Getty Kenny Golladay celebrates with Matthew Stafford.
The Detroit Lions managed to grit out a victory against the New York Giants and put up a solid effort most of the afternoon en route to their 31-26 triumph.
As a result of the win, the Lions saw a turnaround on the grade sheet for most of their players and positions, which is the good news on the heels of some tougher efforts in recent weeks.
Here’s a look at how the Lions get graded for their performance this week on the field and scoring an important win.
Offense
A-
The Lions managed to make some big plays through the air getting 3 touchdowns from Matthew Stafford. Kenny Golladay drove the bus with 123 yards and two scores, and the Lions also got Marvin Hall in the end zone. The run game didn’t do much at all for the team, but there were a few nice pops from the combination of Tra Carson and Ty Johnson. As a whole, the Lions did enough to step up and go big play for big play with the Giants. The Lions were able to make plenty of big plays on the day and their offense continues to roll along and do big things on the field.
Defense
C+
The Lions defense hasn’t been great, and in this game they weren’t either. However, the Lions did manage to make some big plays and it keeps them from failing. Devon Kennard’s touchdown, Trey Flowers’ back to back sacks and Justin Coleman’s fourth down breakup were some huge plays on the day. That keeps this effort from being a failure, but to give up 370 yards to the Giants wasn’t a good look. Most of the day, New York did what they wanted and hit some big plays. There are issues the Lions have to clean up in order to feel good about where they are at, but at the very least, some big plays were turned in that led in a win.
Special Teams
B+
Matt Prater drilled a 52 yard field goal, missed another long field goal and had a perfect day with extra points. Sam Martin gets full marks for drawing perhaps the most absurd roughing the kicker penalty in the history of football, and the Lions coverage units were aggressive and hard hitting. As a whole, it was a good day for the special teams for Detroit, and they got a solid effort to help lead in a win.
Coaching
B-
Detroit’s coordinators did a nice job with Paul Pasqualoni dialing up pressure at just the right moments to help fluster Daniel Jones, and Darrell Bevell hitting a home run with a well timed trick play which helped power the Lions to the win. As a whole, though, the Lions really have to do a better job to emphasize discipline. When there are problems with penalties it makes the coaching staff look sloppy. The Lions looked that way much of the afternoon, but in spite of that, managed to pull out a key victory. The staff did good as a whole.
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