Pride of Detroit
It was not as tidy as we had hoped, but the Detroit Lions were nonetheless able to handle the Cincinnati Bengals to vault themselves to 4-1.
The offense threw for four touchdowns while adding a score on the ground, and the defense came away with three interceptions of backup Jake Browning. If it were not for a fourth quarter collapse, the scoreboard would have been heavily lopsided, with Detroit outscoring Cincinnati 28-3 through three quarters.
Which players emerged as winners or losers from this Week 5 victory?
The Lions have themselves a pretty good linebacking room. Campbell, in particular, has been a tackling machine, registering a team-high 11 tackles—he is far and away the team’s leading tackler, both total and solo tackles. On one play, he even forced a pressure on the quarterback and forced a fumble on the receiver.
The highlight of Anzalone’s performance will be his leaping interception of Browning, but his success on the field went beyond that single play. Anzalone was a menace around the line of scrimmage, notching himself three tackles, three passes defended, and a tackle-for-loss to go with his pick. He was lights-out in coverage as the Bengals struggled to complete anything between the hash marks. He was dinged for a pass interference on a fourth down stop, but it was frankly uncatchable and should not have been a penalty.
Not to be forgotten was Derrick Barnes, who delivered a game-sealing sack-safety to quell the Bengals’ comeback. He struggled in coverage in comparison to Anzalone and Campbell, but his ability to rush the passer is quietly solid.
Originally, I was going to give Arnold a plus and a minus on the day. He was victimized by flags once again, registering defensive holding and defensive pass interference penalties. The holding penalty in particular was brutal, as it wiped an Aidan Hutchinson sack-safety off the board. However, he rebounded from that holding penalty with back-to-back pass breakups, and as a whole, his coverage was more good than bad.
Unfortunately for Arnold, he left the game with a shoulder injury, requiring a cart trip to the locker room. He had injured his shoulder last week against the Cleveland Browns, but his time on the injury report was short and he entered this game without a designation. Whether this was a reaggravation or a new injury is unclear, but it is nonetheless a disappointing finish to a decent outing.
In general, it was a mix of great and bad from the cornerbacks. I already broke down the up and down outing for Arnold, but the same could be said about the other starting corners. Amik Robertson had an interception and a pass breakup, but he was also beat badly on a 64-yard bomb to Ja’Marr Chase. Rock Ya-Sin had a pair of breakups, but he left the game with an injury (twice). Coupled with Arnold’s departure, the...
