, Diggs) offers zero resistance on the runs late in the drive.

Golladay finally gets a sniff off play-action down the field. Great blitz pickup by Ty Johnson. In the red zone, Frank Ragnow gets called for a hold on a play where Vikings NT Shamar Stephen is guilty of prolonged hands to the face. The officials give the Lions a terrible make-up call with a mythical roughing the passer against Everson Griffen on the next play. Two plays after that, Anthony Barr–playing a spy role on Stafford with a 3-man rush–gets called for roughing the passer after crashing into the QB when Stafford throws it away because neither Golladay nor Amendola can get an inch of separation.

Stafford correctly finds the best matchup with Jones isolated on backup CB Mike Hughes and the quick-strike TD ties the game at 21 on the last play of the quarter. Great catch by Jones, who has been the best player on the field so far for either team. Fun first half of offensive football for both teams.

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WATCH: Bears WR Allen Robinson breaks down his own game film

Allen Robinson joined Alex Rollins to break down his own game film, where he provides insight on specific nuances of being playing WR.

In just two seasons, Allen Robinson has proven that he’s a capable No. 1 wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. Look no further than his performance last season, where he managed to have one of his best career seasons — his second 1,000-yard season — despite questionable quarterback play and an overall abysmal offense.

Robinson joined Alex Rollins to break down his own game film, where he provides insight on specific nuances and details of being playing wide receiver.

It’s one thing to watch an amazing film breakdown, but having Robinson participate only adds to it. It’s a great way to see what’s going through Robinson’s mind as these plays are unfolding. Watch below!

Robinson is entering his final year on his current contract with the Bears, and he’s already made it clear that he wants to retire a Bear. Now, it’s up to general manager Ryan Pace to lock him up long-term…and get him reliable quarterback play.

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Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 6 notes from the Lions vs. the Packers and the officials

Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 6 notes from the Lions vs. the Packers and the officials, who decided Green Bay was supposed to win

The 4-1 Green Bay Packers host the 2-1-1 Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football in Lambeau Field. First place in the NFC North and ongoing bragging rights for Detroit, which had beaten the Packers four straight times entering the game.

Pregame notes

This was the Lions return from their bye week. Detroit wore road blue jerseys with the silver pants accented with blue piping stripes. Temp was 43 degrees at kickoff and the field was somewhat slick after it had rained during the day.

Starters Quandre Diggs, Da’Shawn Hand and Mike Daniels were all out for Detroit. The Packers were missing top WR Davante Adams and starting safety Darnell Savage.

First quarter

The Lions come out firing with a flea-flicker that works perfectly. Kerryon Johnson sells the run fake before flipping the ball back to Matthew Stafford. Kenny Golladay pulls away from Kevin King in man coverage with the safety sucked up to defend the run. Golladay eventually gets caught from behind at the Packers’ 11-yard line. Nick Bawden sold the run fake beautifully too. Huge play.

The very next snap, Bawden brushes into Stafford as he drops back for a handoff to Johnson. Stafford falls on the ball but it’s a wasted down. The Packers have very good coverage on the next two plays and force a short Matt Prater field goal. None of the Lions’ targets (WR or TE) do anything to try and get free after their initial route is covered while Stafford buys time. Pass protection is good enough that Stafford slips and falls down but still can get up and deliver a throw. 3-0 Lions.

Trey Flowers is playing right DE outside the OT’s shoulders and he blows up a nice misdirection run. Justin Coleman helps break up a contested-catch opportunity for WR Geronimo Allison on third down. Jahlani Tavai had a nice zone coverage drop, taking away the underneath route Aaron Rodgers wanted on the play.

The Lions next play is another deep strike, this time from Stafford to Marvin Hall. Kerryon Johnson has a great pass protection pickup and it allows Hall to run past Kevin King (recurring game theme) in coverage. Perfect throw that travels 48 yards in the air.

Kerryon Johnson eventually scores on a goal-line dive play where he barely broke the plane. The run blocking through the first two drives is consistently terrible, exacerbated by the Packers loading up the line and the box without worry of being beaten in single coverage outside. All the momentum remains with the visiting Lions, up 10-0 after less than five minutes off the clock.

A’Shawn Robinson ends the next Packers drive with a brilliant strip tackle that Christian Jones recovers. Lambeau Field is in shaken silence.

Second quarter

Stafford remains red-hot, the run game remains ice-cold. The drive stalls in the red zone as (recurring theme) the Packers load the box and middle-of-field and the Lions’ uncreative receivers cannot get any room without the threat of the deep ball. Graham Glasgow is getting worked at right guard, LT Taylor Decker cannot sustain his blocks either. All three TEs (Jesse James, T.J. Hockenson, Logan Thomas) have been worthless in the run game thus far. Hockenson dropped a difficult contested catch in the zone on this one, too. Another Prater FG makes it 13-0.

To recap: the Lions get 1st-and-goal inside the Packers 8-yard line on all three possessions but come away with just 13 points. Johnson has five carries for three yards in the red zone and was contacted behind the line on every attempt.

Sam Martin’s kickoff goes out of bounds and the Packers finally string together some positive plays. It’s aided by some terrible officiating; on the very first play, Romeo Okwara is held, facemasked and deliberately tripped all in very plain and obvious view but doesn’t get a flag. Twice the umpire reaches for his flag but decides against it.

Lions are playing more zone defense in coverage, showing man and sugaring the box pre-snap but then dropping into Cover-1. Rodgers burns it with a perfect throw to an uncovered Aaron Jones (Christian Jones and Jarrad Davis mix-up) on an RB wheel but the pass hits Jones in the face and falls incomplete in the end zone. Everything is coming up Lions!

A sketchy defensive holding call on Tracy Walker extends the Packers drive. The coverage is holding up well but the run defense keeps getting gashed, as the Packers smartly keep attacking the hole where Davis and/or Tavai show their rush before dropping. Running right at a dropping LB is a prudent strategy but the Lions maintain the look on every rep.

Eventually a Lions illegal substitution penalty (a good call) on 4th down overcomes a poor series from Rodgers and the Packers cash in for a touchdown to cut it to 13-7. Tavon Wilson misses a potential tackle for loss, Jarrad Davis badly overruns the point of attack on the touchdown shovel pass/jet sweep.

The right side of the Lions OL (Wagner/Glasgow) foils a drive with genuine ineptitude. Packers methodically drive for a field goal just before the half to tighten the score to 13-10. The Lions downfield coverage is excellent once again, the up-the-gut run defense remains terrible.

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Film notebook: What I learned from the 1st 4 games of the 2019 rewatch

Film notebook: What I learned from the 1st 4 games of the 2019 rewatch, from Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon

I’m now a quarter of the way through my 2019 Detroit Lions rewatch project. Going back to review every snap of every game with both the broadcast and All-22 feeds from NFL Game Pass, I’m hoping to get a clearer picture of who did what for Detroit in the 2019 season.

The individual game breakdowns are here:

Week 1 vs. Cardinals

Week 2 vs. Chargers

Week 3 vs. Eagles

Week 4 vs. Chiefs

Through the first four games, here’s what I’ve learned. These are general observations spanning the four games, not necessarily indicative of what happened in one individual game performance.

Matthew Stafford

The QB has been mostly good, occasionally great and sporadically off target. Stafford is consistently at his best in the fourth quarter. There is a tangible difference in urgency with Stafford in these games when he’s playing with a lead versus needing to make a play in the clutch, and he’s much more consistently effective in the latter.

Offensive line

Outside of two notable plays, Taylor Decker has been solid at left tackle, particularly given the context of playing with a back injury that sidelined him in Week 2. Outside of facing Chris Jones of the Chiefs, center Frank Ragnow has been the Lions’ best player on offense.

I now have a better understanding of why coach Matt Patricia is a believer in the rotation at guard. It worked, by and large. I’ve been more impressed with Kenny Wiggins than I remember back in real-time, and less so with Graham Glasgow–especially in the passing game. Wiggins has shown more mobility and quickness to engage at second-level targets through the first four weeks, too. Joe Dahl is wildly inconsistent but tended to play better with Wiggins on the field, though that could definitely be a coincidence.

Rick Wagner’s play at right tackle has declined every week. Teams are figuring out how to attack him and he hasn’t been able to respond well. Tyrell Crosby’s game replacing Decker at left tackle was an unmitigated disaster.

Running game

Kerryon Johnson had the best rushing game of his career in Week 4, aggressively slicing through the Eagles. But in Week 1 he couldn’t find the holes and ran tentatively. It’s a microcosm of why the Lions still value him so much but also spent considerable resources to draft D’Andre Swift.

The sprinkling of J.D. McKissic on gadget plays has been refreshing. Ty Johnson got more work than I recalled and proved he could handle himself in the passing game. Nick Bawden at fullback has by and large been a massive disappointment as a lead blocker.

Receivers/TEs

Marvin Jones is the straw that stirs the drink thus far. When Stafford needs a hit, he invariably looks to No. 11. He’s outplayed his statistical impact. The opposite is true of Kenny Golladay. The TD receptions have been great, but his complete inability to separate from CBs that proved over the course of the season to be largely dreadful is very disturbing. He did play his best against the Chiefs in Week 4 and working the middle of the field more, which is encouraging.

T.J. Hockenson came out with a bang in Week 1 and also was a major receiving asset in Week 4. In between he was invisible as a target. His blocking is high-effort but low effectiveness. Defenses do definitely react to his presence though.

Outside of an impressive Week 2 against the Chargers, Jesse James has been brutal. He’s not an assertive or strong blocker and has no vitality whatsoever as a receiver.

Marvin Hall had a nice game in Week 4 replacing Danny Amendola’s snaps as the No. 3 receiver. His speed lifted the safety off helping on Jones/Golladay. Amendola and Stafford were developing better chemistry through the first three games before Amendola got hurt. Amendola’s blocking tenacity stood out more than it did back during the season to me.

Defensive line

A’Shawn Robinson has been the most consistent of the rotating cast along the defensive front. He played very well against the Chargers. There is a definite point of diminishing returns with his snap count, something that’s also readily evident with Damon Harrison.

“Snacks” has not played well in any game. When the Lions use a straight 3-man DL, Harrison is adequate. In the 4-man or 2-man fronts, he’s woefully miscast and asked to do too much.

Trey Flowers is progressing by the week. There is little complexity to his game but he’s very good at what he does, working the outside in with power and then quickness. He was very good against the mobile QBs on the docket at playing contain and stifling keeper opportunities. What really stood out was his ability to contain rush Wentz and Mahomes, getting pressure while also not ceding a clear escape path.

The rest of the line has been largely irrelevant. I know Mike Daniels, Kevin Strong and Romeo Okwara have played a lot but they’re all losing more reps than they’re winning. Okwara had two great series vs. the Eagles in Week 3 as a saving grace.

LBs

One of my strongest takeaways is how much better Christian Jones played than I noticed in the fall. He’s been very effective and versatile. Like Flowers, a lot of what he does really well doesn’t show in the stat sheet through these four games. It’s now much easier to digest why the Lions gave him a contract extension midseason.

Devon Kennard has no creativity. He’s a very smart player though and that football IQ keeps showing up. Really the entire defensive front 6/7 shows a low level of schematic creativity and the in-play dynamics keep getting more vanilla by the week. Kennard’s run defense, outside of a couple of bad reps, has been strong.

Jarrad Davis missed the first two games. That allowed for trial by fire for Jahlani Tavai, who acquitted himself nicely as a pass rusher but thus far looks limited to being in the box and needs to work on shedding blocks. Davis probably should have kept sitting based on how he’s played thus far. He’s had a bullseye on his No. 40 jersey in coverage in both games, and rightfully so from an enemy perspective.

Secondary

I’ve been very excited to study Tracy Walker more and the excitement was justified. He’s been the best player on the defense outside of Flowers, notably when he’s playing as an extra LB or marking a flexed TE in man coverage. His coverage work against Kelce in Week 4 was very impressive.

It has not been a good start for Darius Slay. Philip Rivers picked on the Pro Bowl CB mercilessly and it worked. Slay did get his “Big Play” in the end to salvage an otherwise awful first two games by his standards. He was clearly bothered by injury in Week 3 and sat out Week 4.

Justin Coleman has played well all-around. His run support has been dynamic if not always effective. Rashaan Melvin looked good in Week 1 but has fallen off in coverage. Like Coleman, he’s much more integrally active in run defense than expected.

It’s hard to recall Tavon Wilson doing much in any of the games other than finishing off a lot of clean-up tackles. Quandre Diggs has wildly missed a couple of crucial tackles, but thus far his coverage range and diagnostic skills remain strong. Will Harris was woefully in over his head as the single-high safety against the Chiefs in his first extended duty. His lack of instincts, or perhaps confidence in his reads, was egregious. Prior to that, he’d performed capably in spot duty for a rookie.

Special teams

So many errors punctuate the first quarter of the season. Outside of Sam Martin being exceptional on directional punts and kickoffs, and the punt/kick coverage units led by Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Dee Virgin, it’s been a nightmare. Matt Prater has been shaky. Don Muhlbach hasn’t been perfect with his snaps. Blocking has been inadequate on placekicks and punts.

Jamal Agnew is in the midst of a maddening early campaign. He’s the direct culprit for why the Lions did not win in Week 1 and Agnew got bailed out from another massive, game-altering error in Week 2 thanks to a Chargers penalty. Yet they don’t beat the Eagles in Week 3 without his opening kickoff TD.

Coaching

As the offense gets more comfortable under new coordinator Darrell Bevell, it’s getting exciting. Bevell’s plan of attack is growing more suited to Stafford and Kerryon Johnson by the week. It’s creative, it’s balanced and it’s doing a great job keeping the opposing defenses off-balance overall.

The defense is going in the opposite direction. One of my biggest takeaways is that the success the team had in dropping eight into coverage against the Eagles in Week 3 was a devastating false-positive outcome. It worked for a half against Mahomes and the Chiefs but they figured it out. While I haven’t rewatched beyond these games yet, I absolutely see the snowball rolling down the mountain of futility that’s coming.

Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 4 notebook from Detroit’s thriller vs. Chiefs

The Lions largely outplayed the Chiefs, Stafford was better than MVP Mahomes, but Kansas City still won

The 2019 season rewatch project hits Week 4 with two undefeated teams clashing in Ford Field. The Kansas City Chiefs coming to Detroit is a great matchup and a fun game to revisit, even if the final outcome didn’t go Detroit’s way.

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Pregame notes

Darius Slay and Danny Amendola missed the game with injuries, the only regular starters out for Detroit. Both players left the second half of the Week 3 win in Philadelphia. The Chiefs were missing WR Tyreke Hill and LT Eric Fisher.

Lions wore the vintage uniforms with no logo on the helmets and plain blue jerseys/silver pants.

First quarter

Lions get the ball first and quickly march down the field. Kerryon Johnson is running decisively, getting downhill right away and attacking the hole. Matthew Stafford hits Kenny Golladay on a perfect pitch-and-catch up the seam for a big gain. Lions are using the pulling OL (usually RT Rick Wagner) effectively on the run. Great drive until it sputters inside the Chiefs 10. Stafford gets sacked on 3rd down, a coverage sack where he had over four seconds to pass but couldn’t find anyone. Matt Prater’s short FG puts the Lions up 3-0.

During that first drive, coach Matt Patricia challenged a spot on a Johnson run. The ruling on the field was upheld, creating a 3rd-and-1 instead of giving the Lions a first down. It’s an odd time for a challenge and the Lions picked up the first down on the next play anyway. In looking at the replay it’s clear Patricia was right in his assertion the spot was bad, but the officials don’t give that up very often and don’t here.

The Chiefs come out throwing and Patrick Mahomes is very good at choosing the correct option. Not all of his throws are pinpoint, but he hits third-string TE Deon Yelder twice on crossers and gets into field goal range.

Great pressure from Trey Flowers and A’Shawn Robinson on separate plays helps the defense hold eventually, and the Chiefs miss the FG attempt wide right. Mike Ford and Justin Coleman had nice drives in coverage. The broadcast feed of the crowd is as loud as I’ve heard a non-NFC North contest in Ford Field.

Stafford comes back firing too. Two defensive penalties help, but this is prime Stafford. He finds T.J. Hockenson on a sweet delayed-release route for a 5-yard TD. Marvin Hall’s speedy presence on the outside is impacting the safeties in the middle of the field and Stafford is happy to exploit it. Hall also drew a holding penalty on the drive. 10-0 Lions.

Second quarter

The Chiefs manage a field goal on a drive that spans the 1st and 2nd quarters, where Mahomes converted a 3rd down with a 26-yard run that probably could have gone for much more if really felt like risking his body a little. Two penalties helped the Chiefs too. Coleman makes a fantastic hit on Sammy Watkins in the end zone to physically separate him from a TD reception. It’s 10-3 Lions and the defense is showing confidence.

Outside of one pass (Watkins beating Coleman on a deep cross), the Lions coverage down the field remains very good. Safety Tracy Walker is consistently making the right read to deny Mahomes.

The Chiefs defense is settling in and attacking with more line gimmicks up front and it’s working. Stafford gets drilled on 3rd down as both Wagner and Dahl got beat cleanly. Jalen Reeves-Maybin strips the ball out on the punt return (great punt by Sam Martin too) but the Chiefs recover.

Lions defense opens the next drive in a 2-3-6 formation, with Tavai and Christian Jones playing EDGE and Davis the only real LB. Chiefs are in 11 personnel but TE Kelce is lined up wide. Mahomes misses a couple of open throws

Stafford gets walloped by three different Chiefs on the first play of the next drive. He fumbles but recovers. Wagner got badly beaten. Decker was the only lineman to win his battle. Golladay did land a nasty down block from his tight alignment that sent a Chiefs defender sprawling backward. The play gets negated by a defensive hold, but the Chiefs defense has figured something out here. Other than a nice Kerryon Johnson run–foiled at the end by Nick Bawden missing a block–this series is a disaster for the OL and the Lions offense. Even Frank Ragnow gets beaten badly twice, including a play where he’s (rightly) called for a hold.

First play for the Chiefs is a great run by LeSean McCoy. Lions are in a 2-man front again, this time with four safeties on the field. Both Tavon Wilson and Will Harris badly whiff on open-field tackles after a wicked cutback by McCoy. A run-heavy drive ends in a game-tying TD plunge by McCoy.

T.J. Hockenson is tasked with crossing the formation and cut-blocking the opposite EDGE/LB in the run quite a bit. He’s not good at it, diving too early. Chiefs EDGE Frank Clark is not happy with him and lets Hock know it.

The teams trade field goals to enter the half tied at 13. Kerryon Johnson continues to thrive. Mahomes hit Damian Williams on a simple RB wheel where Jarrad Davis was initially in great position but paused for a half-step and it created a window for Mahomes to throw a perfect strike.

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Lions 2019 rewatch: Week 3 notes from Detroit’s win over the Eagles

Jeff Risdon’s notes from the Lions’ 27-24 win in Philadelphia after rewatching the coach’s tape

The first two weeks of the 2019 season left the Lions at a respectable 1-0-1 mark. Week 3 brought a trip to Philadelphia to face the highly-touted Eagles, which is where our season rewatch project takes us next.

I went back and watched the broadcast feed of the game, followed by the All-22 coach’s tape courtesy of NFL Game Pass. This was an entertaining game full of twists and turns, capped off with Matthew Stafford and the Lions coming up big in the clutch for the second week in a row.

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Notes and observations from the Lions’ 27-24 win in Philadelphia.

Pregame

The only Lions regular player who was out with injury was DL Da’Shawn Hand. The Eagles were missing starting WRs Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson as well as DT Timmy Jernigan. Jarrad Davis makes his season debut, while Taylor Decker is back after missing Week 2.

Lions wore blue pants with the white jerseys.

First quarter

The defense starts hit-and-miss. A Trey Flowers encroachment penalty on 3rd-and-3 extends the drive. Carson Wentz foils a good rush on the very next play and catches a communication error between CB Darius Slay and S Quandre Diggs for a big gain. Slay bit up on a short route–it looks like he was expecting the rush to force the throw–and Diggs never rotated over. If Wentz throws a better pass it’s six points.

Another 3rd down penalty, an iffy holding call on Justin Coleman, sets up a short field goal. The Lions DL had no problem controlling the middle of the formation against the run. Eagles up 3-0

Fun time! Jamal Agnew takes the ensuing kickoff to the house, 101 yards for the TD. Great blocks from Will Harris and Dee Virgin helped out, but Agnew made two guys miss and ran through another tackle. Matt Prater nails the conversion and it’s 7-3 Lions without an offensive play for Detroit yet.

Noting for future Lions reference: Eagles bring in Hal Vaitai as an extra tackle and run behind him. He blatantly holds LB Jahlani Tavai but gets away with it on an 11-yard run by Jordan Howard. On the very next play–the Eagles leave him in for several reps–he falls down trying to get a reach block on Romeo Okwara. They run behind him three times in four plays and the third one is a beautiful edge seal block on the right side on Devon Kennard to spring a 3rd-down conversion run from Miles Sanders.

Lions are consistently rushing four or five but Wentz has little issue avoiding the pressure. A huge scramble on a Jarrad Davis blitz sets up an easy TD plunge, 10-7 Eagles. Former Lions LB Chris Spielman is on the broadcast call and he’s rightly apoplectic about the defense abandoning the middle of the field against a mobile QB.

Detroit’s first offensive drive features mostly 12 (1 RB, 2 TE) and 22 (RB, FB, 2 TE) personnel and it works well. The OL, notably LG Joe Dahl, clears nice holes for Kerryon Johnson and the methodical drive caps with a Johnson TD from a yard out. Taylor Decker had a great block on the TD. 14-10 Lions very quickly into the second quarter.

Second quarter

No creativity to the Lions pass rush. It’s four guys trying to bull their way to Wentz. Flowers does an improvised twist after he’s initially stymied on an effort but that’s it. Downfield coverage is very good from Slay, Rashaan Melvin and Justin Coleman.

Sam Martin continues to have an outstanding season punting. Great directional punt pins the Eagles deep after the teams trade bad possessions. It leads to an interesting series for Jarrad Davis at LB.

Davis sat the prior series in lieu of Tavai. He missed being in the right place with his assignment two plays in a row but redeems himself with a fantastic punch-out of the ball to force the turnover. It was the second forced fumble against Miles Sanders on the drive after Okwara ripped it out a couple plays earlier. Okwara is working Vaitai, who is now in the game full-time at LT. LG Isaac Semualo is not playing well against Damon Harrison and Okwara either, and it very much feels like it’s that and not the Lions defenders playing great.

Love the gadget play reverse to J.D. McKissic coming right off the turnover. Aggressive call and it catches the Eagles overpursuing, something their LBs have shown all game. The drive stalls thanks to good red-zone coverage from the Eagles (Golladay has zero space) but Prater’s FG extends the lead to 17-10. Stafford was quick to throw the ball away rather than buy time and try to force things, playing conservatively for the FG.

Trend alert: The Lions continue to load up the line of scrimmage when the opposing offense goes to an empty backfield. They did this against the Chargers in Week 2 as well, primarily with six guys on the line. In this case, as happened against L.A., the LBs cannot drop fast enough to cover the middle of the field throw.

The Lions catch a huge break when Nelson Agholor fumbles shortly after making a catch on a quick-hit throw. Slay was right there but didn’t cause the fumble; Agholor just lost it. Slay picks it up and scampers into the red zone. Surprised the replay official didn’t overturn it as Agholor had the ball a lot less than what Calvin Johnson did no several of his overturned catches. Also, props to Wentz for hustling and making a nice touchdown-saving tackle on Slay. I can think of a few QBs who wouldn’t have done that…

The Lions offense gets too cute and has to settle for a field goal. Decker is progressively getting more upright in his base stance as the game progresses, a sign the back injury that kept him out of Week 2 is impacting him.

Last play of the half, the Lions rush three with Davis rushing in and Flowers dropping. Good blitz and Davis forces Wentz to flee to his left with all his WRs on the right. Flowers closes in and gets the sack. Side note: Wentz has already taken several cringe-worthy hits if you’re an Eagles fan. He does not protect himself nearly as well as Stafford does. Lions up 20-10 at the half

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Lions defense no longer last in blitz percentage in 2019

The Chargers and Raiders now blitz less than the Lions

By now Lions fans know the familiar refrain.

“The Lions blitz less than any other NFL team.”

It’s a line that gets recited at least once in every Michigan-based sports radio show and clogs comments sections and message boards. However, it’s no longer accurate.

Over the last four games, the Lions have moved up in the blitz rate rankings. They’re still near the bottom of the league at just 10.9 percent of dropbacks, but that’s more than double the rate of the Los Angeles Chargers in the same timespan.

For the full season, the Lions blitz rate remains fairly constant at 10.9 percent. However, it dipped below 9 percent from Weeks 2-5. The NFL average for the season is 17.9 percent.

The 10.9 figure ranks ahead of both the Raiders and Chargers on the season through Week 12.

Note that blitz rate doesn’t necessarily correlate with being an effective defense. The 49ers have the NFL’s most effective pass rush and highest sack percentage despite being 29th in blitz percentage. Arizona is 4th in blitz percentage but 22nd in sack rate and has a lower sack rate than the Lions over the last four games.

All stats and tables are from NFL Inside Edge. 

Special teams miscues killed the Lions in loss to the Redskins

The Detroit Lions special teams failed in the Week 12 loss to the Washington Redskins

Normally the Detroit Lions win the special teams battle. It’s been one of the few things the Lions have reliably done well in 2019. But in Washington, the special teams not only failed to be an asset, they also bore a significant portion of the blame for the loss.

Matt Prater missed his first field goal attempt. His 39-yard attempt into the wind fluttered wide right like a hummingbird getting blown by an industrial fan. Missed field goals in inclement conditions happen to everyone, even Prater, but it was still a critical miss for a team that lost by three points.

Prater made his next attempt, but the ensuing kickoff was an unmitigated disaster. Normally Sam Martin kicks off, and he’s one of the best at placing the kicks. Prater left this one a few yards shorter than ideal, and the tackling and containment on Steven Sims was simply dreadful,

Martin wasn’t healthy enough to handle the kickoff duties. He wasn’t particularly good at his regular punting gig, either. His first punt–from the Washington 39–pinned the Skins at their own 5-yard line. He couldn’t pin them inside the 20 on any of his other three punts that were well within the distance of making that happen.

It wasn’t just the guys who make their living with their feet who struggled.

Detroit fielded six Washington kickoffs. Ty Johnson had two returns, getting the Lions to start at their own 24 and own 30. It’s not awful, but it’s not helping.

With Jamal Agnew inactive due to injury, speedy Marvin Hall took over as the primary punt return man. He probably won’t get that opportunity again. Aside from Hall leaving the game on crutches, his decision to field a punt inside his own 2-yard line while running backward cost the Lions 18 yards. That’s an extra first down the team couldn’t afford to surrender. Being reminded of Stefan Logan is never a good thing for a Lions return man.