Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys, Sunday October 13

Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys, Sunday October 13

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QB Comparison: Goff continued his terrific play the last few weeks by completing 18-of-25 passes for 315 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 153.8 passer rating. That’s coming off his 18-for-18 performance in the win over Seattle Week 4.

With the Lions leading 47-9 midway through the fourth quarter, the Lions put backup quarterback Hendon Hooker in the game. He completed one of his two pass attempts for 19 yards.

Prescott completed 17 of his 33 passes for 173 yards with no touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 42.2. He was replaced by backup Cooper Rush, who threw the last interception to Joseph.

Key stat: The Lions’ first-team offense scored on all nine of their possessions in the contest.

Their drive chart looked like this: Touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown.


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Seattle Seahawks vs. Detroit Lions

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2. Can rushing attack keep rolling?

Detroit’s passing attack hasn’t quite clicked on all cylinders yet this season, despite ranking seventh in the NFL in passing entering tonight’s game. Detroit’s ground game, however, has been rolling to the tune of 163 rushing yards per game through the first three weeks of the season and are coming off a 188-yard performance on the ground in the win over Arizona last week. Detroit’s gained at least 4.0 yards on 53 of their 101 rushing attempts this season, the third best rate in the league.

Seattle ranks 15th in the NFL against the run, allowing 116 yards on the ground per game. The Lions are at their best offensively when they can dictate the pace with their run game and use the passing attack as a complement. Look for them to establish the run early and often tonight.

3. Replacing defensive starters

Detroit lost defensive end Marcus Davenport for the rest of the season and SAM linebacker Derrick Barnes for the foreseeable future. Davenport has been a a productive player for a Lions’ defense that is second in the NFL in QB hits (15) and top 10 in total pressures (57) through the first three weeks. Third-year defensive lineman Josh Paschal is expected to get the bulk of the snaps in Davenport’s absence, though the Lions have options to rotate different players opposite Aidan Hutchinson. It’s important the Lions get production from that spot or teams will use more and more resources to try and slow down Hutchinson on the other side.

As for replacing Barnes, Glenn said he has a ton of confidence in the depth at linebacker, probably more than any other position group on his defense.

“We have a number of guys in that linebacker room that would want to play that role,” Glenn said this week. “And I’ve said this every week, that’s a room that I highly respect the way that they operate. I highly respect the friendship and the closeness that they have in that room, and I highly respect the versatility that we have in that room.”


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Detroit Lions vs. Arizona Cardinals, Sunday September 22

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Detroit pushed the lead to 20-7 in the closing minutes of the first half on a terrific call from offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, dialing up a short pass from Goff to St. Brown completed at the Arizona 20-yard line. St. Brown lateraled it back to running back Jahmyr Gibbs who was crossing the field behind him for a 20-yard touchdown.

Lions safety Kerby Joseph made a huge interception in the Lions’ end zone on the Cardinals’ first drive of the second half. It was Joseph’s second interception of the season and the 10th of his career, which ties for the fourth most a Lions player has logged through the first three seasons of their career.

Goff threw an interception to Cardinals linebacker Dennis Gardeck at the Lions’ 36-yard line midway through the third quarter, but credit Detroit’s defense for having his back. They forced a turnover on downs at the Lions’ 23, tackling Murray short of the line to gain on a 4th & 1 play. Detroit took it down to the Arizona 34-yard line but also turned it over on downs, failing to convert their own 4th & 1.

The teams traded punts for a majority of the fourth quarter until a late Matt Prater field goal with three minutes left trimmed the lead to 20-13.

From there, Detroit was able to whittle the clock down to zero after a huge 17-yard completion to St. Brown on a 3rd & 11 play right before the two-minute warning. A Goff 8-yard run to pick up a first down and a couple kneel-downs ended it.


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Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions

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It will be a little strange not seeing No. 99 anchoring the middle of the Rams’ defensive front. The future Hall of Famer retired this offseason after a stellar career. That’s obviously a big loss for the Rams’ defense, but they still feel really good about some of the young talent they’ve amassed upfront, including Kobie Turner, who had nine sacks last season along the interior, and the addition of rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske.

“I expect them to be better than they were last year,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said this week. “The influx of youth that they got this year, those were all players that we really liked too in the draft and so I think they’re going to be a better team.”

Campbell thinks the Lions are a better team too, which should make this a heck of a matchup tonight.

If there was an MVP award given out for training camp performance, third-year defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson would have won for the Lions hands-down. He was a beast all throughout camp.

“Hutch has had a tremendous offseason,” Glenn said this week. “He had a tremendous training camp, and now he’s at that point that he needs to set his sights at being, if not being the best player, defensively, in this league, to one of the best players – which he is, but now it’s time to look at himself as the best player.”

With a more talented secondary behind him and some new running mates alongside him upfront (most notably DJ Reader and Marcus Davenport), things are in place for Hutchinson to have a monster season. His 101 total pressures last season trailed only Micah Parsons (103), but his 11.5 sacks were tied for 12th most. Increasing his sack numbers could have a big impact on the defense. Last season across the league, offenses scored (TD or FG) when taking a sack on the drive only 22.9 percent of the time. They scored a touchdown when taking a sack on the drive just 7.6 percent of the time.


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