PHILADELPHIA -- Coming off an impressive victory in Week 10 over the Washington Commanders, there were expectations that Dan Campbell taking over play-calling duties for the Detroit Lions offense would result in the team turning a corner this season.
At least that was the notion until Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
In a battle to see who could emerge as one of the NFC’s elite teams, the Lions turned in one of their worst offensive showings in a while, falling 16-9 to the Philadelphia Eagles in their Week 11 showdown. Defensively, the Lions came to play, as their valiant effort consistently afforded the offense opportunities to score.
However, the problem was that the Lions couldn’t find the end zone. The Eagles capitalized on the miscues against a team that never saw any rhythm offensively from the opening whistle.
Quarterback: Nearly every season since he’s been in Detroit, Jared Goff has had one of those inexplicably bad games, and this happened to be a career-worst. While he threw for 255 yards, Goff completed just 38% of his passes, finishing with a passer rating of 60.1. His chemistry with Amon-Ra St. Brown was the worst it had looked since the two became synonymous with each other. The pass protection left a lot to be desired, and his early interception had more to do with Philadelphia’s Jordan Davis tipping the pass. His most significant highlight was finding Jameson Williams with a nice dart over the middle to give Detroit its lone touchdown. Grade: D
Running backs: Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery struggled to get it going, a byproduct of the Eagles’ defensive scheme overwhelming the Lions’ offensive front. The backfield tandem combined for 18 carries for 66 yards — 3.6 yards per rush — and didn’t have a run over 11 yards. Gibbs’ best work came from catching screens from Goff, as he led the Lions with five receptions for 107 yards. Grade: B
Wide receivers/tight ends: As MLive’s Ben Raven likes to say, Jameson Williams is the “King of Technicalities,” as he never reads the fine print. Overall, he had a solid outing, catching four of seven targets for 88 yards and one touchdown. The problem? His goalpost-hugging celebration resulted in a 15-yard penalty, which was assessed on the ensuing extra point attempt that Jake Bates missed. While it didn’t cost them the game, Williams knows better in that situation. It was a relatively quiet day for everyone else, including St. Brown, who caught only two of 12 targets. Grade: D
Offensive line: It was a rough day in the trenches, as Philadelphia’s defensive line overpowered the Lions’ offensive front — a sentence one does not often use. The Eagles limited the Lions to 3.7 yards per carry, and Detroit gave up two sacks and seven quarterback hits. While one could question using Gibbs instead of Montgomery on back-to-back third- and fourth-and-1 run plays, the fact that the third-year back was completely blown up on both attempts gives reason to believe this team is missing Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler more than initially expected. Grade: D
Defensive line: Tank Bigsby had success on four of his five carries (34 yards, 8.5 yards per carry), but overall, the Lions managed to bottle up Saquon Barkley better than most, holding him to 26 carries for 83 yards — just 3.2 yards per carry. Most impressive of all, aside from Jalen Hurts’ goal-line plunge, the Lions neutralized the “tush push.” Of the Eagles’ four attempts at the near-impossible move, the Lions thwarted it three times, with two of those attempts resulting in false starts. It was also another quiet day in the office for Aidan Hutchinson, who finished with four tackles and half a sack. Grade: B
Linebackers: Jack Campbell was a tackling machine and very effective in run defense, blowing plays up all game and finishing with 15 tackles and one tackle for loss. Alex Anzalone was stellar in coverage, including being in lockstep with Eagles tight end Kyle Granson on a deep shot that could have been a backbreaker. Grade: A
Secondary: All things considered, the “Legion of Whom” stepped up, as the Lions were down three of their four starters in the secondary. Amik Robertson and Rock Ya-Sin played stellar coverage throughout the evening. Their work on A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith was sticky without being handsy. Thomas Harper also had another admirable fill-in performance at safety with Kerby Joseph out. Bottling up Smith and Brown for 57 combined receiving yards is no easy feat. Grade: A
Special teams: The fake punt attempt was bad, and the Eagles smelled it a mile away. At that point in the game, the Lions did not need to gamble. Bates missed a long extra point attempt following Williams’ touchdown, but he was put in a difficult position due to the wind and the 15-yard penalty for the celebration. Kalif Raymond was swarmed in the punt return game and couldn’t find any daylight. Grade: D
Coaching: In reality, this was a failing performance, and Dan Campbell has himself to blame for it, as this was a winnable game. There were too many empty fourth-down gambles (0 for 5), and when they had short-field situations, they should’ve trusted Bates to kick the field goals and keep adding points. That said, Kelvin Sheppard had this defense ready. They played with their hair on fire all game, and it was a performance worthy of a win — especially when the offense kept giving them short fields and they consistently delivered. With Campbell calling the plays, he’ll have to uphold his end. Grade: D
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