For the first time in 32 years, the Detroit Lions won a playoff game. Sunday night’s nail-biting win over the visiting Los Angeles Rams ended the longest postseason victory drought in the NFL and set up a second playoff home date in the same postseason for the Lions for the first time in franchise history.
The emotions of the real-time watch on Sunday night made concrete analysis somewhat difficult. The re-watch of the All-22 and broadcast feed on Tuesday morning was a more measured, analytical take. Here’s what I took away from the film review of the Lions wild card win over the Rams.
Strong red zone defense is not an accident
The biggest reason the Lions won the game was the inability of the Rams offense to produce touchdowns in the red zone. Detroit’s defense and the Rams offense are equally culpable for the 0-for-3 touchdown showing by Matthew Stafford and L.A.’s red zone offense.
The short explanation: the absence of worrying about the deep ball allowed the Lions corners–especially Cam Sutton–to play more aggressively in coverage. It suits them well. The Rams helped that by having suboptimal spacing in their route concepts without the ability to stretch the field.
It’s the latter point that cannot be overlooked. Was the Lions defense in the red zone good? Absolutely. The Rams and Stafford made it easier for them to be good, too.
Stafford accelerated his clock as a passer often in the red zone. It showed from the very first attempt on the Rams’ first red zone drive. He’s got Cooper Kupp isolated on Ifeatu Melifonwu in space on an out-breaking route. That’s a massive advantage for the Rams if Stafford is patient enough to let it develop a bit. Instead, he quickly flings an off-target fade that bails out the Lions.
Aaron Glenn dialed up a lot of pressures and coverages that helped stymie the Rams, too. Dropping Aidan Hutchinson into coverage smartly took away a primary read on one play. Jack Campbell overplaying the inside release by Kupp ruined another Rams chance. The safeties looked much more comfortable and confident in their read without having to worry about deeper coverage. The Rams receivers couldn’t get open quickly out of bunches and on combo routes, and Stafford’s impatience played into that, too.
I’m not sure all that is replicable against the Buccaneers, but there is no doubt the Lions secondary roars much louder when they don’t have to worry about getting beaten over the top. Not that they stop that well…
Special teams came up huge
Coming into the game, one of the biggest advantages the Lions had over the Rams was special teams. It played out that way, too, but not because the Rams were “bad.” Dave Fipp’s units for Detroit were simply that good.
Punter Jack Fox had a special night. All three of his punts pinned the Rams inside their own 20 with a beautiful combination of leg strength, hang time and exceptional coverage from his mates. Chase Lucas and Khalil Dorsey both won their matchups on all three boots.
The coverage on L.A.’s single kick return attempt was on point, too. Dorsey made a great tackle, exploiting inadequate blocking. Michael Badgley’s 54-yard field goal featured good protection and a perfect snap and hold. Other games across the wild card weekend saw mishaps with those, but the Lions well-oiled special teams machine ran perfectly all night.
This secondary cannot keep playing the same coverage on the outside
It’s been an ongoing issue for the Lions defense and the wild card game was no exception. The outside corners are bad at downfield coverage, and the safeties are just as bad in helping them out.
Cam Sutton had a frustrating evening. He squatted just a bit on the short route on the long Stafford-to-Nacua touchdown in a Cover-1 look. In that scheme, he cannot afford to get beaten over the top. But he hesitates on the chance that the throw might come short. If the outside CBs aren’t pressing, and they didn’t do that at all outside the red zone in this game, they cannot sit on the short routes. Neither Sutton nor Vildor has the makeup speed to hesitate on going down the field.
That touchdown is a good example of the issues the Lions have at safety, too. C.J. Gardner-Johnson is the single-high safety. He’s Sutton’s help over the top. But he’s also Kindle Vildor’s help on the other side. On that particular play, “CJGJ” didn’t really help out on either of them until after Stafford had uncorked a deep missile. He’s clearly not comfortable playing that deep role, and missing nearly all of the season doesn’t help him or the communication on the back end.
The Rams do deserve some credit here. Their pre-snap motion frequently had the Lions defense anxiously pointing and adjusting just before the snap. Kupp and Puka Nacua are a fantastic WR duo, and we all know Stafford throws the ball deep and outside the numbers very well.
Later in the game, the Lions did adjust to a softer coverage, even when in Cover-1. Sutton and Vildor played deep-to-short more deliberately. It’s a smarter way to use them, as both are very good tacklers; Vildor might be the Lions’ best open-field tackler even with a bad fourth-quarter whiff in this one. There were more LB and DL drops into coverage to help muddy the underneath and allow the safeties to focus on deeper coverage. It worked to a point, even if I never want to see John Cominsky playing the “robber” role again.
Jared Goff was dialed in
Any worries that Goff might struggle under the weight of facing his old team quickly evaporated. He played almost flawlessly in the first three drives, all ending in touchdowns.
I thought Goff’s pre-snap reads off the motion and the defensive alignments were as good as he’s ever shown in a Lions uniform. Completing his first 10 passes was outstanding, but the accuracy and confidence in which he delivered those throws and made the correct decisions was striking.
Goff made one huge mistake, the ill-advised backward chest pass to TE Brock Wright. He also tripped over his own feet on a play where he could have run for a good 20 yards even at his limited speed. Beyond that, his technical quarterbacking skills were outstanding.
That doesn’t include the leadership and poise, and those might have been even better for Goff. When the offense bogged down a bit in the second half, he didn’t try to do too much. He kept his head up and kept battling–exactly what his inexperienced teammates needed from him. Great game from No. 16.
Quick hits
–Alex Anzalone played hurt from the first drive onward. Didn’t catch it in the first watch, but he injured his shoulder in a friendly-fire tackle on the Rams’ first drive.
–After the first drive, FB Jason Cabinda didn’t help much in the run game. This is more of a schematic/tendency issue than a Cabinda issue. David Montgomery doesn’t run as aggressively with a FB in front of him, and the FB gums up the spacing for the RBs to have cutback lanes or cleaner looks at the second level. The Dan Skipper-as-extra blocker works so much better, including in this game.
–Kerby Joseph was (correctly) penalized for throwing a Rams player off the pile. But how the officials missed Rams TE Ben Skowronek intentionally choking Brian Branch, which led to Joseph’s penalty, is beyond my comprehension.
–Jonah Jackson at left guard had another rough game. He’s not been good since his return, notably in pass protection. Even though it’s his wrist that is injured, his footwork has been slow. Granted the Rams DT combo of Aaron Donald and Kobie Turner is really good, but Jackson’s got to bounce back.
–Speaking of Donald, he finished with three total tackles and two QB pressures (PFF had him for 3, I saw 2). Frank Ragnow handled him very well, and the Lions traps and pulls focused on neutralizing Donald. It worked.
–Ben Johnson’s insistence on trying stretch runs from the shotgun on second downs is troubling. The Rams defense had them shut down before they even started, with Penei Sewell blocking air on one rep because the LB knew exactly what was coming. Growing problem for the Lions. If Johnson is laying those out there to set up something more grandiose down the line, it’s time to see the grandiosity…
–Jalen Reeves-Maybin needs to be playing over Derrick Barnes when the Lions go to the 3-LB look. He’s so much quicker and faster to react to things on his periphery.
–Aidan Hutchinson aligned at Wide-9 won every single rep against Rams RT Rob Havenstein. Every. Single. Rep.
–Josh Reynolds showed the most saltiness of any of the guys facing their old teams. He had a great night as both a blocker and a receiver.
–The Jahmyr Gibbs TD run was Ben Johnson at his finest. Love how all the other Lions executed their roles on the play aside from Gibbs accelerating instantly through the giant hole. The attention to detail is a Johnson hallmark and the Lions wear it very well.
