The Detroit Lions were dealt a plethora of blows from the Philadelphia Eagles' defense in their Week 11 loss to the Super Bowl defending champions, but the most obvious ones came in the air.
Jared Goff was barely able to get anything going in the passing game, posting a QBR of just 9.5. His 255 passing yards were mostly thanks to the speed of both Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs on the night, as he completed just 14 of his 37 pass attempts during Sunday Night Football.
That was by design. The Eagles' pass rush wasn't just looking to get to Goff, but to his passes. They did so to the tune of 10 deflected passes, which killed multiple drives from Goff and the Lions' offense, leading to just nine points scored. That's because of a concerted effort from the Eagles' defense to tip Goff's passes after watching the quarterback's peculiar arm angle on film
“All those swatted balls, we have been practicing that. I don’t know if y’all got a chance to see it in practice, but when we got out there, we put our hands up. We kind of knew that Goff throws at an angle. We just want to take advantage of that. I’m 6-6, not for no reason. I have to go out there, put my hands up. If I can’t get to it for a sack, QB hit or QB pressure, I just need to put my hands up to affect the play,"said Jordan Davis after he notched three deflected passes on the night.
Eagles' armspan and film study impacted Jared Goff in a huge way
Philadelphia's defense is a bit of an outlier this season, with so much talent up front and in their linebacker room. They've been able to hide a lot of the deficiencies that the Eagles have on their offense, which is something Lions fans hope to say about their team in Week 12 against the New York Giants.
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The trouble there, of course, is wondering if New York saw just how many passes the Eagles managed to deflect by Goff, and if they plan to implement the same game plan. Philadelphia's athleticism and size up front isn't as replicable for the Giants, but they have two key weapons in Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns who could wrack up some deflections if following that blueprint.
Outside of their defensive front, New York's secondary is just as formidable. Dru Phillips and Paulson Adebo can cause problems for the Lions' receiving group, and could continue to force Amon-Ra St. Brown to struggle if he and Goff can't get on the same page. With a bit less talent defensively than what the Eagles helm, perhaps Goff can get back on track.
Here's hoping the Giants were busy doing anything else other than watching SNF.