Tag: Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings

Terrion Arnold: Breaking down the Lions rookie CB game film from win over Vikings

Terrion Arnold: Breaking down the Lions rookie CB game film from win over Vikings

Terrion Arnold has been somewhat polarizing through the first few weeks of his Detroit Lions career. The first-round cornerback from Alabama has looked decent in man coverage, but his play has been pockmarked with penalties and the occasional blown assignment when not playing man.

Against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7, Arnold performed pretty darn well against an explosive offense. Playing on the road against the unbeaten Vikings, Arnold’s work at outside CB effectively reflected the entire Lions team for the day. Arnold is the subject of this week’s Detroit film breakdown.

As always, I grade the individual player for every snap. Arnold gets a plus for a positive play and a minus for a poor one. Not every play earns a plus or minus.

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He started off slowly but then turned it up more than a notch to outshine the competition.

Arnold’s day certainly started out rough. After the first play, a screen to the other side, Arnold was victimized by overzealousness on Minnesota’s second offensive play.

That is, of course, the Aaron Jones 34-yard touchdown. Arnold is responsible for the outside containment on the left-end run, but he overreacts to WR Jordan Addison (No. 3) motioning inside. Because safety Brian Brian is on a designed run blitz to the inside gap, there’s nobody behind Arnold.

Rookie mistake, and it cost the Lions a touchdown. Big minus for No. 0 on this one:

 

Arnold earned his first plus on the next drive, and he did so being in zone coverage. On 3rd-and-short, Arnold correctly identified that the TE (Johnny Mundt) would chip and release and ran to the spot where Mundt was heading. Perfectly executed option elimination. The play wound up being a first down conversion to Justin Jefferson just over a step-too-shallow Brian Branch, perhaps No. 32’s only real mistake of the game.

Arnold’s improved read-and-react in zone here is a very welcome development. He struggled to trust his eyes in the Week 3 win over Arizona, and this is a tangible improvement that reflects hard work and good coaching.

Plays that are negated by penalty don’t technically exist, or get factored into grades for outlets like PFF. But I’m giving Arnold a plus for his man coverage on Addison on the play where Carlton Davis was (correctly) called for defensive holding. Addison was San Darnold’s first read and Arnold was on his hip with inside technique, not allowing the wideout to break to the inside. And Arnold did that without relying on being handsy.

The next few drives produced two plusses (one on a play negated by an illegal formation penalty on the Vikings) and two minuses in coverage–both in zone. Write those minuses in thin pencil, however; Arnold erred on the side of caution and didn’t give up bigger plays. Better to be too deep/outside than too shallow/inside in Detroit’s zone scheme.

Arnold earned a plus on the Brian Branch INT for his perfect handling of transition coverage. He even pointed to Branch on where Addison was heading. Branch might not have needed the extra help, but that’s still a heady move from a rookie, showing his ability to incorporate film study into in-game action.

Arnold had a lot less to do after that drive, in part because he was so precise in his man coverage responsibilities. Twice he was part of lockdown coverage by the entire secondary that forced Darnold to scramble because there was nowhere to throw the ball. Those are plusses for Arnold.

Final tally

Arnold had 13 plusses and six minuses for the game. Nearly all of the scores came in coverage; Arnold had one plus and one minus (that fateful first-drive TD) in run defense.

The man coverage was fantastic. No. 0 picked up seven plusses and one minus in man coverage. Zone was not as sharp but still a respectable five plusses and four minuses. Two plusses and one minus came on plays that were nullified by penalties and therefore aren’t necessarily reflected in the box score or PFF grades.

This was a very strong game from Arnold as a rookie. Give him a bonus plus for not committing a penalty. And that’s phrased deliberately–I didn’t see one viable infraction that could have been flagged beyond one marginal illegal contact that was inconsequential to the play. That’s very real progress for Arnold, too.

Lions snap count notes vs. Vikings: How Detroit replaced Aidan Hutchinson in Week 7

Lions snap count notes vs. Vikings: How Detroit replaced Aidan Hutchinson in Week 7

Week 7 marked the first time the Detroit Lions were forced to play without Aidan Hutchinson. Knowing Hutchinson’s league-leading pass-rush production cannot possibly be replaced by one player, the Lions attacked the Minnesota Vikings with a barrage of options at EDGE.

Josh Paschal and Isaac Uwku earned the starting roles, as the Lions continue to adapt to also not having starter Marcus Davenport. Paschal, who bagged the first of Detroit’s four sacks of Vikings QB Sam Darnold, played the most with 52 of 60 snaps. Ukwu, elevated from the practice squad for the second straight week, was next at 34, followed by Levi Onwuzurike at 26, freshly signed Pat O’Connor with 12, rookie Mekhi Wingo 11 and James Houston on the field for 9 reps.

The defense featured five iron men, Lions who played all 60 defensive reps:

S Kerby Joseph
S Brian Branch
CB Carlton Davis
CB Terrion Arnold
LB Alex Anzalone

Paschal might’ve attained that too, if not for having to exit twice for attention from trainers.

Detroit’s defense also opted for more 3-LB looks than normal. Third LB Malcolm Rodriguez played over half the game, getting 32 reps. Jack Campbell played 47 and Trevor Nowaske, the new SAM, repping 14 snaps. Jalen Reeves-Maybin also played 10, and that doesn’t count the (abysmal) fake punt in the first quarter.

Other notes

The starting offensive line, including fill-in RG Kayode Awosika, all played all 57 snaps. Detroit did not use an extra lineman at any point in this game.

The RB snap splits: Jahmyr Gibbs 33, David Montgomery 22, Craig Reynolds 2.

Rookies Ennis Rakestraw (CB) and Sione Vaki (RB) only appeared on special teams.

TE Shane Zylstra, elevated from the practice squad in favor of healthy scratch Parker Hesse, played three offensive snaps and 21 of a possible 31 special teams reps.

 

Check out these top photos from the Lions Week 7 win in Minnesota

Top photos from the Detroit Lions Week 7 win in Minnesota against the previously unbeaten Vikings

For the second consecutive week, the Detroit Lions conquered their foe on the road. After waxing the Cowboys in Dallas in Week 6, Jared Goff, Brian Branch and the Lions rolled into Minnesota and stunned the previously unbeaten Vikings in Week 7.

The Lions shook off a slow start and then held on for dear life, coming away with a 31-29 victory. The win gives the Lions the best record in the NFC at 5-1, earning the tie-breaker over the Vikings.

Here are some of the top photos taken by the professionals inside US Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Vikings were set to try 68-yard FG before late penalty pushed them back

The Vikings were set to try a 68-yard FG to win the game before a penalty and odd loophole pushed them back and preserved the Lions win

The Detroit Lions held off a final rally from the Minnesota Vikings to claim a 31-29 victory in Week 7. That two-point margin, created when Lions kicker Jake Bates slammed home a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left on the clock, proved even closer than it might appear.

That’s because the Vikings very nearly trotted out big-legged rookie kicker Will Reichard for a potential game-winning field goal on the game’s final play. Reichard has been perfect on the season and comfortably hit from 57 yards earlier in the game, and he’s drilled kicks from beyond 65 yards routinely in warm-ups.

After QB Sam Darnold hit wideout Jalen Nailor at the 50-yard line, the Vikings were ready to send out Reichard for a potential game-winner from about 67 or 68 yards. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell admitted after the game they were trying to get Reichard a shot to be a hero.

The Lions, and their fans, were spared any nail-biting drama thanks to a penalty that pushed the Vikings out of any conceivable range, even for the very impressive Reichard.

The penalty O’Connell referenced exposed a loophole, one that in times past might’ve bitten the Lions at the base of the tail. The Vikings were called for an illegal formation penalty after furiously rushing to the line to snap the ball for a spike to kill the clock.

In nearly every instance, an offensive penalty in the final two minutes creates a 10-second runoff on the clock. Because Minnesota had no timeouts, that would have ended the game. But there is a loophole specific to the illegal formation penalty that doesn’t create the runoff.

Of course, the five yards assessed on the penalty pushed the Vikings out of potential field goal range, as O’Connell noted. However, had Minnesota’s offense been further down the field, that weird technicality in the NFL rulebook could very well have haunted the Lions.

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Tracking the reaction to the Lions big win over the Vikings

Tracking the reaction to the Lions big win over the Vikings in Week 7

The Detroit Lions went into US Bank Stadium and came away with a clutch NFC North win in Week 7. Dan Campbell’s Lions survived a thrilling matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, coming away with a 31-29 win and handing the home team their first loss of the season.

It was a huge victory for Detroit, overcoming a 10-0 deficit and then giving away an 11-point lead before kicker Jake Bates nailed the game-winner with 15 seconds to play.

Here are some of the best reactions on social media after the game, from both Detroit and national outlets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lions prevail over Vikings in Week 7 thriller

The Detroit Lions pulled off a thrilling 31-29 victory in Minnesota over the Vikings in a Week 7 game that lived up to the billing

The Week 7 matchup between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings was hyped up as the preeminent game of the week, if not the middle part of the NFL season. The two best teams in the NFC through six weeks battled for divisional supremacy and the top seed in the conference.

The game action did not disappoint, nor did the finals score–for Detroit fans. The Lions survived and advanced into the top spot in the NFC with a 31-29 win on enemy turf.

Minnesota surged out to a 10-0 lead early, with Detroit’s offense unable to do anything on the first three drives. Detroit then answered with authority, scoring 21 straight points in the second quarter to seize the halftime lead. The second half was played with the intensity of a playoff game, with both teams unloading their A-games in the quest to win.

Minnesota took the lead late on a David Montgomery fumble, which Vikings LB Ivan Pace scooped up and returned for a touchdown. The failed 2-point conversion kept the margin to just one point. Both defenses held strong on subsequent drives, setting up Jared Goff and the Lions for one final shot.

Goff impressively drove the Lions into field goal range for first-year kicker Jake Bates. With 15 seconds left, Bates drilled home a go-ahead field goal from 44 yards out.

Minnesota had one last gasp, but Trevor Nowaske sacked Vikings QB Sam Darnold on the final play to secure the win.

Goff finished nearly perfect, completing 22 of his 25 passes for 280 yards and two TDs. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six of those passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the win.

The Lions and Vikings are both 5-1, with Detroit holding the tie-breaker with the head-to-head win.

 

Dan Campbell shares his halftime message after tremendous 2nd quarter vs. Vikings

Dan Campbell shares his halftime message after tremendous 2nd quarter vs. Vikings

The Detroit Lions were down 10-0 after a lousy first quarter in the Week 7 NFC North showdown in Minnesota. No first downs on the first three drives, poor special teams and ineffective defense were all part of a sorry start for Dan Campbell’s Lions.

And then, just like that, Campbell’s team completely flipped the script. Detroit owned the second quarter, surging out to a 21-10 halftime lead and dominating all aspects of the game.

As the Lions took the field after halftime, the FOX broadcast crew asked Campbell how they did it.

“To go through what we went through, down 10-0 in this game,” Campbell told Pam Oliver. “We talked about having composure. We talked about communicating out there, and then have a little bit of an edge. WE’ve done all three of those.”

Campbell quickly summed it up,

“Be patient on offense, and our defense is playing lights out right now.”

Lions lose RB David Montgomery in disastrous first quarter in Minnesota

Lions lose RB David Montgomery to knee injury in disastrous first quarter in Minnesota

The Detroit Lions got off to a terrible start in the Week 7 matchup with the Vikings in Minnesota.

The Lions offense was rough on the first three drives, failing to pick up a single first down. Meanwhile, an easily-stopped fake punt on Detroit’s opening series set up Minnesota for an easy rushing touchdown. Minnesota tacked on a 57-yard field goal to quickly seize a 10-0 lead.

To add injury to insult, running back David Montgomery limped off the field with considerable assistance after being tackled on a 3rd-and-short, where he was snuffed under the pile. The team quickly ruled Montgomery’s return as questionable with a knee injury.

UPDATE: Montgomery returned to the game after sitting out a series.

Lions inactive players vs. Vikings: Carlton Davis active, Kevin Zeitler sits

Lions inactive players vs. Vikings: Carlton Davis active, Kevin Zeitler sits with his injury

The Detroit inactive player list for the Week 7 matchup in Minnesota with the Vikings cleared up the officially questionable status of two Lions starters from the final injury report on Friday.

Cornerback Carlton Davis was questionable for the game after dealing with a quad injury throughout the week. Davis is active in Minnesota.

Right guard Kevin Zeitler was not so fortunate. Zeitler is out with his groin injury that “popped up” during practice this week, in Dan Campbell’s words.

Tight end Parker Hesse is the most notable of the healthy scratches. The Lions perhaps tipped off a move like this by elevating TE Shane Zylstra for the game.

The rest of the Lions inactives are pretty standard fare at this point of the season, with depth offensive players sitting out as healthy scratches. Newcomer Isaiah Thomas was an expected scratch. The full list of inactives:

TE Parker Hesse

RG Kevin Zeitler

WR Isaiah Williams

OL Giovanni Manu

S Loren Strickland

EDGE Isaiah Thomas

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Lions vs. Vikings: Last-minute thoughts and final score prediction

Lions vs. Vikings: Last-minute thoughts and final score prediction for the Week 7 NFC North showdown

This Sunday’s morning coffee precedes a newly rare occurrence. The Detroit Lions play a 1 p.m. game on a Sunday. It’s just the second time all season, and it’s Week 7. As it’s currently 5:57 AM and I’ve got a lot of thoughts about today’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, the coffee is definitely flowing.

This will be Detroit’s first time as an underdog in 2024. It’s the first game without dominant EDGE Aidan Hutchinson, too. First divisional game as well, and it’s a big one. A Lions win in Minnesota would elevate Detroit into the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Sure it’s early in the season, but it would still be fantastic to seize the top spot and make someone else come and try to take it. That’s what Dan Campbell is all about, and that’s why Detroit loves him.

But this one will not be easy…

Why I think the Lions will win

I am a believer, without any substantive data to back it up, that in the first game after a team loses a superstar like Hutchinson, the supporting players rise up and compensate well. I think back to a Texans team that lost prime J.J. Watt in Houston’s fifth game of the season, only to come out the next week and bag four sacks and force four takeaways. Lions DT D.J. Reader got one of those sacks–the only one he would record that season.

Heck, the Lions already did that once this year when All-Pro center Frank Ragnow missed the 40-point eruption over Seattle. It shouldn’t be relied upon because I’m sure the long-term data would tell me I’m off-base, but it happens enough that it’s feasible it could happen again.

This Lions defense certainly has that capability. The Vikings don’t have a lot of tape on Pat O’Connor in Detroit, or Isaac Ukwu or Trevor Nowaske. They both played decent enough in Dallas after Hutchinson’s injury to think they can impact this game on a key play or two. It doesn’t take much to facilitate a big play from safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, who might be the best playmaking tandem in the league–especially when playing 2-high looks, which figures to be the base look against an explosive Vikings offense.

It helps that the Lions have scored over 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since before William Clay Ford bought the team over 60 years ago. Granted they played a soft Dallas team in Week 6, but Jared Goff and the offense have been completely dialed in the last two games.

Goff has a nice history playing against Minnesota (4-2 in Detroit), as well as lighting up the creative chaos that is the Brian Flores defensive scheme. Detroit scored exactly 30 points in both meetings last season, both Detroit wins. Goff keeps proving he’s reliable in big games and will find the proper target at the right time, a big key to nullifying the exotic Vikings defense.

It won’t hurt that Minnesota’s best second-level run defender, LB Blake Cashman, is out with an injury. Jahmyr Gibbs should benefit, though David Montgomery could also find a little more running room, too. Both are capable of putting up 75 yards and a touchdown apiece.

What worries me about the Vikings

Playing an unbeaten opponent in their house is never easy, not even in Week 3. It’s Week 7, more than long enough for the Vikings to quiet any naysayers about the validity of their unblemished record. They’re fifth in scoring offense, fourth in scoring defense. They won in Green Bay a week after blowing away a Texans team that would be the No. 2 seed in the AFC if the season ended today — and could very well stay there.

This is a very good football team on both sides of the ball. More to the point, they have offensive and defensive playmakers that can match Detroit’s; exceedingly few teams can lay claim to that. Worse, the Vikings are coming off their bye week. They’re fresh and also had time to prepare more in-depth for a specific opponent in Detroit they desperately want to beat.

Everyone expected the offense to be pretty good, even with journeyman Sam Darnold at quarterback. Justin Jefferson is a legit All-Pro weapon at wideout, and Aaron Jones is a very effective and versatile running back. Jordan Addison is a dangerous No. 2 wideout, with Jailen Nailor an effective role player in support. Minnesota’s offensive line isn’t to Detroit’s level, but the Vikings unit features two really good tackles and a strong center (sound familiar?).

It’s the defensive playmaking from the Vikings that has surprised me. They’re a very well-conceived unit, with smart addition Jonathan Greenard nicely balancing Patrick Jones, the best pass rusher most Lions fans have never heard of. They’ve combined for nine sacks. LB Andrew Van Ginkel is a perfect fit in Brian Flores’ defense, capable of playing in coverage or rushing the passer from any pre-snap alignment. He’s got three sacks and two pick-sixes as a variable catalyst who is very difficult to read. Their corners have been more reliable in coverage this year, and Minnesota might have the best-tackling secondary in the NFL. They’re the best first-quarter defense in the league, meaning they’re good at playing with a lead and turning up the pressure even more.

I do think Flores’ defense has its vulnerabilities. It’s a unit that relies heavily on takeaways and offensive mistakes. Jared Goff has done well in playing smart and avoiding the no-scope-360 errors. As noted above, the Lions ground-and-pound with the offensive line leading Gibbs and Montgomery is a great solution for attacking it. Minnesota is ripe for the picking with a good No. 2 TE like Brock Wright and a deep shot to Jameson Williams against the blitz.

That was true against Tampa Bay, too. You might not want to remember Week 2, but that was a game where the Lions–specifically OC Ben Johnson–decided not to take advantage of any of their matchup advantages. Detroit lost that one to a Buccaneers team that isn’t close to as potent as Minnesota because the Lions offense got away from its identity.

I need to see Johnson prove to me he’s not going to make that mistake again. If Jared Goff throws over 40 nickel-and-dime times in this one (he threw 55 times for just 307 yards vs. TB), that plane ride back to Detroit is apt to be a solemn one.

Minnesota also happens to have found itself a kicker in rookie Will Reichard. The former clutch Alabama kicker is perfect on the season, including a 58-yarder. The Vikings punter, Ryan Wright, is very good at preventing returns and pinning teams deep in conjunction with a well-coached coverage unit. Read as: no free yards from special teams.

Final score prediction

Like most everyone, I think these are the two best teams in the NFC. Detroit playing this game without all the recently injured pass rushers, and Minnesota playing at home coming off a bye week, is enough to make me think the Vikings will prevail. Barely…

Vikings 29, Lions 27