Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints

Detroit Lions Podcast – Bish & Brown: Lions vs. Bears II preview

Scott Bischoff and Russell Brown of Lions Wire preview the Week 14 rematch with the Bears on the Detroit Lions Podcast

Scott and Russ are back for another episode of Bischoff and Brown on the Detroit Lions Podcast! On this episode, here’s a few things that the guys discussed:

Lions beat the Saints 33-28!
Scott was at the game in New Orleans. What did he notice during the game?
Offensive and defensive review against the Saints.
Key players discussed: Jameson Williams, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Jared Goff, Sam LaPorta and Aidan Hutchinson.
Lions play the Bears on Sunday for their second time on the season. The guys give their thoughts and preview the game!

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Lions vs. Saints: What I learned from film study of Detroit’s Week 13 road win

Sunday’s road win in New Orleans was an important one for the Detroit Lions. Dan Campbell’s team raced out to a dominant first few minutes, seizing a 21-0 lead before fans got out of the beer line at the concessions.

The Saints settled in and were the better team for the better part of the remainder. The Lions defense made a couple of plays and the offense reawakened just enough to carry Detroit to a 33-28 road win.

Here’s what I picked up from film study of the game, reviewing the broadcast feed and the All-22 coach’s tape.

Best and worst PFF grades from the Lions win over the Saints in Week 13

The best and worst PFF grades from the Lions win over the Saints in Week 13

Coming off of two lackluster performances, the Lions were in a position to prove something against the Saints. New Orleans has one of the better defenses in the league and for an offense that has struggled, the Lions came out firing on all cylinders.

The passing game looked good early on highlighted by rookie Sam LaPorta having a career day. Other high notes included Jameson Williams showcasing his playmaking ability, and the running game continued to grind against defenses.

The defense bent but didn’t break against both Derek Carr and Jameis Winston who played quarterback for the Saints. They let the game get closer than it should have been but again, they are getting there in terms of playing a complete 60-minute game. The downside is there are just five weeks left to figure it all out.

Of course, diving deeper into the play can be done via PFF and its advanced metrics. These numbers highlight some of the stars from their week 13 performance.

Dan Campbell perfectly sums up the Lions win over the Saints

Campbell nailed the pulse of Lions fans with one simple statement in his Monday press conference.

The Detroit Lions did, in fact, beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. It could be hard to know that based on the general reaction of fans and even the national media.

The Lions raced out to a quick 21-0 lead before half of the first quarter had been played, looking completely dominant on the road against a fellow NFC division leader. The Saints, however, were the better team the rest of the way and forced the Lions to hang on for dear life in a 33-28 win.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell understands the negative sentiment even though his team came up victorious. Campbell summed it up very succinctly near the end of his Monday afternoon press conference.

“It was a good win,” Campbell stated. “But not good enough.”

The head coach talked about some of the real positives, like the linebacker play and the tour de force that was rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. He didn’t back away from the negatives, such as the asleep-at-the-wheel offense or the coverage lapses on defense. But his one-liner was perfect.

It was a good win, but not good enough. Well said, coach.

[lawrence-related id=99820]

Snap count notes from the Lions win over the Saints

Snap count notes from the Lions win over the Saints reflect a shift on defense with Anzalone out

There were quite a few notable takeaways from the player participation report for the Detroit Lions in the team’s Week 13 win in New Orleans. The first that stands out is the relative lack of plays.

The Lions ran just 58 offensive plays in the game, which is low overall but especially low for a winning team that scored 33 points. The quick-strike scores off defensive takeaways really aided Detroit there. New Orleans ran 67 plays, leaving the game with just 125 offensive snaps. Detroit’s Week 12 game had 140, by contrast.

Defensively, the starting secondary of Jerry Jacobs and Cam Sutton at CB and safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph all played the entire game. Third safety Tracy Walker joined them for 45 snaps, meaning the Lions were in base 4-2-5 for 69 percent of the snaps. Will Harris played three snaps, all in the goal line package, and Ifeatu Melifonwu got this customary one defensive snap.

The linebackers who constituted the “2” in the base defense and also expanded to three for the other 19 plays varied with captain Alex Anzalone out. When the Lions stuck with two backers, it was almost exclusively Derrick Barnes (56 snaps) and Jack Campbell (53). Malcolm Rodriguez saw almost double the defensive snaps in New Orleans (31) than he had in the last seven games combined (16). Vet Jalen Reeves-Maybin played a season-high 20 on defense and looked capable in those reps, too.

Aidan Hutchinson once again barely left the field. The DE played 61 of the 69 snaps. Josh Paschal repped 43 in what looked like his best game of the season. Bruce Irvin saw 11 snaps in his Detroit debut. Romeo Okwara bagged a sack amongst his nine snaps, while Charles Harris played just three.

On offense, the biggest takeaway was Amon-Ra St. Brown only playing 79 percent of the snaps. Normally he does not leave the field and he did not have any notable injuries. Josh Reynolds nearly out-snapped him with 44 to St. Brown’s 46. Jameson Williams played 33, followed by Kalif Raymond (13) and Donovan Peoples-Jones (12).

At RB, David Montgomery was the lead back with 36, 10 more than Jahmyr Gibbs. The two were on the field together for three plays. Craig Reynolds saw just two snaps as the third back.

Blocking-wise, Dan Skipper played five reps as an extra tackle, two more than third TE James Mitchell played. After center Frank Ragnow left (21 snaps), Colby Sorsdal went the rest of the way at RG while Graham Glasgow kicked inside to replace Ragnow in the pivot.

Good news on the injured game official in New Orleans

A positive medical update on the New Orleans sideline crew member who suffered a nasty-looking leg injury in Sunday’s Lions win

During the Week 13 matchup between the Lions and Saints in New Orleans, there was an unexpected delay. The game was held up for several minutes when a member of the chain gang on the sidelines suffered a nasty-looking leg injury when he got caught in the fray at the end of a play.

The broadcast (mercifully) did not show a replay, but the sideline crew member clearly was in a lot of pain; his painful screams were audible over the television feed.

Saints beat writer Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune offered up a more positive prognosis than was initially feared. After the game, Duncan reported,

“Nick Piazza, the member of the chain gang who was injured during today’s Lions-Saints game, suffered a dislocated knee and is recovering at University Hospital. He is not expected to need surgery on the injury.”

That’s very good news, all things considered.

Nick Piazza, the member of the chain gang who was injured during today's Lions-Saints game, suffered a dislocated knee and is recovering at University Hospital. He is not expected to need surgery on the injury.

— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) December 3, 2023

Quick takeaways from the Lions anxiety-inducing win over the Saints

Quick takeaways from the Lions anxiety-inducing win over the Saints in Week 13, including a fantastic start, a bad game from Ben Johnson and much more

The Detroit Lions are 9-3 after getting back in the win column with a 33-28 win in New Orleans over the host Saints. The path to the win was equal parts exhilaration and intense anxiety.

The Lions surged out to a 21-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The early success proved too easy, unfortunately. New Orleans was the better team the rest of the way, but Detroit’s early margin proved just enough to hold on for the important road win.

Here’s what stood out from watching Sunday’s game in real-time.

Lions blow huge lead but hang on for tough road win in New Orleans

Lions blow huge lead but hang on for tough road win in New Orleans in Week 13

For about 50 of the 60 minutes of the Week 13 game in New Orleans, the host Saints were better than the visiting Lions. Fortunately for Detroit, the spectacular first 10 minutes to start the game was just enough to carry the Lions to the win.

The Lions raced out to a 21-0 lead before the first quarter was half over. A physically dominant opening drive put the Lions up 7-0, and then a quick takeaway by Brian Branch off a deflection from Jack Campbell put Detroit right back in business again. The shell-shocked Saints were behind by three scores before they had positive yardage on offense.

And then the roles reversed. New Orleans settled down and smartly attacked the holes in the Lions defense. Detroit’s offense fluctuated between too cute and too conservative, allowing the Saints to creep back into the game with each exchange of possession. The early Lions lead faded to 24-21 Detroit midway through the third quarter.

The Lions defense did come up with a huge takeaway off a botched snap, and it led to the game-winning play. Jameson Williams raced through the Saints defense on a well-executed, well-blocked end-around for a 19-yard touchdown that made the score 33-21.

New Orleans answered with a touchdown drive of its own, but the Lions defense got a late stop after the offense meekly went three-and-out. Jared Goff sealed the win with a clutch third-down throw to Josh Reynolds to cap the game at 33-28.

The win advances the Lions to 9-3 and in firm control of the NFC North. New Orleans fell out of a first-place tie in the NFC South with the loss and Atlanta’s win over the Jets. The Saints are 5-7. Detroit heads to Chicago for it’s final outdoor game of the 2023 season in Week 14.

Lions blazing start dampened with an injury to Frank Ragnow

The Lions blazing start against the Saints was dampened with a leg injury to Frank Ragnow

The Lions were off to a fantastic start in New Orleans. Detroit raced out to a quick 21-0 lead on the Saints within the first quarter after some efficient offense and playmaking on defense.

Unfortunately, adversity struck. First, the Saints settled down a bit and quit making so many mistakes on both sides of the ball. They cracked the scoreboard with an impressive touchdown drive that exploited some poor coverage by the Lions safeties.

On the ensuing drive, the injury bug jumped up and bit the Lions in the paw. Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow was helped off the field after a run play with a lower leg injury. He appeared to get leg-whipped while blocking and then had his ankle bent awkwardly as he collapsed in a pileup.

The Lions quickly listed Ragnow as questionable to return with a knee injury. Graham Glasgow slid into the center spot, with rookie Colby Sorsdal replacing Glasgow at right guard.