The Minnesota Vikings are about to play their first game outside of the state of Minnesota since they beat the Buffalo Bills 33-30 on Sunday, November 13th. While they are playing outside of the state, they still get to play indoors and won’t play outside until January 1st when they take on the Green Bay Packers.
Sunday is the first of three NFC North road games the Vikings will play before seasons end. The Lions have won four of their last five games and are playing really good football. Jared Goff has only thrown one interception compared to seven touchdowns over that span.
To get a better understanding of where the Lions are, we sat down with Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire for all the details.
How have the Lions been about to turn it around and win three of four?
It’s been a happy confluence of getting healthy, better coaching and the young talent on both sides of the ball developing rapidly. Getting CB Jerry Jacobs and rookie DE Josh Paschal and DT John Cominsky into the lineup after they all missed time with injuries has really helped stabilize and solidify the defense. Coordinator Aaron Glenn has a better feel for how to use all the young talent on his defensive unit, too. They’re getting takeaways on defense, and kicker Michael Badgley has emerged as a major asset after the Lions cycled through some ineffective tries earlier in the season.
Jared Goff has played well as of late. Has it been well enough for the Lions to commit to him long-term as the starting quarterback?
That’s the million-dollar question. Goff is definitely playing well in rookie coordinator Ben Johnson’s offense. He’s greatly helped by a good offensive line and a crafty receiver in Amon-Ra St. Brown who can get open anywhere on the field. Goff is proving very capable of being good in this offense with this weaponry.
Long-term is a tough question. Goff still struggles under pressure more than he should; Goff ranks in the 30s in QB Rating under pressure even though he’s a top-10 overall QB Rating passer. He makes panicky decisions and gets lucky on more than a few potential giveaways. That and his lack of mobility leaves the door open for the Lions to draft a potential successor. Keep in mind Goff is the only QB under contract in Detroit beyond this season, so they have to bring in at least one other. Drafting a developmental-type of rookie sure makes a lot of sense in that scenario even if the Lions fully intend to roll with Goff in 2023–which I expect them to do.
What should we expect from Jameson Williams in his second game back?
He’s so fast. Williams makes other fast guys look slow, he’s got that kind of “WOW” speed. I got to watch Will Fuller in person in Houston and Williams is faster than he was, notably right off the line. The Lions barely used him in the win over the Jaguars, as they have done with several other guys coming off injuries. Their usage pattern in those situations has been to ramp it up in the second week, and that’s Sunday and the Vikings for Jamo.
The goal is to have Williams and St. Brown force a safety to commit to one or the other on a route. There are lots of post/out combos and multi-level drags across the field. I would expect a 9-route or two from Williams, especially if the Vikings defense is cheating up a little on the run.
Will the Lions sell out to stop Justin Jefferson again?
Jeff Okudah is at his best when he’s aggressive at the line and keeping outside receivers from getting a clean release. He did that very effectively in the first matchup. Okudah has not practiced through Thursday with an illness, and that could be very problematic. Jerry Jacobs is the same kind of physical outside CB but he’s not as sharp or sticky in coverage, notably working across the field. Expect to see the Lions bring pressure from the side where Jefferson starts in an effort to dissuade Kirk Cousins from locking onto him, too. They did that very well against the Bills and Stefon Diggs, who the Lions contained pretty well on Thanksgiving.
