The 1-3 Detroit Lions head to New England to face the 1-3 Patriots in Week 5. The Lions sorely need a win after dropping a 48-45 shootout at home against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday. Fo that to happen, a few key Lions need to perform well against Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
Last week’s choices wound up being quite prescient, albeit not always positively so.
Here are this week’s prime Lions on the spot to have good games in New England if Detroit is to secure the elusive road victory.
Jamaal Williams
Make no mistake about it, Williams has been playing great lately. In the last two weeks, Williams has run 39 times for 195 yards and four TDs, a figure that leads the NFL over that timeframe.
Keeping that touchdown train rolling on the tracks is the key for Williams in Week 5. New England’s run defense is one of the worst in the league, giving up 5.1 yards per carry, 29th in the NFL. But with D’Andre Swift almost certainly out once again, Williams will need to step up in the receiving game a little better. He’s caught five of the eight passes thrown his way this season, but all three incompletions were credited as drops on Williams. These Lions cannot afford those little lapses from their new bell-cow RB.
Charles Harris and Julian Okwara
There’s a lot of nailbiting about rookie Aidan Hutchinson and his lack of production outside of the Week 2 win over Washington. And while Hutchinson can certainly do better, the fact he’s getting absolutely nothing from his DE mates isn’t helping No. 97.
In charting Hutchinson’s performance against the Seahawks, I did the same with Julian Okwara. In 19 defensive snaps, Okwara did not earn a single plus but racked up an astonishing 11 minuses. It was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from an individual defender; Okwara ran himself out of the play more than he didn’t, and the next block he sheds will be the first in at least a full game. Okwara in coverage was the equivalent of using dental floss as a winter coat.
Harris wasn’t much better against Seattle. He managed one QB pressure and one tackle in Week 4 despite being double-teamed exactly once. The Seahawks dared Harris to make plays, and the veteran couldn’t do it. You can bet the Patriots will try the same and focus on keeping Hutchinson from ruining their afternoon. Patriots rookie QB Bailey Zappe is no running threat and was sacked three times in 18 dropbacks last week. Harris and Okwara will get opportunities.
Craig Wrolstad
Wrolstad is the referee for this week’s officiating crew. While Wrolstad won’t decide the game with a judgment call, both the Lions and Patriots were involved in some procedural errors by the football zebras in last week’s games.
As you might suspect, those errors cost the Lions in their loss and benefitted the Patriots in their overtime loss to the Packers. Both incidents involved improper play clock management by the officials.
Judgment calls are subjective and prone to human error. It’s part of the game — often more when the Lions are involved, but I digress. However, the procedural calls and responsibilities of the officials are things they simply cannot get wrong. Failure to mark the down and distance correctly, not monitoring the play clock, picking up flags without explanation, those can not happen.
Wrolstad is generally one of the league’s most respected referees and his crew has remained almost completely intact from last season. Here’s hoping we won’t notice the officials or any impact Wrolstad and his mates could have on the game.
Amani Oruwariye
Oruwariye is off to a very rough start as a starting outside corner. In fact, he’s rightly been graded by PFF as the NFL’s worst cornerback through the first four weeks.
It’s do-or-die time for Oruwariye. The good news is the Patriots passing attack isn’t the same as what other teams have done against No. 24 and the Lions. New England trots out a very accurate rookie QB in Bailey Zappe, but he’s a pure pocket passer without a downfield arm. At receiver, DeVante Parker is a big target but one who can be jammed and won’t instantly run away from Oruwariye.
It’s these types of situations where Oruwariye was at his best in 2021, picking off passes and avoiding being buttered toast on crossing routes. The Lions defense desperately needs takeaways, and Oruwariye is the best ballhawk in the secondary. Both a Lions win and Oruwariye’s status with the team likely depend on how well the struggling veteran plays in New England.
