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.
