Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions are leaving Baltimore with a convincing 38-30 win over the Ravens in a game that didn’t look as close as the score might indicate. Let’s take a closer look at the Lions’ snap counts to see what we can divulge from their personnel usage that may have led to this impressive showing in Primetime.
Goff only threw for 202 yards and one touchdown in the Lions’ victory, but he didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t take a sack, tipping the odds in Detroit’s favor.
The Lions continue to favor Gibbs in their running back splits, but this was Montgomery’s night to shine. Montgomery had a career night, registering 151 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and a reception for 13 yards—touching the ball on 13 of his 25 snaps. Gibbs also touched the ball on roughly half his snaps, accounting for 67 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and five receptions for 32 yards.
Vaki returned to the lineup after missing the first two weeks with a hamstring injury, but on his seventh special teams snap, he injured his groin and was forced out of the game. Soft tissues often lead to other soft tissue injuries, and if Vaki misses time, the Lions will count themselves lucky to have Reynolds available to them.
These are almost exactly the splits we saw with the Lions receiver group in Week 2 and indicates a clear preference in usage. Williams continues to threaten the defense with deep shots, leading to his high usage, while St. Brown is right behind him, tearing apart secondaries. Raymond also continues to get more usage over TeSlaa, but the rookie is still getting his feet wet in the NFL, and his snaps will likely increase as the year progresses. Lovett’s only snap came during the Lions’ victory formation snap to end the game.
The Lions have used 12 personnel on roughly 30% of their snaps through the first two games, but that number increased to closer to 40% against the Ravens, as the Lions wanted to bully them in the trenches. The Lions’ tight ends played significant roles in the run game, often being asked to block a Ravens edge rusher one-on-one so that the offensive line could execute double teams against the Ravens’ interior.
