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Detroit Lions photos
Five takeaways from the Lions critical loss in Dallas on Monday night...
1) #9 for NFL MVP?
Pro Bowl Starter? Mayor of Detroit? Not so fast.
I think we could all stand to pump the brakes on the “Matthew Stafford MVP...Pro Bowl...Top 5 QB” stuff for a minute. Granted, Stafford has had a very nice season. When the Lions rattled off eight wins in nine games, they did so with Stafford tossing a mere three interceptions. When he’d make a mistake, more often than not he was covering up for it soon after with daring comebacks in the final minute of play.
But he’s been playing mediocre football for about a month now. In the Thanksgiving Day win over Minnesota, he guided the Lions on a touchdown drive midway through the first quarter and they never reached the end zone again. After a very effective outing in the Big Easy, he followed that with a discouraging effort at home against the hapless Bears. Stafford gets rightful credit for his thrilling touchdown dash late in the game, but it was made necessary because of a fourth quarter pick-six more or less inexcusable for a quarterback in his eighth season.
Then there are the last two road contests, losses to the Giants and Cowboys. The offense sputtered throughout the loss in New York, scoring just six points. Then last night Stafford could not follow up on a brilliant first half (21 points), committing a costly turnover in the third quarter leading to a scoreless final 30 minutes of play. It was a very similar performance to the playoff loss in Dallas when the Lions tallied 17 in the opening half, then a meager three points the rest of the way.
Regardless of the outcome next week against Green Bay, this will remain one of Stafford’s better years. But even so, it does not compare with the weekly aerial shows put on by guys like Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and Aaron Rodgers. The late-game dramatics throughout the season have been thrilling, but if you look at the overall picture, he is still a guy that doesn’t connect enough down the field and is prone to turnovers at inopportune times. Consider that in games in which Stafford has not thrown an interception this year, the Lions are a dominant 7-1. When he has tossed one (or more) to the other squad, the Lions are just 2-5.
(Monday’s loss had another unfortunate similarity to the playoff loss in Dallas: the Lions led that game 17-7 coming out of the break and received the ball to start the second half. First play from scrimmage, Stafford throws a pick and it was essentially all downhill from there.)
2) The Definition of Home Cookin’
If that game gets played ten times, the Cowboys probably win eight or nine. Teryl Austin’s defense just did not show up. Having said that, there was some significant home cookin’ on the part of the referees.
On the miraculous touchdown grab by Dez Bryant on third down, it’s hard to understand how that wasn’t at least an offsetting foul on the Cowboys. While Johnson Bademosi was indeed being overly physical while the ball was in the air, how do you ignore Bryant’s blatant grab and hold of the Lion DB’s facemask? To make matters worse, the Lions had just been victimized the play before on an offsetting foul when they stopped Dak Prescott short of a first down only to have it nullified on a defensive holding call (one that was never shown on replay, may I add).
The go-ahead (and ultimately game-winning) drive by Dallas was almost entirely the result of a 31-yard pass interference penalty on Nevin Lawson. Not only was the flag suspect at best, but an incompletion there brings up 3rd-and-8 from the 36-yard line. If the Lions hold for one more play, the Cowboys could potentially come up completely empty on the drive. Instead, Zeke Elliott was able to scamper in from a yard out, making the score 28-21, and it only got worse. Oh, and there seemed to be an obvious holding penalty on said touchdown by Zack Martin, somehow missed by all officials despite the violation occurring right out in front of the play. Unless offensive linemen are now permitted to outright tackle their defensive combatants, then that was an egregious error by the zebras.
It’s not that the number of flags thrown during the game was outrageous. In fact, the Cowboys were actually whistled eight times to the Lions’ five. But the calls against the visitors were much weightier and came at critical junctures of the game.
(And let’s not forget that highly questionable “body-slamming” call against A’Shawn Robinson. Yes, the lifting of the tailback was probably excessive, but it did not appear that the actual slam itself was violent enough to warrant the personal foul. ESPN’s Jon Gruden was practically foaming at the mouth after this call.)
3) The Defense Missed the Plane
Of course, Darius Slay is a vital cog in the Lions defense, but even so, his absence cannot possibly represent the type of shift in ferocity we saw on Monday night. Throughout this season’s second half, the Lions D has been a very stingy bunch, not once allowing an opponent to reach 20 points -- until yesterday. The Cowboys scorched Tahir Whitehead and Co. for 42 big points, and had they kept the pressure on, it probably could have been 50-plus.
The trio in the secondary of Johnson Bademosi, Asa Jackson, and 5-foot-9 Lawson did not scream “playoff team.” Arena ball contender, maybe; but not NFL postseason entrant. Glover Quin, one of the steadier Lion defenders, looked painfully slow, even late-career Mark Carrier-esque, in trying to cut down the angle on Elliott during that 55-yard gallop to pay dirt.
With Aaron Rodgers and the rejuvenated Packer offense on deck, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin will need to figure out what went wrong and figure out some type of viable solution -- fast. The Lions will obviously surrender some points to Green Bay, maybe even north of 20; but it surely can’t be anywhere near the 42-spot dropped on Monday night or else it’ll be curtains on this once extremely promising season.
4) More Inventiveness Needed from the Sidelines
There wasn’t a whole lot Jim Caldwell could do from a coaching standpoint to overcome the eye-popping performance of the Dallas offense. But there were a few missed opportunities and some puzzling choices in big moments.
When the Lions were gifted a 15-yard penalty, thus kicking off from midfield after tying the score at 7, why not try an onside kick? With the new touchback rules dictating that the receiving team start the new drive from the 25, there is so little difference in field position that the chance to gain possession of the ball would have to be seriously considered in this spot. Let’s say you do attempt the onsider.
The ball might go ten yards, bounce off a body or two, and maybe Dallas even recovers 12-13 yards from the spot of the kick. Now they are taking over at the 37 or 38; by doing what the Lions did, smashing the kickoff out of the end zone, the Cowboys took over at the 25. A fairly by-the-book coach like Caldwell could always stand to be more creative, or in this case, just a little more forward-thinking. In a game where virtually no defense was played for the entirety of the first half, this was really a no-brainer.
As the third quarter ticked down, the Lions faced a 4th-and-5 at the Cowboys 29. Stafford’s offense was on the move for the first time all quarter. The score was 35-21 in favor of the home team. Again, the game having gone the way it had with Dallas scoring at will, this felt like a situation where the Lions had to play for the touchdown. At that point, with just 15 minutes left to play, the most important number to the Lions was number of scores separating them from the Cowboys. At the moment, it was a two-score game. Kicking the field goal does nothing to change that number, while a possible touchdown would slice it in half.
Adding in the fact that a 47-yard FG attempt is by no means automatic, I thought circumstances dictated that Caldwell go against the grain just a little bit and try for the first down. Maybe the Lions come up empty and turn it over on downs, but at least you’d feel like they were really playing to win and not just to make the final tally a little more presentable. As it turned out, Matt Prater pushed the kick wide and the decision looked that much more timid.
(Honorable mention to the bizarre sequence of plays with the Lions 1st-and-goal at the 1. To that point, Zach Zenner had been a wrecking ball in shoulder pads, carving up the Cowboy defense at will. For whatever reason, the Lions called pass plays on the first two downs (both incomplete), then handed it to Dwayne Washington on third. Stafford did finally ram it in on fourth down (barely), but it remained a mystery as to why the hot hand in Zenner went unused for the entirety of the series.)
5) All Is Not Lost
Nobody wearing Honolulu blue need be reminded that these last two weeks have been deflating. The offense has gone through long spells of inactivity and the defense just played its worst game of the year. But with one home victory next weekend, all will be forgotten and there will be playoff football at Ford Field for the first time.
And the recent history against Green Bay in that building is relatively encouraging. A quick rundown:
- 2015: Loss, 27-23. Lions inexplicably prepare for hook-and-ladder. Rodgers connects on one of the easiest Hail Mary plays in league history. A game the Lions could have secured one snap earlier if not for a super-sketchy facemask call against Devin Taylor.
- 2014: Win, 19-7. Packers score a TD in the opening quarter and that’s it. Rodgers held to under 200 yards. Lions get a fumble recovery score from Don Juan Carey (yes, that’s his real name).
- 2013: Win, 40-10. No Aaron Rodgers (broken collarbone) changes things dramatically, but even so, the Lions trailed 10-3 and then scored 37 straight. It was a blowout victory on Thanksgiving, desperately needed after a stunning nine straight Detroit defeats on the holiday.
- 2012: Loss, 24-20. Much like the improbable ending last year, this was another Detroit-Green Bay tilt that the Lions let get away. The Ford Field crowd was roaring as the good guys led by three and had the ball inside the Packer 10-yard line with under five minutes to play. Score a TD and the game is basically over. But the drive stalled, Jason Hanson came on for a field goal, and the Packers ripped off 10 points in the game’s final two minutes to escape Motown with a victory.
So while this most recent stretch of games in 2016 has not been at all thrilling for Lions fans, looking at the recent Ford Field battles in this NFC North rivalry does bring some warm and toasty feelings. The 2-2 overall mark in the last four is nothing special, but when you analyze each of the matchups, you see that a 4-0 advantage for the Lions was really just a couple of plays away.
