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The Detroit Lions (5-1) beat the Minnesota Vikings (5-1) in a back-and-forth game, with Jake Bates nailing a late field goal in the 31-29 victory.
This post will run through MLive Lions beat writer Ben Raven’s grades from the game.
Related: What’s being said nationally after Lions hand Vikings their first loss
Related: Video recap: Lions flash impressive resiliency in victory over Vikings
Quarterbacks: Jared Goff is playing MVP-level football. It’s hard to do what he’s doing right now. But Goff is operating at the highest of levels, spreading the ball around while playing impressively clean football. The ball rarely hits the ground when it comes off his hands, and it’s not like Goff is dinking and dunking or checking down — the Lions are throwing it all over the field and to a number of different players.
Goff was 22-of-25 passing for 280 yards with two touchdowns in the win. He has a masterful feel leading this offense, and has been better against Brian Flores’ aggressive defense than any other quarterback in the league, no easy task. Most impressively, Goff faced pressure on a season-high 51.7% of his dropbacks, going 10-of-11 passing for 164 yards with two touchdowns against the heat. On the season, Goff averages a league-best 11.6 yards per attempt under pressure, with NFL Next Gen Stats noting that no other quarterback averages more than 9 yards per attempt. MVP-level quarterback play from Goff, without question.
Goff has found ways to keep the offense humming at a high level, even when teams limit one of his playmakers. Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams were quiet in this game again, but Goff found ways to make consequential throws to Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond, not to mention his running backs. And the quarterback’s connection with Amon-Ra St. Brown can be so automatic that it gets overlooked — they connected on all eight targets for 100-plus yards and a touchdown against the Vikings. Grade: A
Running backs: David Montgomery hurt his knee early but managed to return in this game. He ran nine times for 31 yards, losing the late fumble that the Vikings returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Montgomery continued to make plays in the passing game, though, including a one-handed, stumbling one to keep Goff’s perfect streak going for a couple more passes.
It was Jahmyr Gibbs’ turn to star and lead the way for Detroit. Gibbs ran 15 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-long 45-yarder to the house. The second-year back made some stellar moves on that touchdown run in open space, too, finally breaking one for a massive gain. Gibbs also did his part in the passing game, catching all four balls sent his way for 44 yards. He was clutch on that eventual game-winning drive to put the Lions in field-goal range late in Minnesota. This one-two punch meshes well together, but they also have enough talent and versatility to lift one another when someone isn’t at their best.
Gibbs was too dang good for Montgomery’s day or mistake to hurt this grade too much. Grade: B+
Wide receivers: Amon-Ra St. Brown secured all eight targets sent his way for 112 yards and one touchdown. He beat the Vikings down the seam for his touchdown, thanks to some great blocking by Tim Patrick and Penei Sewell, making noise all over the field with his route tree. St. Brown was money and continued to step up when the Lions needed him the most on those third downs and late in the game. Kalif Raymond and Tim Patrick made a handful of plays in Minnesota, too, and that was clutch, with Jameson Williams being held to just one reception on one target for negative yardage.
Raymond is an important glue piece who had all three of his catches and the touchdown on a single drive. Patrick continues to look like an ideal fit for this offense, bringing everything together. Would like to see Jameson Williams more, but if it works, it works. Grade: A-
Tight ends: Sam LaPorta caught one pass on two targets for 25 yards, and that was it in the box score for the tight ends. Parker Hesse was a healthy scratch, with Shane Zylstra getting elevated from the practice squad. This group, much like the offensive line, had their hands full with Minnesota’s blitz-happy defense. Goff certainly faced his fair share of pressure, as previously noted, and this group seemed to have their hands full without completely breaking down. Grade: B
Offensive line: This is where I wish there were enough time in the day to do individual grades because Penei Sewell’s would be glowing. But Taylor Decker had one of, if not his worst showing of the season, getting beat by Jonathan Greenard on more than a couple of occasions for pressure. Greenard is a very good player, and there is a reason Minnesota gave him $76 million. Kayode Awosika had a tough start, with multiple penalties and missed blocks in both phases. Awosika had three penalties, all in the first quarter, then seemed to settle into the role for the most part for a much better finish.
Graham Glasgow had a couple of bumps along the way, too, but played a role in some of the rushing success alongside Frank Ragnow. But Sewell was moving bodies, and there is no way around that. Jahmyr Gibbs had a big day doing a touch of everything, but he hit a couple of his biggest plays on the heels of Sewell. Also, Goff’s touchdown pass to St. Brown would not have happened without Sewell (or Tim Patrick) protecting the pocket. This group’s play improved, and at least they avoided the bottoms seen early in the first quarter. Grade: B-
Defensive line: The Lions didn’t generate much pressure at all through the game’s first 44 minutes and some change. Then, Josh Paschal ended the third quarter with a sack, and James Houston came up with a timely pressure on third down to open the final frame. Still, that’s not enough to make anyone forget about the Aidan Hutchinson-sized hole in this rotation.
Tracking the pressure numbers from Pro Football Focus and Next Gen Stats will be an interesting experience once those come later on Monday morning. But it’s safe to say there was a drop in pressure from this defense, even with the increase in aggression and blitzes.
Paschal went down and returned from two injuries, and much like the rest of the team, seemed to find his footing in crunch time. Paschal and DJ Reader were the only two defensive linemen/edge defenders to touch the quarterback, though, and that’s not great. The NFL trade deadline is a little more than two weeks away, so buckle up. They might need to add an outside name to help get the pressure coming without Hutchinson. Grade: B-
Linebackers: Jack Campbell and Alex Anzalone were flying around the field and helped the defense recover quickly after a bumpy start with the 34-yard Aaron Jones touchdown run. Anzalone had eight tackles, including one for loss, and had a couple of impressive coverage plays on tight ends. And Campbell was all over Jones once the defense was able to find its groove, finishing with seven tackles and one sack in the win.
Trevor Nowaske also continues to look the part in the SAM linebacker rotation. He was all over a short pass as the crashing defender in coverage and managed to get home for the game-sealing sack on the final snap of the afternoon. Malcolm Rodriguez is also quietly having a really solid start back in the linebacker rotation as a key piece. He added seven tackles, including one for loss and a sack of his own, in another solid performance for this group. The Lions had four sacks on Sunday, and three of them came from this group. Grade: A-
Secondary: Brian Branch is a star. Carlton Davis III and Terrion Arnold deserve some love for showing up in Minnesota. Amik Robertson got caught in the slot with Justin Jefferson’s touchdown, but that’s as tough of a matchup as they come, and there wasn’t much more he could have done on the quest to stop the star on that one. Jefferson had seven catches on eight targets for 81 yards and the touchdown. Jalen Nailor made the big play in another contested window, too, finishing with 76 yards on four catches. Jordan Addison added 51 of his 66 yards in the final seconds, giving the Vikings one last breath before this game ended.
It wasn’t a perfect or dominating day. But the Lions were sticky in coverage, remained physical and seemed to get better as the day went on. Jefferson is always going to find ways to make plays, and the Vikings were wise to get him a matchup in the slot. But other than that and the two heaves downfield, it was a mostly solid showing for this secondary. The one glaring mistake came as early as possible, with Terrion Arnold making a terrible read and angle on the 34-yard touchdown run to get the scoring started. Grade: B
Special teams: Jake Bates was the hero in Minnesota, nailing the 44-yard kick in the final minute of the big-time NFC North win. Bates, outside of a missed extra point, remains clean kicking the ball on the season. Jack Fox punted four times, averaging 54.8 yards per boot, including a long of 63 yards. It was a mostly clean day for this group, outside of the fake punt early in the game. That play did not have much of a chance, with the Lions trying to run what looked to be an option with Jalen Reeves-Maybin and rookie Sione Vaki. The Lions are always going to be among, if not the most aggressive team in the league, but they need to go back to the drawing board with that design. I can’t help but respect the aggression, even when I disagree with the decision and actual call. Grade: A-
Coaching: There were a couple of standout performances from this impressive win, no doubt. But the coaching staff’s ability to have this team ready to go into Minnesota and beat an unbeaten Vikings team, period, is an impressive milestone. But to do it the way they did it after an emotional week of losing stud pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson is all the more remarkable.
The Lions fell into an early hole, then turned things around so quickly they went into halftime leading 21-10. And while they let the Vikings all the way back a couple of times, they survived a mistake that would have been too much to overcome for the vast majority of other NFL teams. David Montgomery fumbled, and the Vikings returned it all the way for a touchdown to re-take the lead late in the fourth quarter. But these Lions had one more final stop and drive into field-goal range in them to get out of Minnesota as winners and atop the NFC North.
Aaron Glenn’s defense played a rock-solid game, even with the lack of pass rush for the first 45 minutes or so. The defense gave up the early touchdown on the short field after the failed fake punt and then watched Minnesota’s defense return the fumble for a touchdown, so don’t point too many fingers at this group. The linebackers and defensive backs were rock solid, and Glenn wasn’t afraid to turn up the heat on the quest to manufacture some pressure.
The coaching staff and Campbell’s job in weathering those blows and surviving that missed fake punt (and it was a mistake) aren’t enough to take away from what they accomplished this week. The state of the franchise is strong, and these Lions remain for real. They stay true to themselves and what got them here, also knowing how to get the most out of their players. Grade: A
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