Tag: Detroit Lions vs. Miami Dolphins

Kerby Joseph: Breaking down the Lions rookie safety in Week 8

Breaking down the performance of Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph in the team’s Week 8 loss to the Miami Dolphins

This week’s game film spotlight is on Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph. The third-round pick from Illinois has emerged as not only a full-time starter but one of the leaders of the defense in just his seventh NFL game.

Joseph played all 68 snaps against the Miami Dolphins in the Lions’ Week 8 loss at Ford Field. I watched every single one of them from both the broadcast feed and the All-22 coach’s tape and took fastidious notes on what I witnessed.

Jeff Okudah: Breaking down the Lions CB’s Week 1 performance vs. the Eagles

Malcolm Rodriguez: Breaking down the Lions rookie LB in Week 2

Film review: Breaking down Aidan Hutchinson’s performance vs. the Seahawks in Week 4

Film review: Breaking down Penei Sewell’s Week 5 game vs. the Patriots

Josh Paschal: Breaking down the Lions rookie DE in his Week 7 debut

The methodology here is pretty simple. Plays where Joseph wins his individual matchup or performs the role on the play correctly earn a plus; plays where he loses his matchup or does the wrong thing get a minus. Not every play earns a mark. For a safety playing predominately single-high formation starting most plays 15 yards deep, most of those plays with no marks are on runs or short/quick passes — plays where Joseph should be inconsequential unless the players in front of him don’t do their jobs.

Joseph did not have a great start to the Dolphins game. He earned two marks on the opening Miami drive, both minuses. One was for getting beaten over the top–the cardinal sin for single-high safeties. The other was for a poor pursuit angle to a tackle where the rookie was fortunate Alex Anzalone made a very nice play or else Joseph would’ve been in serious trouble.

(sidenote–this was Anzalone’s best game in a Lions uniform)

Joseph got his head into the game quickly thereafter. He finished the first half with six plusses and three minuses, a figure that includes the two from the first drive.

One of those six plusses came on a fantastic play. Joseph forced a fumble with a big, clean hit where he properly attacked the ball without sacrificing good tackling position. This is beautiful:

Joseph also earned a plus with his one pass rush, a play where he forced Tagovailoa to throw the ball a count earlier than expected.

He kept up the strong play after the half, even as the secondary around him (looks at Amani Oruwariye and AJ Parker) played some truly awful football. In the second half, Joseph picked up eight more plusses against just two minuses. His savvy work in bracket coverage on speedy Tyreek Hill was very good. One of the minuses came in coverage, a play where he lost Jaylen Waddle on a deep seam route after Parker inexplicably turned him loose.

I wanted to give Joseph another minus for not intercepting a bad overthrow on Miami’s final drive of the third quarter, but the reverse angle of the play showed it was an impossible catch to make. Alas, his last minus came at a very bad time. Joseph was too passive and stayed deep too long on Miami’s final third-down conversion that sealed the game. That might have been by coaching design — Aubrey Pleasant did get fired after the game, after all — but his primary mark on the play was helping Will Harris cover Hill and he did not do that.

Overall

For the full game, Joseph earned 14 plusses and five minuses. Given the speed of the Miami receivers and the poor CB play around him, that’s a very impressive outing for a rookie in his fourth career game. Joseph showed solid instincts and very twitchy reactions in most situations.

One thing that really stood out was the lack of wasted motion or energy. Joseph almost never took a false step, and when he comes forward there isn’t a “bucket” step needed to launch him. Very promising effort and performance from No. 31.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx8sj47vkwrznr player_id=none image=https://lionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Lions snap count notes from Week 8 show a few schematic changes

Lions snap count notes from Week 8 show a few schematic changes on both sides of the ball

Looking at the snap counts from a game can reveal some things about a team that aren’t always obvious during the live game action. That was true of the Detroit Lions in their Week 8 home loss to the Miami Dolphins.

A couple of examples right off the top stand out. It begins with running back, where D’Andre Swift returned from missing three weeks with shoulder and ankle injuries. Despite getting just five carries to Jamaal Williams’ 10, Swift was on the field for 33 reps to Williams playing 22. The popular notion that the Lions would keep Swift on a snap limit proved inaccurate.

The reps also tell a story at tight end. Specifically, the use of multiple tight ends. Brock Wright played 23 of the Lions’ 60 offensive snaps, with starter T.J. Hockenson on the field for 52. Rookie James Mitchell even saw the field for five reps, including his first NFL reception on the opening drive. Detroit used two TEs in the formation (12 personnel) a season-high 19 times, almost 30 percent of snaps. The Lions typically use 12 personnel just 16 percent of the time and that’s almost always in red zone and short-yardage situations.

On defense, the Lions covered for injuries in the secondary by rotating Will Harris and AJ Parker as the fifth DB. CB Amani Oruwariye and S Kerby Joseph were the only defenders to play all 68 snaps, with CB Jeff Okudah and S Juju Hughes on the field for all but one apiece. Harris played 39, Parker 23 and C.J. Moore filled in for just two. Detroit played three LBs in this game more than they had all season, 10 of the 68 snaps (14 percent).

CB Jerry Jacobs did not play on defense as the Lions continues to ease the second-year DB back from his knee injury. LB Chris Board played four snaps, all as the third LB in the formation.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx8sj47vkwrznr player_id=none image=https://lionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Failure to execute the gameplan could lead to changes in the Lions secondary

Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell preached physicality with the Dolphins’ speedy receivers, but the Lions CBs failed to execute the game plan.

The Miami Dolphins are blessed to have two of the fastest, most dynamic wide receivers in the league in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Miami’s high-speed passing game has run past defenses better than Detroit’s all season long. It was a difficult task for the Lions to try and slow them down in Week 8’s matchup in Ford Field.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn didn’t hide the disruptive intentions during his weekly press briefing on Thursday.

“Get your hands on them. Don’t let them utilize what they have. You always want to put yourself in an advantageous situation, and our guys are bigger, lengthier guys, so that’s something that we’re going to get a chance to do on those guys, be able to get our hands on them, just disrupt them,” Glenn said of the plan to slow down the Dolphins. “The one thing that you can’t do, just allow receivers into the teeth of your defense, and when you do that, usually bad things happen.”

Glenn was right about the bad things happening. Hill caught 12 passes for 188 yards, while Waddle hauled in nine receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Far too many of those catches featured clean releases by the speedy Miami weapons, missed jams or flat-out missed assignments by the defensive backs.

“We didn’t hit them,” Campbell said after the game. “We didn’t hit them at the line. That was part of the game plan. We didn’t disrupt. We did not disrupt, and when you let them do that and get into your defense—we didn’t want to turn it into a track meet and it was a track meet.”

Waddle’s second touchdown reception was a perfect example. The defense was schemed for slot CB AJ Parker to strike Waddle at the line before he could sprint out from the bunched formation. But Parker never touched Waddle and got torched over the top for a too-easy TD that your local high school JV quarterback could complete. There were multiple instances where Parker and outside CB Amani Oruwariye were aligned in press man but never struck their receiver at the line.

In a related development, Campbell was asked why cornerback Jerry Jacobs wasn’t given chances to play. Jacobs is the most athletic CB on the roster, a player who thrives in being physical but also turning and running in man coverage. Jacobs returned last week from the PUP list after undergoing knee surgery last December and played sparingly.

“Oh yeah, we’re going to be looking at Jerry. We’ll be looking at everybody,” Campbell stated. “We’ll be looking at everybody. We want to make sure Jerry is ready to go and then let him compete and see where he is. We still feel like last week was a step in getting him – continuing to get his confidence back, getting his legs under him, and that started with (special) teams and he got a little bit more in this department. And once we feel like, OK, he’s right, he can take the load, and he competitively is better than one of the other guys, then he’s going to get his chance.”

Jacobs did not appear to play on defense against Miami. Young DB Ifeatu Melifonwu and veteran CB Mike Hughes missed this game with injuries, as did physical CB Bobby Price. If they’re healthy for the Week 9 visit from the Green Bay Packers, expect to see some changes to guys who can at least attempt to execute Glenn’s well-intentioned game plan. Whether they can make it work is a different story, but not executing the designed scheme is not something this group can tolerate.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx8sj47vkwrznr player_id=none image=https://lionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Lions vs. Dolphins: Quick takeaways from Detroit’s home loss in Week 8

Here are some initial takeaways from the 31-27 loss to the Dolphins from watching the game in real-time.

In the weekly roulette wheel spin of “how will the Detroit Lions disappoint everyone today,” in Week 8 the ball landed in the “blow a big early lead with incomprehensibly inept defense” slot.

Ah yes, Lions fans know this one. It’s become the default bet for the 2022 edition of the Detroit football team. It’s so commonplace that the payout is hardly worth the bet anymore.

The Lions raced out to a 27-17 halftime lead thanks to five straight scoring drives to open the game. Alas, NFL games last two halves, and the second half was some of the worst football the Lions have played all season–and that’s saying something in a year where Dan Campbell’s squad is now 1-6.

Here are some initial takeaways from the 31-27 loss to the Dolphins from watching the game in real-time.

Lions scare the Dolphins before yet another horror show on defense ruins the day for Detroit

The Lions scare the Dolphins before yet another horror show on defense ruins the day for Detroit

Another strong start by the Detroit Lions gave the Ford Field fans some nice treats early, but the Miami Dolphins quickly turned the game on the day before Halloween into yet another horror movie.

Bad Defense in Detroit: The Sequel

If you like good defense, this was not the game for you. Especially for the home team. The Lions defense did not force a Miami punt until the fourth quarter. After creating a takeaway — a great forced fumble by rookie S Kerby Joseph — on the opening drive, the Dolphins scored touchdowns on four of the next five drives. The only interruption was a Miami field goal.

The Lions defense did eventually force a punt, but it was too little, too late. On Miami’s final drive, when the outcome was still in doubt, QB Tua Tagovailoa had no problem engineering a game-sealing series of first downs. Tagovailoa finished 29-of-36 for 382 passing yards and three TDs for Miami.

Detroit did lead for almost half the game, but the combination of the leaky defense and a stark decline by the offense after halftime led to the Lions demise. Plays that worked sweetly in the first half turned into lumps of coal in the candy bag after the half. Detroit’s first two drives of the second half produced net negative yardage thanks to penalties.

Thanks to some awful defense on Miami’s part, with no small assistance from 12 Dolphins pre-snap penalties in the game, the Lions still had a chance to rise from the grave and scare up a win. Jared Goff’s fluttering 4th-and-2 deep shot to Josh Reynolds didn’t stand a ghost of a chance, however, and the Lions’ last chance to eke out a win died on the turf.

There were indeed some bright spots. The Lions offense dominated early on, scoring touchdowns on three straight drives to start the game. Ben Johnson’s unit followed that up with two dead solid perfect field goals from freshly signed kicker Michael Badgley to lead 27-17 at the half.

As happens far too much for the Lions, hope died at halftime.

The Lions dig their playoff grave deeper, now 1-6 on the season. Miami survives the scare and goes back home with a 5-3 record.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx8sj47vkwrznr player_id=none image=https://lionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Lions vs. Dolphins: How to watch, listen, stream the Week 8 matchup

Lions vs. Dolphins: How to watch, listen, stream the Week 8 matchup

Ford Field will be rocking on Sunday when the Detroit Lions host the Miami Dolphins in a Week 8 matchup.

Miami Dolphins (4-3) at Detroit Lions (1-5)

1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 30th

Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan

Line: The Dolphins are favored by 3.5 points

Here are all the different ways you can tune into the Week 8 matchup

Watch

The game will be broadcast on CBS. Markets in the orange areas on the map (courtesy 506 Sports) will get the Lions and Dolphins game on their local CBS affiliate. The team of Andrew Catalon and James Lofton will have the call.

Listen

Dan Miller, Lomas Brown and T.J. Lang will cover the game for the Lions radio network. In Detroit, the game can be heard on the flagship station, 97.1 The Ticket.

The full list of over 40 radio affiliates around Michigan and Ohio can be found here.

On Sirius XM Radio, the Lions home radio feed will be on channel 388

Stream

The game will be streamed on the new NFL+ app on either phones or tablets. Charges and restrictions may apply.

FuboTV (try it for free)

[listicle id=82951]

 

Michael Badgley signed to Lions active roster among Week 8 moves

The Lions made a series of moves on Saturday including signing K Michael Badgley to the active roster

The Detroit Lions roster for the Week 8 visit from the Miami Dolphins was finalized Saturday afternoon. As is becoming customary, the Lions made a series of roster moves to juggle open spots and injured players around.

Without a kicker on the 53-man roster entering the weekend, the Lions signed Michael Badgley from the practice to the active roster. Badgley has been a practice squad elevation in the last two games. He was perfect on his kicks in Dallas in Week 7.

The Lions did elevate two other players. Wide receivers Maurice Alexander and Stanley Berryhill will be active against the Dolphins.

Detroit also announced they signed rookie DT Demetrius Taylor back to the practice squad. Taylor was waived during the week and did not get claimed by another team.

 

 

Lions final injury report for Week 8: 6 players ruled out vs. Dolphins

Lions final injury report for Week 8: 6 players ruled out vs. Dolphins but D’Andre Swift and T.J. Hockenson carry no injury designations

The Detroit Lions will face the Miami Dolphins in Week 8 shorthanded, but not as devastated by injury as it could have been.

Six Lions players were officially ruled out in the final injury status report from the team after Friday’s practice:

S DeShon Elliott (finger)

DE Charles Harris (groin)

CB Mike Hughes (knee)

CB Chase Lucas (ankle)

S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle)

OT Matt Nelson (calf)

Elliott, Harris and Hughes are all regular starters, leaving the Lions short three top defenders on the active roster.

Two crucially important offensive starters, LG Jonah Jackson and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, are questionable. Jackson missed practice time during the week with a neck injury, while St. Brown is still in the NFL’s concussion protocol. St. Brown could be cleared on Saturday and ready to play on Sunday.

Running back D’Andre Swift is healthy and listed without any status, a great sign that he will return to the lineup after missing the last three games. TE T.J. Hockenson, C Frank Ragnow and WR Josh Reynolds also have no injury designation despite some missed practice time this week.

Lions DC Aaron Glenn lays out how they’ll handle the Dolphins speed at WR

Glenn knows his Lions defense is in for a challenge with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle

After a truly dreadful first four games, the Detroit Lions defense has calmed the storm in the last two games. Coordinator Aaron Glenn’s unit is still giving up too many points, but they’ve been able to get some stops and cut back on the too-easy gains for the opposing offense in games against New England and Dallas.

In Week 8, Glenn’s unit faces a different kind of challenge than they’ve seen in the recent uptick. The Miami Dolphins have outstanding speed on the outside with WRs Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Glenn knows their speed and playmaking ability is something the Lions have to mitigate if Detroit is to have any chance in Ford Field on Sunday.

Prior to Thursday’s practice session, Glenn laid out how to keep Hill and Waddle from going off in Detroit.

“First thing is don’t let the ball go over our head. I mean, knowing those two receivers, I think they’re both 4.2 runners or whatnot, so that’s the first thing,” Glenn told reporters. “The second thing is the catch-and-run that creates explosive plays for those guys. We have to be able to rally and create population to the ball. We have to tackle really, really well, something that I do think we’ve improved on also. Some of the coverage changes that we’re doing on defense is going to allow us to do that.”

Glenn then offered coyly,

“I’m not going to tell you what they are, so don’t ask, but it’s going to allow us to do that.”

However, Glenn did offer some glimpses into the tactics to slow them down.

“Well, there’s a couple of things you can do. First off, back up. That’s just the truth, and secondly, get your hands on them. Don’t let them utilize what they have. You always want to put yourself in an advantageous situation, and our guys are bigger, lengthier guys, so that’s something that we’re going to get a chance to do on those guys, be able to get our hands on them, just disrupt them. The one thing that you can’t do, just allow receivers into the teeth of your defense, and when you do that, usually bad things happen. So the more that we can disrupt these guys, and I’m not just talking about our corners, just any of our interior defenders in the pass game, to get our hands on those guys.”

The last point Glenn made is a key one for the Lions. Teams have found considerable success using their speed to run across the field more than attacking straight down the field. Involving the safeties and linebackers in helping carry Hill and Waddle on crossing routes should be a critical component for success. That could mean more of Chris Board, who only played on special teams in Week 7. Board is one of the fastest LB in the league and that could come in handy against Miami.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx8sj47vkwrznr player_id=none image=https://lionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

4 Lions who must have good games against the Dolphins in Week 8

Four Lions who all need to have good days on Sunday for the team to have a realistic shot at beating the 4-3 Dolphins.

The Lions enter Week 8 in desperate need of a win. Detroit dropped to 1-5 with a punchless loss in Dallas a week ago, draining any potential momentum boost to be gained from the Week 6 bye.

Now the Miami Dolphins come to Ford Field for Sunday’s interconference matchup. It’s a game the Lions can absolutely win despite the disparity in records and the visitors from Miami currently installed as a 3.5-point favorite. For the Lions to pull off the mild upset win, they need a few key components to step up.

Last week’s predictions proved prescient, though not necessarily positive. Three of the four named did have good games but Jared Goff’s bad day scuttled any chance for the win.

4 Lions who must have good games vs. Dallas in Week 7

Goff is a repeat performer on the list for Week 8, but in a bit of a different context. He’s joined by three other Lions who all need to have good days on Sunday for the team to have a realistic shot at beating the 4-3 Dolphins.