2 weeks Ago
DETROIT — The latest wave of “JA-RED GOFF” chants broke out late in the third quarter, during QB1’s final drive of the afternoon. The possession stalled just outside of the red zone and Detroit settled for a field goal. Back on the sideline, Goff swapped his helmet out for a Honolulu Blue ballcap and took the rest of the day off.
He had 85 passing yards to his name. Advertisement It certainly wasn’t your typical chant-worthy performance or perfect game. But that wasn’t needed.
Not when you play like the Lions did on Sunday. “This is the best team I’ve been a part of,” nickel corner Amik Robertson said, smile on his face, after the Lions’ 52-14 win over the Tennessee Titans . “Offense helps out defense.
Defense helps out offense. Even special teams. I mean, we could send a haymaker from all areas.
” Haymakers from all areas — that’s the perfect way to describe what it’s like playing the Detroit Lions these days. The Titans (1-6) are among the NFL ’s worst teams. All week long, head coach Dan Campbell and his players tried to give the Titans credit.
There was talk of how the Tennessee defense might just be the best Detroit faces this year. There were comparisons to the Lions’ rebuild a few years ago and the 1-6 start they got off to before figuring things out. The main takeaway: Don’t overlook anyone on your schedule.
Sound advice for most teams. Perhaps not necessary for this one. They know where they’ve been and where they came from.
There are enough dudes still around from the early years to ensure things don’t go back to the way they were. In the process, they’ve watched this team graduate from scrappy overachievers to division favorites to Super Bowl contenders the last three seasons. You used to look up and down Detroit’s schedule and circle all the teams that would be tough to beat.
The Lions are now that team for everyone else on their schedule. GO DEEPER Lions demolish Titans 52-14 as Kalif Raymond stars with 2 scores: Takeaways Case in point: The Titans held the Lions — one of the NFL’s top offenses — nearly 200 yards below their per-game average (411.8).
The Lions managed just 225 yards of offense versus the Titans on Sunday. Tennessee had allowed 272.2 yards per game entering the week — lowest in the NFL — and held the Lions nearly 50 yards below that mark.
Both Campbell and Goff said it wasn’t the offense’s best day, and truthfully, it wasn’t. Advertisement They still scored 52 points. All you can do is shake your head.
Demoralizing in every way. “This is how you get beat by a really good football team at their place,” Titans head coach Brian Callahan said, trying to summarize what went wrong on Sunday. “Turn the ball over four times, you don’t take it away once, you give up an unbelievable amount of return yardage in the return game, both in kickoff and punt, put our defense in short fields, and they scored five touchdowns on all five possessions they were down in there.
” That about tells the tale, but indulge us for a second. This was a bloodbath. The Lions were favored to win.
And maybe some predicted what we ultimately saw. But these types of lopsided games are rare in a league where a 1-6 Browns team can knock off a Ravens team that had won five in a row. Nothing is guaranteed, but with the way these Lions are playing, you simply expect them to get it done — no matter who’s starring that week.
A prime-time game against a 3-0 Seahawks team that’s had your number three years in a row? Enter the bye week with a convincing 42-29 win. On the road against a Cowboys team the Lions were 0-2 against under Campbell? Hand Jerry Jones his worst home loss, 47-9. No Aidan Hutchinson on the road against a 5-0 Vikings team looking down on the rest of the NFC North? No problem.
Rely on star power to secure a win 31-29 in Minneapolis. Potential trap game against the Titans? Hang 52 on them with defense and special teams leading the way. The Titans were able to move the ball with 417 yards, but there was an air of inevitability as those drives unfolded.
You kept waiting for something to go wrong. It won’t always look pretty, but the Lions, even without Hutchinson, still have playmakers all over this defense. And they were active on Sunday.
A pressure up the middle from Levi Onwuzurike forced a bad throw from quarterback Mason Rudolph , which landed right into the arms of SAM linebacker Trevor Nowaske , dropping into coverage on the play. It set up an early Lions touchdown and gave the team a 7-0 lead. There would be three more forced by the defense on the day — a Kerby Joseph interception return deep in Tennessee territory (his fifth of the season) and two punch-outs via Robertson, recovered by the Lions.
After allowing a touchdown with a little over 14 minutes left in the second quarter, the Lions held Tennessee scoreless the rest of the way. Advertisement “This game is about the ball, man, and we got guys in the room that’s always, always around it,” Robertson said. “So when you see those guys making plays, it becomes contagious, and once you get one, they come in bunches.
You just gotta take advantage of your opportunities whenever they come.” It makes life easy for the offense. Goff orchestrated a unit that went 5-of-5 in the red zone and scored touchdowns via six different players.
Goff finished with three touchdown passes — one to Brock Wright , one to Amon-Ra St. Brown and another to Kalif Raymond . Jahmyr Gibbs took one to the house for 70 yards — the longest run of his career.
David Montgomery ran one in and threw one to tight end Sam LaPorta on National Tight Ends Day. And yet, not their best effort. Demoralizing.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of something like that where we start with the ball, not only in plus territory, but in the red zone,” Goff said. “I don’t know how many times — four or five probably — and we did our job and punched them in for touchdowns. That’s what we were asked to do today and did that well.
With that being said, we score 52 and there’s still like some, ‘Eh, eh.’ I know that sounds like kind of hollow after scoring 52 but there are some things that we can do better on offense when we weren’t down in that red area.” Turnovers helped, but that’s not how you get a 225-yard, 52-point performance.
A day like that requires all three phases humming. Detroit’s special teams unit might’ve been the real stars. GO DEEPER Week 8 NFL roundtable: Cowboys-49ers, NFC North prowess, Bucs injuries and Browns' woes Khalil Dorsey had a rare kick-return opportunity in this game, and nearly housed it.
He took it 72 yards down to the Tennessee 25, with the offense taking care of business in the red zone. Punter/field optimization specialist Jack Fox routinely had the Titans starting deep in their own territory. Kicker Jake Bates continues his strong start and remains perfect on field goal attempts.
He brought the boom on a 51-yarder in the third quarter, setting a new career-long. Advertisement Then, there’s the man of the hour. Three years ago, a little over a month into their time with the franchise, Lions GM Brad Holmes approached Campbell for his opinion on a free-agent special teamer in Tennessee with some upside as a receiver.
His name was Kalif Raymond. “Hey, take a peek at this guy from Tennessee. He’s really a returner, kind of gadget.
You think there’s a place for him on offense?” Holmes asked Campbell. “Yeah,” Campbell told him, only needing 10 plays on film to know Raymond was a fit. “Absolutely there is.
I’ll take this guy in a heartbeat.” Raymond grew into a leader on a Lions team that would finish 3-13-1, as one of its early tone-setters. He’s one of the hardest workers on the roster and is often a player Campbell tells young players to watch and learn from, as they attempt to navigate life as a professional.
Three years later, taking the field as a gameday captain against his former team, Raymond recorded 190 yards and a touchdown as a punt returner, then caught two passes for 14 yards and a touchdown on offense. He’s the ultimate reminder of everything the Lions are about. “It’s been a blessing ever since to get Leaf here,” Campbell said.
“What a pro he is. Guys love him — coaches, players. Man, you talk about reliable, and he’s consistent, and the way he prepares, the way he works and he does everything for us, man.
He can play all the positions on offense, he’s a dynamic returner. That was good to see. It’s been a while since we got some big ones.
He’s just, man, he’s the best. So that was great, the team’s fired up for him.” “It was just — it was a really cool game,” Raymond said.
“...
Just to be playing such a team game is so fun. Special teams, defense takeaways, offense pushing it in — it’s just really fun to be part of a football team like that.” Advertisement Certainly seems like it these days.
In their last five games spanning Weeks 3-8, the Lions are averaging a league-high 38.4 points per game on offense, and allowing 18.8 points per game defensively (ninth in the NFL).
They’ve scored 40 or more in three of those five matchups. They’ve averaged 0.4 giveaways (tied for second-lowest) and 2.
6 takeaways (highest in the NFL) per game during that stretch. They are a perfect 5-0 in those contests, winning by an average margin of nearly 20 points per game. The Lions are doing what’s expected of them, week in and week out.
There’s something to be said for that. “It’s like I told them, ‘That’s what champions do,'” Campbell said after the game. .
..”You come out, you don’t care what time of day it is, what the records are, what the surface is, you just, you come out and handle your business.
And we did that.” They’ve been doing that. And they’re built to continue doing so.
(Top photo of Kerby Joseph: Lon Horwedel / Imagn Images).
