Week 2: Bucs (1-0) @ Lions (1-0)

[diehardlionfan]

So much suckage. Terrible game by Goff.

[HashtagFTW]

This was the most brutally awful called game I've seen in so long. 

[cp0k2]

Whoever told the FG team to run on the field at the end of the half screwed up big time.
Ben Johnson couldn't figure out Tampa's red zone defense. 
Goff made some bad decisions and inaccurate throws. Really poor game from him.

With all of that, Detroit still had a chance to win it at the end.
A Herculean effort by Hutch was wasted, unfortunately.
Some really favorable calls for Tampa, too.
Ben and Goff need to get their groove back.
LaPorta needs to be involved in the gameplan more, that would open up so much more on offense.

Let's go to the desert next week and get a win.
 

[idoubtit]

A good team to lose to, if there is such a thing. They are a very good team and I would guess if we make the playoffs we will have a good chance to play them again. It's very hard to beat a good team repeatedly. 

It is also a good game/team to learn from. We should have a lot of good tape to look at.

[Just Want A Title]

This was a second straight match-up with a pretty good team.  Last week, things went our way.  This week not so much.  Some of it was very good defensive execution by the Bucs.  Some of it was not-great execution by the Lions.  That said:

Dan Campbell:  It was another chess-match with a very good coach in Todd Bowles.  It didn't go his way this week.  The Bucs had a banged up secondary and the Lions couldn't take advantage of that.  Vita Vea left the game but the Lions never really tried to impose their will on a D-Line that was already missing Kalijah Kancy.  For me this loss came down to an offense that might be too complex for its own good and could be out-smarting itself.  He does get credit for having the backbone to pull off a fake-punt deep in his own end though.  However, there were too many penalties and mental errors to overcome the solid play of the Bucs.  MCDC needs to put in his disciplinarian cap.  Overall, this wasn't MCDCs best game.

Ben Johnson:  He really had a bad game.  He is still struggling when teams focus on taking away the intermediate middle part of the field.  As mentioned above, he seems to be over-thinking the offense and not establishing a real identity.  That identity should include Sam LaPorta who has been mostly invisible in the passing game for two consecutive games.  Our passing game should not have struggled against a banged-up Bucs secondary.  The Lions struggled a lot even when they did reach the Red Zone.  One thing I noticed is that they are doing a lot less pre-snap motion.  They also seem to not have enough awareness on what they need for a first down with numerous instances of routes being cutoff 1-2 yards short of the stick.

Aaron Glenn:  The offense was great late in the game.  However, this bend-but don't break approach isn't working out so well.  The defense struggled to get off the field on third down for much of the game again.  Teams aren't putting up huge numbers against the Lions but the defense needs to stop letting teams stay in the game with miscues on 3rd down and missing tackles at key points in the game.  If he is running a meritocracy, Terrion Arnold will come of the bench next week.

Dave Fipp:  Dave Fipp deserves a ton of credit.  The execution on that fake-punt was cold-blooded perfection.  The fact that he did that with a raw rookie in Sione Vaki is impressive.  He also kept the rookie PK well prepared going 3 for 3.  Getting Jake Bates in a consistent groove early in the season is going to help his confidence a lot in higher-pressure situations.

Offense:

Jared Goff--I am not sure what is going on with Jared Goff.  Maybe teams are doing a better job of disguising things and reducing the effectiveness of his pre-snap reads.  Whatever it is, he and the offense in-general seem out-of-synch.  One positive thing he did is continue to show improved mobility, gaining positive yardage on one play and picking up a 1st-down on a well-executed bootleg.  

ARSB-He showed signs of life today but was injured late.  He had a solid game.  

Frank Ragnow-He really stood out for keeping Vita Vea in check early.  When he wasn't blocking Vita Vea he was throwing some people around.  

Sam LaPorta-Where is he?  Jared Goff needs the security blanket he provided last year.  As stated above, the entire offense really needs to become get in-sync and improve their execution

Tim Patrick-He had a couple of solid catches.  He should carve out a bigger role as time goes on.  It was good to see him play after having such rotten luck with injuries.

Jameson Willians-He has worked on a lot of things but clearly his footwork along the sidelines still needs attention.  Toe-tap.  Foot-drag.  Whatever.  Jared Goff gave him a very good pass.  It is his job to get his feet in-bounds.  He didn't shorten his stride at all.  

Defense:

Aidan Hutchinson-He was an absolute game-wrecker today.  He also made plays at key moments in the game.  He still gets a little too far upfield here and there.  Baker Mayfield baited him into that on one particular play.  If he can get that nailed-down he is going to have a monster season.

Levi Onwuzurike-He was pretty disruptive again this week chipping in 1/2 sack and a forced fumble.  

DJ Reader-Welcome to Detroit

Josh Pascal-I keep waiting for him to show that his more than John Cominsky 2.0.  Still waiting

Alim McNeill-He is doing some good work with tying up blockers and is good against the run but he isn't making his presence felt in the passing game at all right now.  This is the same thing we have seen from him in the last two seasons.  He had a monster training camp but it hasn't translated to elite play on the field.

Derrick Barnes-He played a really good game for the most part.  He couldn't get Baker Mayfield wrapped on a TD-run but made up for that with his pass-deflection late in the 4th quarter.  That was a really good play.

Jack Campbell-He had a much more impactful game this week registering 2 TFLs.  He filled the running lane perfectly on a stretch play late in the game.  When he makes the right read and is going downhill his speed is crazy.  I would love to see that downhill speed on a blitz

Brian Branch-He got better on his angles but still missed some plays.  His nose for the ball should continue to improve as he gets more reps in his new role

Terrion Arnold-When he makes mistakes they are really noticeable and negatively impactful.  However, he kept battling.  He spent a lot of time guarding Mike Evans and that isn't easy.  Mike Evans ended the game with 3 catches for 42 yards.  If he can't keep his emotions in-check early in the game he needs to come off the bench rather than start.

Amik Robertson-He had a really nice play where he batted the ball away with authority after gaining perfect position.  It might be helpful for him to play more on the outside with Terrion Arnold seeing a few less reps

Special Teams:

Jack Fox-Jack Fox had another very good day of punting.  He also threw a very good pass to Sione Vaki on that fake punt.  I hope we get to see more of that this season.

Sione Vaki-The rookie deserves some credit for making a big play.  The Lions were pretty deep in their own territory.  He handled the pressure well.

Jake Bates-I was worried about his consistency in the pre-season but he went 3-3 on FGs and nailed the XP.  The Lions aren't asking a lot from him right now but they are making an effort to build his confidence and finds his groove.  I know he has a strong leg but I can't remember seeing a football jump off the foot of a PK with that much velocity.  

 

The Lions lost a winnable game today.  I can't put my finger on what is going on with the offense but it seems like they could benefit from cutting back on the complexity and playing faster.  They really need to figure out how run their offense effectively when teams take away the intermediate-middle part of the field.  One new problem is lack of stick awareness on 3rd and 4th downs.  You can plan on getting YAC.  That ended the game today.  The defense looks like it took a couple of small steps forward today.  I suspect they will be playing much better in December.  However, the lack of a complimentary EDGE for Hutch is still a problem. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15 by Just Want A Title

[Just Want A Title]

3 hours ago, HashtagFTW said:

This was the most brutally awful called game I've seen in so long. 

One thing I can say in defense of Ben Johnosn is that Todd Bowles is a really good defensive coach.  He has out-smarted a lot really smart offensive minds.

[HashtagFTW]

2 hours ago, Just Want A Title said:

One thing I can say in defense of Ben Johnosn is that Todd Bowles is a really good defensive coach.  He has out-smarted a lot really smart offensive minds.

When Goff is at 40 passes through 2 and a half quarters, that's not being outsmarted. Thats outsmarting yourself. 

[nagahide13]

I think they're experimenting with opening the offense up and rapidly realizing that Goff's limitations won't allow it. He needs to be protected in a perfect pocket at all times... or else. He also can't really improvise or make plays with his legs. When we keep him immaculate he's great. When we don't he's cheeks.

[detfan782004]

3 hours ago, nagahide13 said:

I think they're experimenting with opening the offense up and rapidly realizing that Goff's limitations won't allow it. He needs to be protected in a perfect pocket at all times... or else. He also can't really improvise or make plays with his legs. When we keep him immaculate he's great. When we don't he's cheeks.

He's already got that bag of cash so they better figure it out 

[Just Want A Title]

10 hours ago, HashtagFTW said:

When Goff is at 40 passes through 2 and a half quarters, that's not being outsmarted. Thats outsmarting yourself. 

Not necessarily.  Jared Goff himself said that while he has had some big games against Todd Bowles.  There were games when Todd Bowles got the best of him.  One thing about Jared Goff is that he is really good at pre-snap reads but can rely on them too much.  I suspect Todd Bowles did a good job of disguising his coverages in this game.

[HashtagFTW]

4 minutes ago, Just Want A Title said:

Not necessarily.  Jared Goff himself said that while he has had some big games against Todd Bowles.  There were games when Todd Bowles got the best of him.  One thing about Jared Goff is that he is really good at pre-snap reads but can rely on them too much.  I suspect Todd Bowles did a good job of disguising his coverages in this game.

It was obvious after the first quarter that the running game was not part of the game plan. That means they outcoached themselves. Detroit took away the most dangerous aspect of our offense. Not Todd Bowles. 

[Jameson_Neat]

The Lions ran 33 plays inside the TB 30 and scored 16 points. They also ran 23 plays inside TB territory in the 4th Q without scoring a point.

Just seems like an oddity with no real lasting power.

[Sllim Pickens]

I didnt get to watch the game due to traveling but sounds like time management was a big issue again in this one.  Both at half and at the end of the game.  That has been my biggest gripe with DC, that he seems to not see the clock or know how to use it to his advantage, especially when losing.  He doesnt show the urgency until its too late and often makes dumb calls to cost us, like he did with running it in SF last year.  He really needs to focus on that aspect of the game or get someone to be a time management coordinator and take control when we need to play the clock. 

Its a disappointing loss for sure being at home and 7.5 point favorites.  Goff has struggled some but also asked more of him than we should be.  We have a great OL and two really good RBs, we need to do what we did in OT vs the Rams more often.  Hopefully ARSB isnt too banged up and we can rebound next week but that game is now looking tougher than initially expected.  

[Just Want A Title]

2 hours ago, Sllim Pickens said:

I didnt get to watch the game due to traveling but sounds like time management was a big issue again in this one.  Both at half and at the end of the game.  That has been my biggest gripe with DC, that he seems to not see the clock or know how to use it to his advantage, especially when losing.  He doesnt show the urgency until its too late and often makes dumb calls to cost us, like he did with running it in SF last year.  He really needs to focus on that aspect of the game or get someone to be a time management coordinator and take control when we need to play the clock. 

Its a disappointing loss for sure being at home and 7.5 point favorites.  Goff has struggled some but also asked more of him than we should be.  We have a great OL and two really good RBs, we need to do what we did in OT vs the Rams more often.  Hopefully ARSB isnt too banged up and we can rebound next week but that game is now looking tougher than initially expected.  

I don't think his time management was a problem.  It wasn't a problem in Week 1 and hasn't been a problem for a while.  The offense was just out-of-sync and couldn't get anything going.  The play calling wasn't great.  The absence of Sam LaPorta for a second-straight week is really mind-boggling.  The Lions have no shortage of talent and weapons.  One thing that sticks out to me is that when teams take away the intermediate middle part of the field in the passing game, the Lions still struggle.  It was a problem last year.  It still seems like a problem.  They had some flashes of fixes but nothing that gave them consistent results.  Thier RZ performance, normally very good, was terrible.

[detfan782004]

10 hours ago, Sllim Pickens said:

I didnt get to watch the game due to traveling but sounds like time management was a big issue again in this one.  Both at half and at the end of the game.  That has been my biggest gripe with DC, that he seems to not see the clock or know how to use it to his advantage, especially when losing.  He doesnt show the urgency until its too late and often makes dumb calls to cost us, like he did with running it in SF last year.  He really needs to focus on that aspect of the game or get someone to be a time management coordinator and take control when we need to play the clock. 

Its a disappointing loss for sure being at home and 7.5 point favorites.  Goff has struggled some but also asked more of him than we should be.  We have a great OL and two really good RBs, we need to do what we did in OT vs the Rams more often.  Hopefully ARSB isnt too banged up and we can rebound next week but that game is now looking tougher than initially expected.  

Yes there was some piss poor time management at end of half. Dan knows it too. So I'm sure he will work on it