In the weekly roulette wheel spin of “how will the Detroit Lions disappoint everyone today,” in Week 8 the ball landed in the “blow a big early lead with incomprehensibly inept defense” slot.
Ah yes, Lions fans know this one. It’s become the default bet for the 2022 edition of the Detroit football team. It’s so commonplace that the payout is hardly worth the bet anymore.
The Lions raced out to a 27-17 halftime lead thanks to five straight scoring drives to open the game. Alas, NFL games last two halves, and the second half was some of the worst football the Lions have played all season–and that’s saying something in a year where Dan Campbell’s squad is now 1-6.
Here are some initial takeaways from the 31-27 loss to the Dolphins from watching the game in real-time.
3rd down defense was astonishingly inept
One of the biggest reasons the Lions lost this high-scoring game was their inability to get off the field on third downs. Or really do anything well at all on third downs.
Miami didn’t just pick apart the Lions defense on third downs. Tua Tagovailoa tore them apart like a wolf playing with a poorly made chew toy.
This stat came from the end of the third quarter:
Per @ESPNStatsInfo — Tua Tagovailoa is 8-of-8 for 131 yards with 2 TD on 3rd down, his 3rd career game with multiple such pass TD and 2nd such game this season
— Marcel Louis-Jacques (@Marcel_LJ) October 30, 2022
At that point, the Dolphins had converted seven of their nine third-down attempts. Both misses came on plays where the Miami offense was guilty of pre-snap penalties.
Just for good measure, Tagovailoa hit on the final third-down attempt needed to seal the game, finding an uncovered Tyreek Hill well past the sticks for one last third-down dagger into the heart of Detroit’s defense.
The offense sizzled early but burnt out
The Lions offense opened the game with three touchdown drives of at least 75 yards. Jared Goff was sharp at quarterback, Jamaal Williams was running over Dolphins defenders, and the speed-in-space concepts from coordinator Ben Johnson’s play script worked great.
The early sizzle smoldered down into cooking at a lower heat but still burning. Two Michael Badgley field goals (42 and 26 yards) roasted the Miami defense, cooking up a 27-17 halftime lead.
The second half turned into a grease fire. The tasty flames of the first half were hastily extinguished by poor execution, a steep decline in line play and bad decisions from both Johnson and Goff.
Detroit’s three possessions after halftime:
- 5 plays, minus-2 yards, punt
- 5 plays, 1 yard, punt
- 10 plays, 53 yards, loss on downs
In a game where the defense showed little chance of slowing down the high-speed Miami offense, any chance of a Detroit win was cooked when the Lions’ offense blew out its own pilot light.
Missed opportunities
There were a few chances for the Lions to make a key play to perhaps win the game. Two stand out in particular:
First was a red zone throw from Goff aimed at Josh Reynolds in the end zone just before halftime. Goff’s throw wasn’t perfectly on target, a little behind Reynolds and maybe a little too hot, but it was a perfectly catchable throw. The ball zipped through No. 8’s hands (both of them) and fell incomplete. Detroit kicked a 26-yard field goal on the next play to end the half.
In a game where the Lions lost by four points, there are four points right there dropped by Reynolds. The duo of Goff and Reynolds was responsible for the other crucial play that failed, too.
On what turned out to be Detroit’s final offensive play, Goff dialed up a deep throw down the right sideline intended for Reynolds. It’s a gutsy call on 4th-and-2 from the Miami 35 and down four points. Some would use a different adjective; spin the roulette wheel and see where the ball lands in the “awful, ridiculous, boneheaded, idiotic, reckless” section of the wheel.
Reynolds was open. Let me rephrase: Reynolds was open enough at the time of the throw. Goff’s pass was not pinpoint and thrown too far to the inside, which made the wideout break stride. Some iffy contact from the Dolphins DB also impacted the ability of Reynolds to try and catch the pass. He dove but completely missed a futile chance to try and save the day.
If Goff and Reynold connection either of those plays, the Lions (likely) win the game. As bad as the defense played, Detroit’s offense still had opportunities to win. They didn’t execute.
Quick hits
–Looking for a silver lining form the guys in the silver uniforms? The two best players on the Detroit defense were rookies Malcolm Rodriguez and Kerby Joseph. They combined to create a takeaway on the first possession, and both made several nice reads and plays. They need more help. Lots more help…
–Michael Badgley was once again perfect on every kick. Not only were his two FGs and three extra points good, they were all completely successful without any drama.
–Miami had 12 pre-snap penalties and somehow still won. The Lions declined two separate pre-snap penalties on the same play twice!
–Need to watch it on film but the initial impression was that this was not a great game from either OT, Penei Sewell or Taylor Decker. Miami’s pass rush only sacked Goff once, but they did generate a few quick pressures and all came from the edges. Both OTs were guilty of multiple penalty flags thrown against them. Decker’s run blocking appeared subpar in this one, and the same was true of right guard Evan Brown.
–Loved the fake punt call and it was a great read by freshly re-signed safety C.J. Moore to pick it up. Detroit caught Miami’s punt return unit with its pants down.
–D’Andre Swift ran timidly in gaining just six yards on five carries. It’s fair to question if he’s mentally prepared to play through his ongoing shoulder sprain even though he was cleared by team doctors and trainers without any injury designation this week.
–The ongoing inability of the Lions defense to adequately handle speed running across the field instead of vertically pressing them remains the single biggest weakness on the team. The Colts exposed and exploited this in their joint practices in training camp and the Lions have not found a solution yet despite trying several different tactics. More speed and awareness at slot CB, S and LB are sorely needed this offseason.
