PHILADELPHIA -- Despite a valiant effort from the defense, the Detroit Lions stubbed their toe over and over again on third and fourth down.
It was an ugly showing, where the Lions should feel blessed to have even had a puncher’s chance in the fourth quarter.
The offense couldn’t get anything going against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football. Detroit falls to third place in the NFC North after losing 16-9 to the defending Super Bowl champions.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff had a night to forget, completing just 14 of 37 passes for 255 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The Lions converted just three third-down plays across 13 tries. But the most brutal stat of the night came on fourth down, with the Lions failing to convert across five attempts in Philadelphia.
Dan Campbell is always going to be among the most aggressive coaches in the NFL. But it just wasn’t working for Campbell and his offense. They tried running up the middle to no avail. They even tried an ill-fated fake-punt run. And when those didn’t work, they banked on Goff to find Amon-Ra St. Brown, and even that didn’t work. St. Brown caught two passes on 12 targets for only 42 yards.
Those five turnovers on downs match Detroit’s own NFL-worst mark from its 29-0 loss to the New England Patriots in 2022 over the last 25 seasons, per TruMedia. Those failures left a mark, too, because the Lions punted on fourth-and-10 with 5:06 left in the fourth quarter despite trailing 16-6.
Detroit’s offensive line and lack of rushing attack weren’t helping matters. Goff seemed to get pressured at all the wrong moments. And the game-wrecking duo of Eagles defensive linemen Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis left their mark. Davis tipped three passes, with one leading to a first-quarter interception. Carter put the interior offensive line on their back more than a couple of times.
Outside of one drive midway through the second quarter, it was an ugly offensive first half. They failed to convert on four third-down attempts and two fourth downs, trailing 13-6 at halftime.
The lone touchdown drive came on a three-play, 74-yard drive. Lions quarterback Jared Goff hit St. Brown for 34 yards on the play-action pass. Then, on the next play, Goff hit Jameson Williams for a 40-yard touchdown on the crosser with 5:12 left in the first half. Williams celebrated by jumping and mounting the goal post, getting penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, leading to a missed extra point to keep the game tied at 6-6.
They opened the second half with the ball, failed on third down and then missed another fourth-down try. Goff misfired for St. Brown, and Williams couldn’t corral the fourth-down crossing route.
The fourth-down incompletion came with 12:19 left in the third quarter at Philadelphia’s 32-yard line.
After forcing a punt on the next series thanks to a false start on the “tush push,” Jahmyr Gibbs finally broke free for a big play. Gibbs broke multiple tackles, weaving all around, on the quick screen. He went for 42 yards, putting Detroit in scoring position with 9:54 remaining in the third quarter, trailing 13-6. The running back then converted the team’s first third-down conversion of the game via a 10-yard run to put them inside the 10-yard line.
Gibbs got stuffed on third-and-goal, and then Goff was pressured, and he and St. Brown failed to connect for the team’s fourth fourth-down failure with 5:10 left in the third quarter.
Detroit’s defense responded with another stop, even after Brian Branch got flagged for a 15-yard penalty on top of a 34-yard catch by Eagles receiver Jahan Dotson.
The offense took over with 2:57 left in the third quarter, backed up at the 15-yard line. Gibbs hit another big screen catch-and-run, going 33 yards to lift the offense out of a hole. But they again stubbed their toes, failing on their fifth fourth-down attempt, needing only 3 yards at Philadelphia’s 45-yard line with 1:18 left in the third quarter.
Goff looked St. Brown’s way five times on third and fourth down through the first three quarters, failing to connect on any of those targets.
The Eagles added the first points in the second half with 10:15 left in the fourth quarter. Jake Elliott connected from 49 yards in the wind to put them up 16-6, putting the pressure on Goff and the offense.
Detroit’s offense got one more chance to make it a game after a forced turnover on downs with less than 3 minutes in the fourth quarter. Goff got sacked, threw two incompletions, and then Jake Bates connected on a 54-yard field goal with 1:58 left in the game.
A defensive pass interference all on cornerback Rock Ya-Sin with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter ended the last-ditch effort for the Lions.
After an impressive offensive showing last week with Dan Campbell taking over calling the offense, this was an ugly look. Last week, the Lions beat up on a free-falling Washington Commanders team. They ran into the defending Super Bowl champions on Sunday and couldn’t get anything going.
**See below for more observations from the game:**
\-- All four of Detroit’s losses this season have come after they trailed at halftime. Three of those have come on the road against playoff teams from 2024.
\-- Detroit’s defense held the Eagles to only three third-down conversions on 14 attempts. They outgained Philadelphia 317 yards to 265 yards, but Detroit’s offense didn’t do the hard-charging defense any favors, putting them in tough spot after tough spot.
\-- Jameson Williams has 17 career touchdowns, with an average distance of 38.1 yards on those scores. The Lions wide receiver has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games, matching the longest such streak of his career.
\-- Jared Goff has thrown a touchdown in 16 consecutive games, tying the second-longest streak in team history. It wasn’t a celebratory night for the gloved-quarterback, though. Goff finished completing fewer than 50% for just the fifth time in his career, with all four of those coming with the Los Angeles Rams before Sunday night, highlighting one of his worst games in Detroit.
Goff finished completing just two passes across his last 18 attempts. Yeah, it was that bad.
\-- Jahmyr Gibbs didn’t have much success running the ball. But the running back was a monster on his screen-pass opportunities. Gibbs notched the first 100-yard receiving game by a Lions running back since Reggie Bush in 2013. He’s also the first Lions running back to notch 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns in 10 games since Barry Sanders in 1991.
\-- The Eagles ran the “tush push” six times. They scored a touchdown in the second quarter, jumped offsides twice, and had a no gain three times while turning the ball over on downs on their last try -- if someone heard that before the game, it would have sounded like a great night for Detroit.
\-- All seven Lions players who were questionable entering Sunday’s game were active. Lions rookie offensive guard Tate Ratledge went down with an injury in the first half, but returned after Trystan Colon spelled him for a handful of snaps.
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