The Dallas Cowboys travel to play the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football. We asked five questions about the Lions and got five answers from our friends over at Pride of Detroit.
Blogging The Boys: With the Lions struggling over the last few weeks, what are the main things that have been going wrong? Is it a serious issue, or just a bad run of games?
Pride of Detroit: In an effort to respect the time of your readers, let me keep this brief: a lot has gone wrong this season for this football team.
On offense, the Lions hired John Morton to be the team’s offensive coordinator. It was a rocky start to the season, but there were signs of growth through the first half of the season. Detroit had big offensive performances against Chicago (52 points), Baltimore (38), Cleveland (34), and Cincinnati (37). But after that, the Lions offense really struggled with getting drives off the ground, there were a lot of three-and-outs. When Detroit’s defense forced a turnover or put the offense into good field position, the offense failed to be opportunistic, sometimes failing to turn plus-field position into any sort of points.
Dan Campbell took over play-calling duties in Week 10 and the Lions put up 44 points against the Washington Commander. But then they managed just nine points against the Philadelphia Eagles the week after, failing to convert on all five of their fourth-down attempts. Then it happened again against the Green Bay Packers last week, 0-for on fourth down attempts.
For the defense, the disconnect between the pass rush and the coverage on the backend has created a disjointed and susceptible group. Despite holding up well in run defense over the course of the season (7th in rush defense DVOA), a team that runs as much man coverage as the Lions has not been able to hold up long enough in coverage with the pass rush providing the slowest time to pressure (2.92) in the NFL.
BTB: Jahmyr Gibbs is the truth. Tell us about him and how the Lions like to use him.
POD: Weeks ago, I described Jahmyr Gibbs as “Barry-esque” and it isn’t hyperbole. The beginning of my Lions fandom started in 1997, albeit at the tail-end of Barry Sanders’ career, but even to a seven-year-old kid, the magic of what Sanders did with the ball in his hands was evident. Even those plays of negative yardage from Barry were appointment television, and funnily enough, Gibbs had a few of those plays on Thanksgiving against the Packers–trying to make defenders miss in the backfield and turn something out of nothing.
But Gibbs’ elite trait is that he has the chance to turn any run into six. He doesn’t need to get to the edge, he doesn’t need perfect blocking, he just needs a sliver of daylight and it could be a touchdown before you know it. It’s become commonplace to see offensive linemen throw up their hands and signal a touchdown before Gibbs even reaches the third line of defense.
Detroit will use him in a variety of ways: he carries the ball on both zone and gap calls, he catches the ball out of the backfield on screens or used as a checkdown option if Goff bails on a play, and he’ll even line up out wide in certain sets and formations. He’s about as versatile as it gets when it comes to the running back position.
BTB: What’s the ideal formula for the Lions when they are playing their best?
POD: Running the football effectively to set up third-and-manageable is critical for this offense to be at its best. When this offense falls behind the sticks, it spells disaster–they’ve really struggled to convert on third-and-long. Goff is extremely effective when running play action: fourth in yards per attempt (9.6), fifth in passer rating (124.8), and third in touchdown passes (9). Now, the problem with getting Goff into play action is he’s facing the second-highest pressure rate (24.4% of dropbacks) of his career, second only to his 2021 season in Detroit (24.6%).
The defense is so hyper-committed to stopping the run, it’s essential they get opposing offenses into third-and-distance. When the Lions’ defense is at its best, it’s generating pressure that envelops the quarterback while the backend holds up in coverage. That sort of marriage between pass rush and coverage creates the possibility for turnovers, but that’s something that’s been missing over the last couple of months–after forcing nine turnovers in their first five games, Detroit’s forced just four turnovers over their last seven games. If the Lions can limit Javonte Williams’ effectiveness on early downs and actually create pressure that affects Dak Prescott, they’ll have a chance at winning this one.
BTB: Give us some players who seem to be on the verge of breaking out that we might not know so well.
POD: I’ve been doing this five questions series for three seasons now, and I’ve always had an answer for any question a writer has thrown my way, so today’s a first: I’ve got no one. Maybe Isaac TeSlaa? He’s the Lions’ rookie wide receiver who the team moved up to draft in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He caught both of his targets last week, including a 17-yard touchdown pass after the Lions lost Amon-Ra St. Brown to an injury early in the game. But even with TeSlaa’s uptick in playing time over recent weeks, he hasn’t really been able to stack productive performances in a “on the verge of breaking out” way.
BTB: How does the game go on Thursday night and what is the final score?
POD: Well, the vibes couldn’t possibly be lower for this Lions team. Over the past week, they’ve had Frank Ragnow, their former All-Pro center, unretire and then fail a physical three days later, preventing him from rejoining a team that’s main problem on offense is pass protection up the middle. It’s not like the Cowboys have any players capable of causing havoc up the middle…
We also learned Kerby Joseph has a knee injury that will plague him for the rest of his career–and keep him out of his seventh straight game on Thursday–and Terrion Arnold, one of the Lions starting outside cornerbacks, was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Think the Cowboys win this one handedly, 35-24, ostensibly ending the Lions’ season before Santa’s jolly self can stuff his way down the chimney and hijack our family time with Netflix football.
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