Pride of Detroit
Detroit’s offense got back on track this week in a historic way. That and more in this week’s look at advanced key statistics from Lions-Jaguars.
Perfection is something we all might strive for in one way or another, but it can take people years—even a lifetime—to reach that condition or state of flawlessness. For offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, quarterback Jared Goff, and the rest of the Detroit Lions offense, it only took until Week 11 to play some perfect football.
As we’ll do every week throughout the season for this Detroit Lions team, we have some data we can comb through courtesy of various outlets that better helps us understand the football the Lions have played thus far—and what to look forward to in the coming weeks. Let’s take a closer look at the Lions by the numbers after their historic beatdown of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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We’ll have plenty of time to highlight all of the great things done on offense, but first, let’s continue to appreciate the player Jack Campbell is becoming in the middle of Detroit’s defense. For the second week in a row, the Lions defense absolutely shut down their opponent’s run game, and Campbell played a pivotal role in that respect.
The Jaguars ran the ball 17 times for just 41 yards with their running backs accounting for 2.1 yards per carry. Campbell recorded three run defense stops across 16 of the Jaguars’ 17 rushing attempts, posting a 18.8% run defense stop rate which ranked third among 54 qualifying linebackers in Week 11.
One last note about the defense before we move along to the other side of the ball. Za’Darius Smith, the newcomer to Detroit’s defensive line, had a productive afternoon in his first bit of action with his new team. Smith played 77% of defensive snaps in this game but to no one’s surprise, was mostly used as a pass rusher, playing 26 of his 37 total snaps against the pass. He finished ninth among 79 qualifying edge defenders with a 24.0% pass rush win rate according to PFF, recording three pressures and 0.5 sack in his Detroit debut.
It was Jared Goff’s most prolific statistical performance of his Lions career and there’s no arguing that. His 412 passing yards and 158.3 (perfect) passer rating are personal bests for Goff during his time in Detroit, and his +1.09 expected points added per dropback against the Jaguars was not only the best mark for him in 2024, but the best...
