Third quarter
The first drive is a tale of two outcomes. Run plays are unmitigated disasters. The Giants see the TE lined up in-line or a FB in the game and they sell out stacking the box with one more defender than the Lions have blockers. Every. Single. Time. Some of the OL blocking isn’t bad at all, but there just isn’t anywhere to go.
Passing the ball, however, is great. The Giants LBs have no answer for Amendola underneath. Stafford goes back to that well and it works well again. Using Marvin Hall’s speed, it opens up Golladay up the left seam for a really nice throw and catch. Stafford had to thread the ball over the rush, over a leaping safety and in front of another DB to wedge it in and did it beautifully. It’s a throw not many QBs can make.
After trying to ram Carson into a 10-man box from a jumbo formation, the Lions spread it out in the red zone and Stafford makes picture-perfect throws to Marvin Jones and then Golladay for a great toe-tap TD in the front right corner of the end zone.
Another exceptional instance of kick coverage on the ensuing kickoff. Reeves-Maybin and Miles Killebrew were excellent.
I love the first play from the Giants strictly from an Xs and Os perspective. Lions playing base 4-2-5 with Davis and Christian Jones at LB. Giants pull each out with route action and then slip Barkley on a circle route out of the backfield. Watching Jones try to catch up to him in coverage and then after the catch is like an elephant seal chasing a squirrel, and Davis is far too late to react to help. Really nice scheme from the Giants that exploits the Lions’ weakness at LB.
Walker narrowly misses an INT, Davis gets called for a dumb (but correct) personal foul, Davis badly whiffs on what should have been an easy sack on Jones, and the Giants finally capitalize on letting the Lions continue to make dumb mistakes. The red zone run defense is stout but Jones hits an uncovered Evan Engram for the 2-yard TD.
On the TD play, Walker was scrambling to get across the formation in coverage as Engram motioned out. There was confusion all over the defense. Walker tried to stop, Jones ran into him and Walker went down with a knee injury on the friendly fire. This is Marinelli-era Lions ineptitude on defense. The Giants miss the conversion pass and it’s 24-19 Detroit.
I said it earlier but it’s even more evident now that every single time the Lions run the ball is an absolute gift to the Giants defense. New York invariably has an extra defender that Carson can’t make miss on his own. This is the legit best run blocking I’ve seen from Wagner all season, Dahl and Ragnow are sharp, there are just too many defenders. Giants safeties completely sell out on the run when the Lions use an inline TE and it smothers any chance to run.
General game observation: when Jarrad Davis only has to worry about Barkley on a play, he’s been very good. On this Giants drive Davis suplexes him to the ground behind the line on a run where his eyes never left No. 26. Two plays later he does a great job of inside contain to stop any cutback.
The Giants mix in a nice flea-flicker to Tate. A better throw from Jones might have led to a TD but Tate had to wait an eternity for the ball to arrive. It came one snap after Coleman sacked Jones but the sack was negated by a Melvin holding penalty.
Amendola fields the punt return instead of Agnew. Quarter ends with the Lions still up 24-19.
Fourth quarter
All the kvetching about the run…it’s a trap! A toss play to McKissic to the right that is dead to rights turns out to be a stroke of brilliance. McKissic laterals back to Stafford who finds Golladay down the field for a 41-yard TD strike. Just one DB is within 30 yards of the action down the field. It took a frustratingly long while for the setup to pay off, but the Lions go up 31-19 on the trick play.
Really nice work by Hockenson and Wagner to sell the run blocking on the play, too.
Flowers snuffs out the ensuing Giants drive with back-to-back sacks. The second one is a cheapie as Jones stumbles and almost falls into him, but the pressure from Flowers and Hand working the right side gaps is very impressive. It allows the Lions to survive Harris missing two tackles on Barkley and Killebrew with one of the most embarrassing tackle efforts you’ll ever see on 3rd-and-26 that almost allows the conversion.
Detroit’s drive reverts to abject ineptitude…
- First play: McKissic on a jet sweep gets spun to the ground for a loss of six.
- Second play: Dalvin Tomlinson sacks Stafford after faking Ragnow out of his jockstrap with a jab and sidestep.
- Third play: Golladay fumbles after catching a shallow crossing route, and the Giants recover in Lions territory.
The defense escapes damage. Hand is a major load inside and it’s made Flowers a much more effective and creative rusher off the edge. Two Jones passes thrown at Mike Ford in coverage come up empty. Ford gets away with interference in the end zone on 4th down thanks to Jones’ throw being so far off-target. That’s a call Aaron Rodgers gets without hesitation in Detroit, but the Giants are not the Packers.
Stafford and the offense clearly have but one purpose on this drive: make the Giants spend their timeouts. That mission gets accomplished, but it eats just 50 seconds off the clock, sees Stafford get sacked again and has Martin punting from deep in his own end zone. Good punt and better coverage. Lions still up 31-19 with 2:30 to go.
New York strikes quickly. Just inside the 2:00 warning and after Coleman interferes with Tate to move the ball into the red zone, Jones finds Barkley in the right flat for the TD. Christian Jones got picked by his own man in coverage pursuit. It likely wouldn’t have mattered. 31-26 after the conversion.
The Giants go for the onside kick. Aldrick Rosas, who has not had a good game at kicker, hooks the ball sharply out of bounds. Stafford kneels in victory formation and the Lions win!
Good games: Danny Amendola, Da’Shawn Hand, Rick Wagner, Sam Martin, Jalen Reeves-Maybin (on special teams), Tavon Wilson, Trey Flowers, Kenny Golladay (aside from the awful fumble), Tracy Walker (mostly)
Bad games: Rashaan Melvin, Taylor Decker, Christian Jones, Will Harris, Matt Prater, A’Shawn Robinson, Frank Ragnow
Jarrad Davis was all over the map in this one. So was Matthew Stafford, who for the second week in a row wasn’t quite as impressive as the final numbers suggest but also made several key plays and tough throws that others simply cannot.
The win elevates the Lions to 3-3-1 and keeps them firmly in the crowded NFC playoff picture. For now…