Pride of Detroit
It’s a recap article I’ve written far too many times already before Thanksgiving this season. A flat-footed Lions offense got punched in the mouth and never found its footing. The Eagles defense smothered Jared Goff, choked off the passing game, and closed every running lane as the offensive line was overwhelmed and receivers were blanketed. It was the same painful script the Lions saw against the Packers and Vikings, not something they dealt with last season.
The Eagles’ front, much like those Packers’ and Vikings’ units, nearly won the game by itself by putting Detroit’s offense in a straitjacket.
On the road, against a team that is 24-3 in their last 27 games, Dan Campbell didn’t have the offense ready for the environment; they failed to adjust, and he made a few questionable decisions while juggling head-coaching and play-calling duties. The “gotta have it” moments weren’t there either. At this point, the idea of “just one of those games” is losing meaning—the problems are popping up too often, and the root cause looks familiar.
Last year, Detroit had several impressive comebacks—including against two tough defenses in Houston and Minnesota—but this season they haven’t looked composed or adaptable when chasing points. Once the offense appears to be dead on arrival a few drives in, it’s been a Shane “Footsteps” Falco quicksand effect. This group has proven they can’t overcome early offensive deficiencies or play one-dimensionally.
The Lions defense kept them in this game, their third loss in five games, but the offense was never able to capitalize, even with Vic Fangio and the Eagles defense preparing on a slightly short week, and for that they’re tagged with a bevy of stock down reports.
Stock down: Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR
The Lions opened with a play-action rollout to St. Brown, and he later ripped off a 34-yard catch—tied for his longest of the season—on a well-timed insert-motion play-action shot. Outside of those two grabs and a handful of quality blocks (including a key one on Jahmyr Gibbs’ 42-yard screen), it was an unusually unimpressive and inefficient outing for Detroit’s most reliable receiver.
St. Brown tied for the eighth-most targets of his career (12), yet came away with just two catches. He has 30 career games with at least 10 targets, and he’s recorded six or more receptions in 29 of them. Against Philadelphia, he was targeted on seven of Detroit’s 18 third- or fourth-down attempts—all incompletions—and saw seven targets in the second half alone without a single grab. For an offense gasping for any spark, he wasn’t able to pull them out of the spiral.
Not every miss was his responsibility—several were off-target throws from Goff, and the pass protection collapsed repeatedly. But a few were makeable, especially on money downs, where Detroit desperately needed him to win. The Lions gave St. Brown frequent free releases using “cheat” (outward) and “short” (inward) motions, yet he struggled against Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and, most disappointingly, the much-maligned Adoree’ Jackson. In the second half...
