NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions, after their 46-25 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium:
Quarterback
Give Matthew Stafford credit for not only gutting through a painful rib injury, but for giving the Lions a chance against one of the AFC’s best teams, at least for three quarters. Stafford made a couple of special throws, including a dime of a 44-yard pass to Hunter Bryant.
He was limited in his mobility, turning down at least one opportunity to run for a first down in the second quarter, but stood in the pocket and took several shots downfield before eventually giving way to Chase Daniel after two big hits in the fourth quarter. Daniel led one touchdown drive and threw one interception in his two series. Grade: A-minus
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Running backs
D’Andre Swift made one crucial mistake, when he lost a fumble on the goal line with an ill-advised leap, but had an otherwise solid day. Swift showed good patience waiting for a pair of blocks on his first touchdown run and flashed impressive burst when he split two defenders for an 11-yard gain on a timely draw play.
Swift did drop a screen pass that was thrown slightly behind him, but he had a respectable 82 yards from scrimmage (67 rushing) and two touchdowns on 19 touches. Neither Adrian Peterson (six carries, 23 yards) nor Kerryon Johnson saw substantial action. Grade: B-minus
Receivers/tight ends
Marvin Jones had a huge first half, catching seven of eight balls thrown his way for 75 yards. He kept the chains moving with tough catches over the middle, and ran a nice out-and-up route to set up Swift’s first touchdown. Mohamed Sanu had a nice insert block on Swift’s TD run and made a nice shoestring catch on a tipped pass in the third quarter. T.J. Hockenson had a quiet day with two catches for 18 yards. He also lost a fumble trying to stretch for a first down on the opening drive of the third quarter. Jamal Agnew juked David Long on his only catch of the day for a 13-yard gain. Grade: B-plus
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Offensive line
With Stafford ailing, the offensive line did its part to keep pressure to a minimum. Stafford took just one hit on a dominant opening drive, when he stepped up in the pocket to complete a pass, and four for the game. Oday Aboushi teamed with Sanu to make the key blocks on Swift’s first touchdown run, and he made a nice pulling block on Peterson’s 8-yard run.
Joe Dahl, making his first career start at center, whiffed on a block when Swift fumbled at the goal line. He also rolled a snap to Stafford in the fourth quarter, when Teair Tart jumped on Stafford for a 1-yard loss that went down as an aborted play. Matt Nelson, who played the second half at right tackle in place of Hal Vaitai, had the line’s only penalty, a false start. Grade: B-plus
Defensive line
Effort is not an issue with the Lions defense, but talent is. The Lions had no recourse for one of the NFL’s best offenses as Derrick Henry averaged 6 yards a carry and Ryan Tannehill had all day to throw. Romeo Okwara did have a sack for safety, when he jumped over a cut block by David Quessenberry, but the Lions got little penetration otherwise against the run or pass.
Frank Herron beat Nate Davis for a 2-yard tackle for loss in the third quarter, and Austin Bryant (seven tackles) stopped Henry in the backfield on the Titans’ second run of the game. Bryant lost outside contain on the first two plays of the fourth quarter, however, a 33-yard run by Henry and Tannehill’s zone-read touchdown run. Grade: F
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Linebackers
Henry seemed to be 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage before he was touched on most plays before he’d gain 2 or 3 yards after contact as the Lions went another week without a big play by their linebacking corps.
Jahlani Tavai got caught up in a block by wide receiver Corey Davis on Henry’s opening-drive touchdown, and Jarrad Davis could not bring down A.J. Brown on a short touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Jamie Collins did have a pressure that forced a throwaway by Tannehill just before halftime, and he made a nice read to stop Henry for a 1-yard loss on a third quarter pass to the flat. Grade: F
Defensive backs
Duron Harmon got turned around three times on an awful 75-yard touchdown pass he gave up to Davis in the first quarter. He finished with a team-high 10 tackles, another example of the front seven’s struggles, but also took a horrible angle on a Jonnu Smith catch in Tennessee’s two-minute drive at the end of the first half, when Smith got out of bounds after catching a pass in the middle of the field. Alex Myres, in his first NFL game, played most of the day as the Lions’ No. 2 cornerback. He drew one pass interference penalty, had one pass breakup and was the victim of a nasty stiff arm by Henry on a 7-yard run. Grade: F
Special teams
Matt Prater’s choppy season took another weird turn Sunday as he missed an extra point early in the game but drilled a 53-yard field goal. Agnew also had a bumpy day in the return game. He had a nice 43-yard kickoff return, but ran himself into trouble on his lone punt return. The usually reliable Miles Killebrew missed a tackle on a kick return, while Jack Fox dropped his only punt at the Tennessee 7-yard line. The Lions failed on both a fake punt and onside kick. Grade: C
Coaching
It’s hard to blame coaching for this one as the Lions — playing without three of their best defensive linemen and down to their sixth or seventh cornerback — were clearly outclassed defensively. I thought Darrell Bevell and Co. put together a solid offensive game plan that allowed Stafford to thrive despite his injury, and there were not any simple adjustments Cory Undlin could make given Tennessee’s balance on offense.
I was not a fan of the fake punt call; keep your offense on the field if you’re going to go for it in that situation. But Bevell was right not to chase that mistake by wasting a timeout on a review that had no chance of succeeding. Bevell’s chances of losing the interim tag are probably shot, but people around the league will take note of the job he’s done the last three weeks. Grade: C
Contact Dave Birkett at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
