Lions report card, grades: Defensive showcase lifts Detroit vs. Texans

The offense struggled in Houston, but the Lions defense put up their best performance of the year. Our report card & grades from a thrilling Sunday night.

The Detroit Lions offense wasn’t up to the task most of the night against the Houston Texans . But if there’s anything we’ve learned about this Lions team, it’s that they don’t need everything fully operational to win. They’re deep enough across the board to win games in multiple ways.

That’s exactly what happened in their outstanding 26-23, come-from-behind victory Sunday night. Let’s highlight those performances in our Week 10 report card and grades.

Quarterback: D+

It was a rough night for Jared Goff, who threw a career-high five interceptions. While a couple of those were the result of bad luck (two tipped interceptions and a meaningless Hail Mary), Goff misfired in the red zone to Sam LaPorta that cost the Lions points, and his deep ball to Jameson Williams felt like an unnecessary risk (although there was apparently some culpability on Jamo’s part—more on that in a minute).

That said, let’s not bury his entire night. He connected on two beautiful deep passes Sunday night, both to LaPorta. The first, a touchdown pass, was perfect touch while on the run, and the other was a 37-yard strike across slightly his body.

And when the team needed a game-winning pass, he delivered to Amon-Ra St. Brown late in the fourth quarter. In fact, Jared Goff was 6-of-8 for 79 yards and a touchdown (145.3 passer rating) in the final quarter of the game.

Running backs: B-

It just wasn’t David Montgomery’s night, and while I don’t think that’s entirely on him, he missed at least one opportunity to find the end zone on what I thought was a well-blocked two-point conversion he just missed the hole on. Gibbs was also fairly ineffective in the first half, but he was essential to Detroit’s comeback victory. After tallying just 19 yards on nine touches in the first half, Gibbs’ speed was on display and he exploded for 89 second-half yards on 12 touches.

Wide receivers: B-

Amon-Ra St. Brown was quiet in the middle of this game, but his 38 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter were essential to Detroit’s win.

Which bring us to Jameson Williams. With the Texans trying to jump on Detroit’s short routes, Williams was an integral part to Detroit’s offense finally breaking through. On his three catches, two converted key third downs, and a couple were very high degree of difficulty.

However, coach Dan Campbell more or less blamed him for the interception thrown in his general direction.

“Jamo should be a little higher angle,” Campbell said, referring to Williams’ route drifting a little too far toward the sideline when Goff threw him more vertical.

Goff and Williams not being on the same page is something that has plagued their chemistry for a few years now, but these incidents are becoming less and less frequent.

Oddly, Tim Patrick, Kalif Raymond, and Allen Robinson all did not garner a single target thrown in their direction.

Tight ends: B-

Sam LaPorta led the team with 66 receiving yards, plus one of Goff’s two passing touchdowns. It was a solid day for him before he went down with an injury.

However, I’m capping the grade at just a B-, because I thought there were some serious lapses in blocking that led to Texans defenders shutting down the run game in the first half.

Offensive line: D

The beginning of this game couldn’t have been much worse for the offensive line. Detroit managed just 23 yards rushing on 13 carries in the first half, while two of Goff’s sacks were the direct result of immediate pressure given up by Detroit’s offensive line. It was looking like it was going to be an absolute terror of a day for the offensive line.

But give them some credit: they bounced back in a big way in the second half. Detroit rushed for 82 yards on 19 carries (4.3 YPC) in the second half. Goff just assumed a single quarterback hit in the final two quarters. And that directly led them to scoring 19 unanswered points for the win.

Defensive line: A-

The quarterback pressures weren’t exactly consistent, but six different defensive linemen recorded a quarterback hit Sunday night (Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alim McNeill, James Houston, Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike, Pat O’Connor). Three of those ended up being sacks.

But perhaps most impactfully, the Lions absolutely shut down the Texans running game. Heading into Sunday night, Texans running back Joe Mixon was on a four-game 100-yard streak. Against the Lions, he managed just 46 rushing yards on 25 carries (1.8 YPC). The Lions absolutely clogged the middle of the field, and it forced the Texans into extremely difficult third downs.

Early down success led to getting off the field. The Texans probably converted more than you want in those situations (6-of-15), but you’ll take nine failed third down conversions.

Linebackers: A-

Nothing particularly flashy from this group, but they obviously had a strong hand in Detroit’s dominant run defense against Houston. Jack Campbell remains a tackling machine, and he also notched a pass breakup on a deep shot while in man coverage. Alex Anzalone also had a pass breakup on Houston’s final pass of the night—which turned out to be a huge play in the game.

The Lions continue to survive with a shorthanded crew at linebacker (no Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez or Jalen Reeves-Maybin), but you’d be hard pressed to even be able to tell.

Defensive back: B+

First off, let’s give some well-deserved credit to Carlton Davis. Not only did he notch two extremely important interceptions in the game, but I thought he was also a very, very good run defender. When Mixon was trying to find room on the edges, it was often Davis who redirected him into interior traffic.

Brian Branch was also phenomenal on Sunday. He led the team with 10 tackles (one for loss), and he notched a pair of pass deflections, as well. I have never felt so comfortable when a Lions defender is being targeted, because Branch is seemingly always all over it.

It wasn’t great for the rest of the crew, though. With a shorthanded receiving corps, the Texans found early success targeting both Amik Robertson and Terrion Arnold. And while it was relatively minimal contact, I still have to ding Arnold for a 41-yard pass interference penalty. Again, he was in fine position, but couldn’t find the ball and played through the receiver.

Special teams: A-

Jake Bates lifts this entire unit that actually struggled for most of the night. Kalif Raymond managed just 15 yards on three returns, Ennis Rakestraw had a critical penalty that pinned Detroit at its own 10-yard line, and Jack Fox had an oddly poor game.

But Bates delivering on a 58-yard game-tying field goal and the 52 yarder as the game ended is all that was needed. Just an absolute monster performance from the Lions kicker who has still yet to miss a field goal. Now he’s also got two game-winners on the road under his belt, too.

Coaching: C+

To get the bad stuff out of the way: I didn’t think the Lions approached the end of either half particularly well. In the first half, the Lions seemed more concerned with bleeding clock than scoring on their two-minute drill and it immediately backfired. Detroit not only went three-and-out, but they gave Houston enough time to score a touchdown and extend their lead to 23-6. Then, at the end of the game, it may have worked setting Bates up for a 52-yard field goal, but I sure would like to see them make it a little bit easier on their kicker, and they had plenty of time to do so. I also didn’t love going for two that early in the second half.

That being said, for as questionable as the offensive game plan was against the Texans, the defense performed beautifully. They focused on taking away Mixon, and it worked. They made the Texans one-dimension, and it results in four sacks, two takeaways, a 50% stop rate in the red zone, and a complete shutout in the second half.

Coaching also deserves some praise for keeping the Lions’ calm, cool, and collected during their 16-point deficit. So many teams would spiral in those moments, but the Lions have now come back from early 10-0 deficits twice this season, and that speaks to strong leadership.