The stars showed up in a big way when it mattered, but who else deserves some extra praise after the Lions’ win over the Rams?
Oh, what a night. The tears were flowing in the Ford Field crowd as the Detroit Lions won their first playoff game in over 30 years on Sunday night over the Los Angeles Rams.
It was a poetic moment seeing this regime get their first playoff win against the team that they traded with to jump-start their re-tooling process just three years ago. This win was special for everyone in Detroit, and a little extra special for Jared Goff, who let his emotions run wild after taking that first knee to run out the clock.
Goff was phenomenal, completing 81 percent of his passes and delivering the final nail in the coffin connecting with his favorite target, Amon’Ra St. Brown, for the final first down of the game. Prior to that, Aidan Hutchinson’s back-to-back pressures that resulted in a holding call to back the Rams up, and a forced incompletion on third down, helped the Lions keep the lead before the offense ran the clock out. The stars showed up in a big way when it mattered most, but the Lions also got a lot of contributions elsewhere. This win was a full team effort, which leads us to today’s Question of the Day…
Who are the unsung heroes from the Lions’ Wild Card win over the Rams?
I have to start off by giving Michael Badgley his props on the 54-yard field goal that obviously ended up being a massive three points for the Lions. As the “Money Badger” was trotting out onto the field for the long field goal attempt, the broadcast showed his statistics on 50-plus yard field goals for his career, and it was not pretty—Badgley being the only active player with less than 50 percent accuracy on those kicks (min. 10 attempts). But none of that mattered as Badgley was able to sail it right down the middle of the uprights with plenty of leg.
Next, a big shoutout to the Lions’ entire interior offensive line, but especially Graham Glasgow, for rendering Aaron Donald and the rest of that interior Rams D-line almost completely useless. Though Frank Ragnow and Jonah Jackson were given low PFF scores for their pass blocking, the entire IOL unit did exactly what they were supposed to do Sunday night, and completely silenced Aaron Donald, arguably the most disruptive interior D-lineman in the league. Glasgow stood out among the rest and went above and beyond with his performance, giving up zero pressures and zero sacks on 30 pass blocking snaps. The Lions needed to keep Goff comfortable in the pocket to secure a win, and they executed the game plan to perfection.
For their first three offensive drives, the Lions were stomping all over the Rams defense. We can’t forget about Josh Reynolds’ contributions that helped catapult the Lions to a 21-10 lead late in the first half. All of Reynolds’ five catches came during the three drives that ended in a Lions touchdown.
Let’s hear from you. Drop your answers in the comments below.