Foxborough, Mass. — Justin Rogers grades the Detroit Lions’ performance in their 29-0 loss to the New England Patriots.
Quarterbacks
For the third time this season, Jared Goff was responsible for the opponent scoring a touchdown. With the Patriots holding a six-point lead after the defense came up with a pair of red-zone stops, Goff fumbled on fourth down while scrambling from heavy pressure. The loose ball was scooped up and returned for a 59-yard touchdown, and while it was still early, it felt like a turning point.
Two possessions earlier, with the Lions knocking on the door, Goff forced a pass he admitted he should have checked down. That throw to T.J. Hockenson was intercepted and it was as close as the Lions got to putting up points the rest of the day. Grade: F
Running backs
It was yeoman’s work for Detroit backfield, which churned out a respectable 3.9 yards per carry without D’Andre Swift. In addition, Craig Reynolds came off the bench to contribute 68 yards in the pass game on three receptions. Justin Jackson was relatively effective with his small number of touches, but he gets docked for drawing an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped a touchdown off the board. Grade: C-
Wide receivers/tight ends
Coming off a career game, Hockenson was a ghost in this one, catching just one pass for 6 yards. He also committed a hold and appeared to miss an assignment, running a route and leaving a defender unblocked on a third-down play where Craig Reynolds was dropped for a loss of 7 yards. That blunder knocked the Lions out of field goal range.
Josh Reynolds led the way for the Lions with six catches for 92 yards, with 70 of those yards coming in the second half. Amon-Ra St. Brown returned to the lineup, probably prematurely, after missing a week with an ankle injury. He just wasn’t able to get his typical separation, which limited him to four grabs for 18 yards. He was targeted twice on fourth down, but he wasn’t able to secure a conversion either time. Grade: D
Offensive line
We’ve grown accustomed to seeing the Lions dominate up front, but the ground game was only adequate in this one and the Patriots’ pass rush affected the pocket in multiple key situations, with pressure often coming from the edges as both Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell delivered unusually substandard performances. Sewell also blew a block that factored into one of the failed fourth-down runs. Grade: D
Defensive line
It was another week of Detroit’s defensive line essentially being a nonfactor. Sure, the Patriots game-planned well to get the ball out of rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe’s hands quickly, but the Lions couldn’t hit him once. Well, that’s not entirely accurate, as Isaiah Buggs got home for a sack, but the play was negated by a defensive holding penalty in the secondary. Aidan Hutchinson had the next best shot, winning off the edge, but he got juked by the QB, who was able to gain 5 yards on the scramble.
It wasn’t much better for the Lions against the run as the Patriots churned out 176 yards and averaged 5 yards per pop. The biggest blow came on a 49-yard run by Rhamondre Stevenson, where defensive tackles Alim McNeill and Buggs both whiffed close to the line of scrimmage. Grade: D-
Linebackers
Alex Anzalone had eight tackles and a nice pass breakup on third down on the game’s opening possession, forcing a field goal. And most of those tackles came within 4 yards of line of scrimmage, implying his positioning was good.
Malcolm Rodriguez was less effective, finishing with five stops, although he was the one to drop Stevenson from a swarm of defenders for one of the few negative plays the Patriots had on the day. Derrick Barnes also saw some time, but his most notable contribution was a penalty that negated Buggs’ sack. Grade: D+
Secondary
Injuries are partially to blame here as the Lions had a revolving door of players through the second half of the game with five defensive backs missing extended time with various issues. Cornerback Jeff Okudah had some struggles, blowing an assignment that led to a 17-yard gain to open one drive and getting flagged for two longer pass interference penalties. Additionally, he was beat on the throw that Nelson Agholor dropped and was picked, somewhat impressively, off the deflection by safety DeShon Elliott.
Zappe might have gotten the ball out quickly much of the afternoon, but he faced little resistance from Detroit’s back end, which gave up 17 completions on 21 throws, in addition to Okudah’s two pass interference infractions. Grade: D-
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Special teams
There isn’t much to say here since the game featured just four punts and the Lions didn’t attempt a field goal. Return man Maurice Alexander had the most notable special teams play of the day, returning a kickoff 47 yards, although the Lions obviously failed to capitalize.
Jack Fox’s net punting average won’t look great, but he dropped a dime at the 5-yard line that should have pinned the Patriots deep. Mike Hughes and Josh Woods collided when trying to down it, allowing the ball to bounce back for 8 extra yards. Grade: B-
Coaches
The story coming into the day was defensive adjustments, and those actually worked reasonably well. They didn’t shut the Patriots down, by any means, but only gave up 22 of the 29 points, including six in the first half. The red-zone defense showed the most progress, keeping the Patriots out of the end zone on four trips inside the 20.
But Detroit’s revolving door of issues landed on the offense in this one, and Dan Campbell’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-9 and not kick a 50-yard field goal when trailing by six in the second quarter turned the game for a hard-fought contest into the beginnings of a bloodbath.
It’s OK that Campbell is aggressive. In fact, it should be appreciated. But he continues to make questionable situational decisions that are costing his team in close games — or in this case, opening the door for momentum to be permanently stolen. Grade: F
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers