On Sunday Night Football, the Detroit Lions traveled out to the “City of Brotherly Love” to take on the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles.
Amidst the bright lights in Lincoln Financial Field, the Lions and Eagles started and finished slow, with back-to-back touchdown drives to end the first half providing most of the entertainment.
Who shined, and who faltered, as Detroit ultimately could not prevail in a 16-9 loss?
Robertson was the headliner for the “legion of whom?” on Sunday Night Football, and he exceeded any expectations. Jalen Hurts was determined to pick on the battered Lions’ secondary, but throwing towards the Louisiana Tech product was a mistake.
Robertson was glued to the Eagles’ star receiving duo of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, breaking up two passes in the first half alone. In part, this was how the Eagles only came away with six points after having three first half possessions begin in Lions’ territory.
Williams was utilized properly with Dan Campbell at the playcalling reins for the second time this year, with the Alabama product recording two catches for 59 yards, including a touchdown where he just pulled away from Adoree Jackson.
Campbell also elected to get Williams involved in the run game, with a quick sweep getting the receiver nine yards on the ground, giving him 68 yards from scrimmage at half, easily being the most productive Lion on offense in the first half.
Williams added a pair of catches for 29 yards in the second half, finishing with 88 yards on the day. Multiple other times, on target throws could have led to Williams’ third 100-yard day of the season.
However, Williams also added a 15-yard penalty for his touchdown celebration, which led to a missed extra point.
Sunday was not a great outing for Goff. The quarterback was disrupted, under constant pressure, but did not rise to the occasion. Goff struggled with the Eagles’ front, having five balls batted, including one deflected for a Cooper DeJean interception on the opening drive of the night for Detroit.
On third and fourth down, Goff was unreliable. With the Eagles bearing down on him, Goff missed the tight windows he normally thrives on when blitzed. Instead, his throws were skipping to receivers, bouncing off their knees, or thrown behind his target.
Goff targeted Amon-Ra St. Brown 12 times, and his normally reliable product only came down with the ball twice. Worse yet, the USC product only got his hands on the ball three of those ten mistargets.
After hitting Jahmyr Gibbs for all of his first five targets on the night, Goff’s next two fourth quarter throws were a step too long for Gibbs, before Goff’s eighth target to Gibbs landed three yards in front of the running back on third-and-ten.
The wind did play a factor, as did the pass rush and absence of star tight end Sam LaPorta. That said, there is no dismissing underperformance, and Goff’s outing was the definition of underperformance. To end the game, Goff finished an embarrassing two-of-18 passing.
If the first half was the half for Jameson Williams, it was the Jahmyr Gibbs show for the Lions offense in the second half. Gibbs was the only player that Goff could consistently find, whether it was swing passes, screens, or dump offs, and his running back capitalized on the additional touches.
While Gibbs was held in check on the ground, he recorded his first career 100-yard receiving game, catching five passes for 107 yards.
Detroit’s second found selection from this season’s NFL Draft has performed well this season, but that was not the case on Sunday night. Ratledge’s night started with a holding penalty, and it did not get much better from there.
The right guard left with an injury, returned, and got bullied by former college teammate Jordan Davis. The normally stout run game averaged under four yards per carry.
Additionally, Ratledge missed a routine stunt by Jaelen Phillips in the fourth quarter, surrendering a pressure to the Eagles’ trade deadline acquisition. In the next drive, he allowed an easy pressure, winding up on the field as Goff was forced into a jump pass that was batted down.
This was part of a night where the Lions surrendered a quarterback hit or pressure on nearly every drop back.
Anzalone had his first homecoming game with fans, and he shined for the family and friends that made the one-hour drive from his hometown of Wyomissing. The team captain was all over the field, with hard hits on Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts.
Additionally, the linebacker provided some of the best coverage on the night. In a deep route to Dallas Goedert, the Florida product was step for step with the tight end to force a Hurts incompletion.
Kelvin Sheppard, the linebacker group, and the entire defense all stood tall. Anzalone gets the nod here, but nearly the entire defense is worthy of mentioning as studs against the Eagles.
Ya-Sin was the other player starting on the outside corner spot with D.J. Reed and Terrion Arnold out, and the Temple product helped hold Jalen Hurts to 135 passing yards on the day.
The Eagles’ best receivers, Devonta Smith and AJ Brown, were held to eight catches for 57 yards on 16 targets. Ya-Sin was primarily covering Brown, and the free agent acquisition turned heads on Sunday Night Football.
Unfortunately, the biggest call of the night involving Ya-Sin was a defensive pass interference that left fans outraged and the announcing crew flabbergasted. Ya-Sin held tight coverage against Brown on a third-and-eight, with the Hurts pass falling to the ground. Ya-Sin was whistled for a pass interference, despite it being hand-fighting or a Brown push off.
That flag does not reflect the game the former second round pick had. Once again, Ya-Sin answered the bell in a big way after starting the year as the fifth cornerback on the depth chart.
Decker was another member of the offensive line that got bullied on Sunday. The longest-tenured Lion was in for a rough night with the Eagles pass rush, and he was a player that was on the losing side of pass rush one-on-ones multiple times.
Goff’s blindside was not safe, and Decker surrendering multiple fourth quarter pressures helped prevent a Lions’ comeback. Decker does have the excuse of coming off of an injury that has bothered the Ohio State product for multiple weeks. That said, the Lions’ pass blocking was a problem on Sunday, alongside the play of Jared Goff. There is plenty of blame to go around regarding the offense, with most of it coming from QB1 and his line.
