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Best and worst PFF grades from the Detroit Lions’ Week 15 win over the Denver Broncos
The Detroit Lions played their best all-around performance in weeks on Saturday night, pounding the Denver Broncos 42-17. Pro Football Focus recognized the dominance by giving the Lions their best team grade since the Week 5 win against hapless Carolina and Detroit’s second-highest score for the season. The overall grade of 87.9 is the team’s third-best since the start of the 2016 season.
Detroit’s player grades reflect the impressive overall game.
Lions snap count notes from the win over Denver, including DB and RB splits and an intact offensive line
One of the first things that jumps out from the Detroit Lions’ snap count notes in the Week 15 win over the Denver Broncos is the continuity of the starters. It’s especially true on offense.
The entire starting offensive line played each and every one of the 66 offensive snaps. It was the first time since the Week 10 win over the Chargers that the team’s top five — Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Graham Glasgow, Penei Sewell — started and finished a game together. And it showed on the field, with the Lions rolling to almost 200 rushing yards.
Those rushes came from David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs in an almost even split of snaps. Montgomery played 34, while Gibbs got 32. No other RBs played. The Lions also did not use a fullback, though Dan Skipper played eight snaps as an extra tackle and blocking tight end James Mitchell was on the field for six. Mitchell still doesn’t have a single passing game target in his second season.
The wide receiver splits:
Amon-Ra St. Brown – 61
Jameson Williams – 45
Josh Reynolds – 38
Kalif Raymond – 20
Donovan Peoples-Jones – 11
On defense, LB Alex Anzalone was the only Lions player on the field for all 64 defensive reps.
The starting lineup changes in the secondary were definitive. Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu got the nod over Tracy Walker for the second straight game, and Melifonwu played 62 of the 64 snaps. Walker didn’t play on defense. The same was true at cornerback, where Khalil Dorsey replaced Jerry Jacobs. Dorsey (44 snaps) and Kindle Vildor (18) split the outside CB duties, while Jacobs only appeared on special teams.
Aidan Hutchinson’s heavy workload continues. The standout DE played 59 of the 64 snaps, another week over 90 percent participation. Some of that could be a function of the Lions deploying John Cominsky (46) and Josh Paschal (43) with more reps inside as part of a lighter front. Hefty DTs Benito Jones (30), Isaiah Buggs (23), Levi Onwuzurike (14) and rookie Brodric Martin (11) split more reps than usual with the lighter linemen.
Romeo Okwara (18) and Bruce Irvin (11) saw limited action. The Lions used rookie LB Jack Campbell in the SAM role a little amongst his 33 snaps. Derrick Barnes briefly left the game with a shoulder injury, and that held down his snap count to 35. Jalen Reeves-Maybin played 10, while Malcolm Rodriguez returned to the defensive lineup with five. Anthony Pittman played on defense for the first time in 2023, seeing action on four snaps.
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The Lions came out with something to prove against the Broncos and every came out firing. Lots of studs in a blowout win for Detroit.
For the first time in over a month, the Detroit Lions looked like playoff contenders. The offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense made plays, and the special teams looked smooth to the point that no one is talking about them.
Coach Dan Campbell challenged his team after the loss to the Bears last week. Coaches and players alike knew they had to come out on a national stage and make an impact, and they did. You look around the NFL, and coaches deliver messages every week, but teams don’t always hear them. This team proved they listen to and respect Campbell.
In a 42-17 win there will be a lot of studs and not a lot of duds. After weeks of focusing on the bad, the time is now to sing the praises of this team.
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Lions takeaways on being the aggressor, rookies stepping up, defensive changes that worked and more from Week 15
A drama-free Lions win was atop many holiday wishlists, and Detroit delivered. Boy did they!
The Lions destroyed the visiting Denver Broncos, 42-17, in front of a raucous Ford Field crowd on Saturday night. The Lions dictated the terms in which the game would be played from the start and never relented in being the hunter and not the hunted.
They wore the mindset change well after struggling in recent weeks. This Week 15 victory was never really in doubt after Jared Goff hit his third touchdown pass of the first half to send the teams to the locker room with a 21-0 Detroit lead.
Here are some initial takeaways from watching Saturday night’s game as it played out.
The Detroit Lions restore their roar with an impressive blowout win over the Denver Broncos
Coming off a shaky few weeks where the roar sounded more like an anxious and muffled purr, the Detroit Lions found their roar on Saturday night. The Lions roared to an impressive 42-17 win over the visiting Denver Broncos.
The defense deserves a lot of the credit for the team finding its mojo and successful stride. Even though the Detroit offense sputtered out of the gate, the defense was aggressive from the get-go. Two smart personnel changes by coordinator Aaron Glenn paid off from the opening drives. Safety Ifeatu Melifownu created a takeaway with a strip-sack on a gorgeous blitz, while cornerback Khalil Dorsey proved an upgrade in coverage at outside CB over Jerry Jacobs. A smartly conceived, aggressive defense bought time for Jared Goff and the offense to wake up.
And wake up they did! The Lions scored touchdowns on five straight offensive possessions spanning the second and third quarters and into the fourth. The drives covered 80, 61, 81, 75 and 75 yards, with Goff playing some of his best ball of the season.
The run game worked quite well, with Jahmyr Gibbs (100 yards on 11 carries) and David Montgomery (85 on 17) finding considerable success all night. Sam LaPorta scored three touchdowns, setting all sorts of franchise rookie marks with a big bounce-back game. Jameson Williams (four catches for 47 yards) had his first game with more than two catches in his NFL career. His early involvement in forms other than being a straight deep threat really opened things up for Goff, who was largely outstanding after some early yips.
Goff finished 24-of-34 with 259 yards and five touchdowns. He protected the ball well, not turning the ball over and even nicely holding on during a potential strip-sack. Amon-Ra St. Brown also broke out of a mini-slump with a seven-catch, 112-yard game.
The confidence from Dan Campbell’s team was tangible. It was the first time in several weeks that the Lions played like they believed they were the better team. And they proved they were, emphatically.
The Lions improve to 10-4 while the Broncos, losers for just the second time since Week 6, fall to 7-7.
Lions DT Isaiah Buggs showed off some open-field RB skills in Detroit’s game against the Denver Broncos
It’s always a treat when fans get to see a big man get the ball in the open field. Lions fans in Ford Field got treated to one of the biggest players on the team rumbling and rolling on a fumble recovery early in the Week 15 matchup against the Broncos.
Lions defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs, all 6-foot-3 and 335 pounds of him, scooped up a fumble and rambled 37 yards in the open field to set up the offense. Ifeatu Melifonwu created the fumble with a picture-perfect safety blitz that strip-sacked Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson.
Check out the big man chugging down the field!
Iffy took it away!#DENvsDET | 📺 NFL Network pic.twitter.com/tqqJ4zTVeW
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 17, 2023
Top takeaways from film review of the Lions’ Week 14 loss to the Bears, with notes on Goff, the pass rush, replacement players and more
This week’s Detroit Lions film review was not a happy experience. Some weeks when the Lions lose, there are enough positives and circumstantial developments that watching the All-22 can make me feel better about the loss. Not this week, not this team’s performance in Chicago. If anything, I felt even worse about the Lions’ 28-13 loss to the Bears.
Normally I do the film review package as a “What I learned from…” piece, but this week I wanted to instead focus more on the “quick hits” portion of those breakdowns.
Lions final injury report for Week 11: Jonah Jackson and Isaiah Buggs OUT against the Bears
As has been the case for most of the season, the Detroit Lions will play without their desired starting five on the offensive line on Sunday. Pro Bowl left guard Jonah Jackson will miss the Week 11 matchup with the Chicago Bears due to a wrist and ankle injury.
Jackson is one of two Lions ruled out for the NFC North matchup. Defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs will also miss the game due to an illness that kept him out of practice all week as well.
Beyond those two, the Lions are relatively healthy. Reserve defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu is the only other player who has an injury status. Mlifonwu, who plays almost exclusively on special teams, is questionable with a hand injury.
The likely replacement for Jackson is to insert rookie Colby Sorsdal into the lineup. That could mean a shift from right guard to LG for Graham Glasgow, as Sorsdal has worked primarily on the right side at both guard and tackle. Expect rookie Brodric Martin to take Buggs’ spot in the DL rotation.
Moseley is the only Lions player who carries any injury designation into Thursday’s game against the Chiefs
The Detroit Lions are in relatively good health entering the Week 1 matchup in Kansas City with the Chiefs. Only one player, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, has been ruled out of the game for injury purposes.
The good news for Detroit is that Moseley is the only player who winds up carrying any game designation at all into Thursday’s opener. Center Frank Ragnow, who sat out Tuesday’s practice for veteran rest, will play with no injury status. DT Isaiah Buggs and S Ifeatu Melifonwu are also medically in the clear to play. Buggs will be inactive due to a coach’s decision, and Melifonwu might also be a healthy scratch.
It’s not a surprise that Moseley isn’t ready for game action yet. The veteran cornerback is coming off two knee surgeries and was only activated from the PUP list last week.
Center Frank Ragnow sat out of Tuesday’s Detroit Lions practice as planned to rest his chronic toe injury
The Detroit Lions held their penultimate practice session on Tuesday before the regular season opener in Kansas City. There was only one change to the team’s injury report from Monday’s session.
Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow sat out Tuesday’s session, but every indication is that Ragnow was simply getting a veteran rest day. He’s dealt with a chronic toe injury for some time and is expected to miss practices weekly as a form of load and pain management.
As for CB Emmanuel Moseley, Campbell didn’t commit to the veteran playing on Thursday night. Moseley is in his first full week of practice after being activated from the PUP list following two knee surgeries.
“Yeah, encouraging, it’s been good every day, he’s getting his legs back under him,” Campbell said. He’s been getting some reps out there and then he took some one-on-one reps the other day, that was his first kind of taste of it and so you can tell, he’s got a big grin on his face. He’s starting to feel pretty good, so here we are a couple of days, really three days after the fact and he’s feeling pretty good, so he’s getting better.”
Moseley has been listed as a limited participant in both practice reports. DT Isaiah Buggs (illness) and S Ifeatu Melifonwu (hamstring) have both been full participants each day.
The Chiefs were not so lucky. All-Pro TE and leading receiver Travis Kelce suffered a hyperextended knee in Tuesday’s practice. His availability for Thursday night is in doubt.
Final injury reports for both teams will be released on Wednesday.
