Detroit — Justin Rogers grades the Detroit Lions’ performance after the team’s 38-35 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Quarterback
After Jared Goff threw an interception midway through the second quarter, he had a passer rating of 0.0, but the starting QB settled down to lead four touchdown drives the rest of the way, putting the Lions in the improbable position to pull off a 17-point fourth-quarter rally.
Goff was hindered by some dropped passes, but he also misfired or put a handful in unnecessarily dangerous spots, including the interception, which was a rushed throw because of a bad block. You like the resiliency, but a little more consistency might have been enough to put the Lions over the hump. Grade: B
Running backs
D’Andre Swift was electric from the jump, breaking free for a 50-yard gain on the game’s opening possession. That set the tone for a career-high 144 yards on just 15 carries, including a 7-yard touchdown run on a fourth-down carry at the end of the first half. Sure, the blocking was great at times, but Swift made the most of the majority of his touches, making multiple defenders miss in the open field.
Jamaal Williams didn’t offer the same big-play component, but he did his job with his short-yardage opportunities, scoring multiple touchdowns for the first time in his career. Grade: A
Wide receivers/tight ends
As he did down the stretch last season, Amon-Ra St. Brown paced the Lions with eight catches for 64 yards on 12 targets, while newcomer DJ Chark shook off an early drop and a route-running miscommunication to haul in four balls, including a pretty 22-yard touchdown in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter that drew the Lions within three.
Josh Reynolds added a 28-yard grab, Detroit’s first big passing gain of the day, but he also failed to secure another that hit his hands in the fourth quarter that contributed to a drive stalling out.
At tight end, T.J. Hockenson had a relatively quiet day in the box score, but he had a critical third-down conversion on the game’s opening drive, leading to a touchdown. Hockenson also drew a pass interference penalty on a third down on the series ending with Chark’s long score. Hockenson also had a key block on Swift’s 50-yard run. Grade: B
Offensive line
The offensive line set a ton early with its run blocking and did a relatively good job protecting Goff, only allowing a singe sack on a play that had more to do with an errant snap than poor blocking.
Logan Stenberg had some hiccups in his debut as a starter, including back-to-back false start penalties in the first quarter and the blown block that led to Goff’s interception, but his tape likely will show more positive plays than negative. Grade: B+
Defensive line
Detroit’s defensive front did a decent job getting pressure on the quarterback, but struggled to contain Philadelphia’s dynamic dual threat Jalen Hurts to the pocket. With shaky run lane discipline, Hurts racked up 90 yards on the ground, while only taking one hit and zero sacks from the Lions’ front.
Much like last season’s matchup, the Lions struggled to bottle up the Eagles’ rushing attack overall. The opposition gained more than 200 yards on the ground, averaging 5.5 yards per carry, with four different players scoring a rushing touchdown.
The rotten cherry on top of the garbage sundae was running back Miles Sanders escaping multiple defenders in the backfield to break free for a 24-yard gain on third down in the closing minutes, where the defense could have gotten the ball back for the offense to try to complete the comeback. Grade: F
Linebackers
Of course, the linebackers share culpability in the disappointing run defense, although some failures were more blatant than others. On Hurts’ fourth-down touchdown run in the second quarter, both Malcolm Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes collapsed hard on a play fake, allowing the quarterback to go untouched around the edge and into the end zone.
Rodriguez got blocked out of position in the second level multiple times, a not unexpected introduction to the speed of regular season action for the talented and instinctual rookie, who also allowed a screen pass to flutter over his head for a big gain that set up the Eagles’ final touchdown. Grade: D
Secondary
The defensive backfield got off to a promising start with back-to-back pass breakups that resulted in a turnover on downs, but the cornerbacks had almost no answer for A.J. Brown. Philadelphia’s new No. 1 receiver finished with 10 catches on 13 targets for 155 yards. That included a 54-yard deep ball over Will Harris at the end of the first half, which allowed the Eagles to add some points before going into the locker room.
The safety tandem of DeShon Elliott and Tracy Walker showed some promising chemistry, with Walker being freed up to do more stuff closer to the line of scrimmage. There he netted a sack and a batted pass, part of a 13-tackle performance. Unfortunately for Walker, he showed a disappointing lack of discipline, hitting Hurts while sliding then getting in a scuffle after the play, drawing two personal foul flags and an ejection. Grade: D
Special teams
It was a relatively quiet day for the special teams. Austin Seibert didn’t attempt a field goal, Justin Jackson didn’t get an opportunity to return a kickoff and Kalif Raymond fielded just three punts, but mustered only 15 yards bringing those back. Making matters worse, rookie Kerby Joseph was hit for a hold, negating Raymond’s best effort.
Jack Fox and Detroit’s coverage units were solid, with the punter averaging a respectable 43 yards net. Grade: C+
Coaches
It wasn’t a banner day for Detroit’s coaches. Dan Campbell showed some questionable clock management and timeout usage at the end of the first half, giving the Eagles a window to add some points, which they did.
Meanwhile, Ben Johnson’s debut as an offensive play-caller got off to a rocky start with a lengthy lull of wasted possessions between the first and last drives in the opening half. And it’s clear the defensive game plan wasn’t equipped to handle the Eagles on the ground, particularly Hurts, despite last year’s struggles against this foe providing first-hand insight into what could be expected.
The positive side is both the offense and defense made adjustments and improvements as the game progressed, which should provide a little optimism going forward that the ship can be righted. Grade: D+
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers