There was a lot of really good play from the Detroit Lions offense in the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Buffalo Bills. And there was also some not-so-good, unfortunately.
The data analysts at NFL Next Gen Stats nicely broke down where the Lions offense and specific players thrived against the Bills. There is also some pretty harsh statistical indictment of where a couple of players fizzled in the loss. It’s always interesting to see the on-field metrics and data and how it impacts the outcome, and Next Gen Stats does that very well here.
Here are a few examples from Next Gen Stats and their weekly newsletter of where some Lions shined and others struggled in the Week 12 matchup against the Bills.
Jared Goff on play action
Quarterback Jared Goff has been strong on play-action passes all season. He was really dialed in when using play-action in Week 12. From Next Gen Stats:
Jared Goff was at his best using play action in Week 12, completing 10 of 13 passes for 128 yards & 2 TD on such plays. Goff has earned the 2nd highest NGS passing score (90) using play action this season.
Put another way, here are Goff’s numbers with play-action passes stripped from his stats:
13-of-24 passing, 112 yards, no TDs or INTs
That’s a pretty strong split, one that indicates the Lions should probably utilize play-action even more.
Using an extra OT in the run game
The Lions have used a sixth offensive tackle as an extra blocker frequently over the last couple of seasons. It’s been a mixed bag of results overall, but it worked very well deploying Matt Nelson as an extra lineman against the Bills,
In the 1st quarter on TNF the Lions sent swing tackle Matt Nelson in motion as a lead blocker for Jamaal Williams, who scored his league-leading 13th TD run this season. The Lions have run 10% of all plays in XL personnel (6+ OL), good for 2nd most in the NFL, and have 7 TDs when in XL personnel (2nd most).
DJ Chark separation shutdown
Wide receiver DJ Chark did catch a touchdown pass against the Bills, but the rest of his afternoon was not something to be thankful for. The Next Gen Stats are not pretty for Chark,
Lions WR D.J. Chark had the lowest average separation (1 yard) and cushion (2.2 yards) in Week 12. He was held to just 2 catches for 16 yards, although 1 of these was a TD.
Chark was a little too easy to cover throughout the game, which makes the final third-down shot to the wideout a little more puzzling.
Amon-Ra St. Brown destroying single-high safeties
St. Brown had a big game against Buffalo. Interestingly, nearly all of his success came against one specific type of coverage from the Bills defense,
Amon-Ra St. Brown had almost all his production come against single-high safety coverages, catching 8 of 9 targets for 121 yards. Outside of his production against single-high coverage, he only caught 1 pass for 1 yard, bringing his total for the day to 9 catches for 122 yards and a TD. He had a +17.2% CPOE on the day.
The Bills roll with a single-high safety more than almost any other team, and St. Brown ate up the base Cover-1 scheme. It makes sense, with St. Brown typically at his best on quick-hitting routes in the 5-to-10-yard range.
