Motor City Bulletin: Week 6-7

We’re right around the halfway point between Weeks 6 and 7, and it’s time for my first Motor City Bulletin for Pro Football Press! This series will serve as a closing of the book on the previous week, and an early look forward to the next matchup for the Lions. In this edition, we’ll look at some comments after the Lions’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, as well as some comments from both the Lions and Rams sides of things as their Week 7 matchup approaches. We’ll wrap up with a very brief look at where the Lions and Rams are in the standings and a small discussion about the very obvious storyline surrounding this game. Let’s begin.

Closing The Book On Week 6

Photo Credit: Getty Images

As I mentioned in my Lions-Bengals review, frustration was apparent everywhere in the Motor City on Sunday. It was especially clear in Dan Campbell‘s post-game press conference. Speaking regarding starting quarterback Jared Goff, Campbell said, “I feel like he needs to step up more than he has. And I think he needs to help us, just like everybody else.” This is more of the now-familiar Dan Campbell brand of transparency we’ve seen since the day they hired him. Mixed in was that frustration I was talking about.

“We got whipped,” Campbell said to open his presser. “That was a beatdown,” Campbell admitted to being angry after seeing the performance. “That team is not thirty-something points better than us… we weren’t even in that fight. You look at our stats offensively, it’s because they were in Prevent Cover 2.” This version of coach Campbell comes in stark contrast to the version we saw last week in Minnesota with tears in his eyes after another heartbreaking loss. And yet, in the same vein, it’s not too different from that version of the head coach: he showed emotion. He showed, unlike past head coaches, that he cares.

After a day to clear his head, coach Campbell highlighted a bright spot to open his Monday presser. “I thought that one of the bright spots for us yesterday was that our defense, in the first half, was the most efficient we had played all year,” he said. “We just needed more of that in the second half.” Campbell said Sunday that he had “a million” ideas in his head on how to improve the team, but was vague about what exactly would change. He did mention that he liked the Lions’ offense while they were in a two-minute drill. And that while he thinks “there’s a place to huddle,” he may like to see them call everything at the line. “You gotta keep tinkering with it, and explore some of the things you haven’t done yet.”

When asked what the Lions’ offense has done well thus far, Campbell was blunt with his answer: “Not much.”

If you’d like to hear coach Campbell for yourself, you can watch Sunday’s presser here (starts at 13:50), and Monday’s here.

Looking Ahead To Week 7

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya

This upcoming game against the Los Angeles Rams is interesting for multiple reasons. We’ll get to the main storyline later on, but there is still a lot of interesting bits here. Detroit’s GM Brad Holmes and assistant GM Ray Agnew were with the Rams before coming to Detroit. Defensive lineman Michael Brockers is returning to LA for the first time since they traded him this past offseason. And Brockers is already focusing on this game following the loss to the Bengals.

“We’ve had some bad losses, and some losses where we barely lost,” he told the media on Monday. “One thing I know about this game, whoever is the most focused team, the team that executes the most, usually comes out to win on Sunday.”

When asked directly about his past with the Rams, the veteran defensive lineman didn’t give it much weight. “Yes, I do have a lot of ex-teammates on that team, and a lot of good friends. You know, there was no love lost between me and the Rams when I left. It’s understanding that I made a pro decision, and I came here, and we just gotta move forward.”

Shifting gears, coach Campbell mentioned on Monday a few players that he felt were coming into their own. He mentioned rookie corner Jerry Jacobs, who covered Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase on Sunday. “Jerry’s getting better. Jerry is improving, and he’s competitive, he plays hard, and he communicates well. We like where he’s going, and he’s only going to get better with reps.” Campbell also went on to mention how he saw improvement from guys such as rookie defensive tackle Alim McNeill, rookie linebacker Derrick Barnes, veteran defenders Austin Bryant and Tracy Walker, and second-year guard Jonah Jackson.

The Quarterbacks

Photo Credit: Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images
The Game

I’ve avoided the main storyline up until this point, but it’s time to talk about the quarterbacks. This game will be the first time that longtime Lions starter Matthew Stafford and longtime Rams starter Jared Goff will face their former clubs since the trade. And the way this season has unfolded for these two couldn’t be more opposite.

Goff has thrown for 1505 yards in six games this season, with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. His longest pass from scrimmage was a 46-yard pass to Quintez Cephus during the Lions’ Week 2 matchup. In these last two games, Goff has barely thrown for over 200 yards. It hasn’t worked out for him in the Motor City, and there is little hope that things will get better. Goff, like the Lions, is in something of a slump.

For Stafford, it’s been a much different story. He’s coming off a four-touchdown performance in a rout of the New York Giants. Stafford has thrown for 1838 yards, 16 touchdowns, and four picks. He currently sits with a 116.6 passer rating, which would easily be a career-high. Stafford helped lead the Rams to a 5-1 record, his only loss coming to the undefeated Arizona Cardinals. He went toe to toe with and defeated legendary signal-caller Tom Brady for the second time in his career. The Rams are one of the best teams in all of football, and they look like Super Bowl contenders.

Stafford also downplayed this matchup. “In pregame, am I going to be saying hey to some old teammates and friends, the Ford family, hopefully, if they make the trip? Absolutely,” Stafford said. “I’ve got nothing but great relationships with people over there, so have a lot of respect for the organization, the team, the ownership. It will be just another football game once the ball is snapped.”

Goff offered much of the same. “Pregame may be different emotionally, seeing some of these guys, old teammates, old coaches. But once the game starts, it’s all the same,” he said on 97.1 The Ticket. “It really is. We’re so focused on our own stuff right now, we’ve got so many things to worry about cleaning up and getting right and making it work on Sundays, that I don’t think me being selfish and making it more than it is will help us in any way.”

Campbell did acknowledge that these types of media storylines can add pressure on players’ shoulders, and it’s something he’s empathetic to. “As it pertains to this week, I think it’s really how do we give him the best plan possible to have success?” Campbell said. “I would do that with anybody, not just him. Shoot, I remember, last year, it was the Tom Brady and Drew Brees deal. You don’t think a lot about it, but those two guys going at it, that was all that was being pushed that week. It was a huge story and sometimes you take it for granted, the amount of pressure that those guys are under to perform.

“I know this is a little different, but in the same regard, I know it will be a big story,” Campbell said. “So how do we calm it down, just to where he can go and play fast and efficient? And us help him offensively — run game-wise, play action, anything that we can do that’s going to take a little bit off and help him play fast.”

The Trade

Monday saw Rams head coach Sean McVay revisit his handling of the trade that saw these teams swap signal-callers. “Yes, I wish there was better, clearer communication,” McVay told the media. “To say that it was perfectly handled on my end, I wouldn’t be totally accurate in that. I’ll never claim to be perfect, but I will try to learn from some things that I can do better, and I think that was one of them without a doubt.”

In the trade’s aftermath, Goff told the LA Times he hadn’t talked to the Rams since their season ended against the Green Bay in the playoffs. The trade left him “disappointed and upset.” Eventually, he grew to like the idea of playing in the Motor City. “Talking to the Lions,” Goff said, “is what made me go, ‘oh my God, this is how it’s supposed to feel. This makes me feel great,’ how excited they were, how fired up they were.”

Goff went back on 97.1 The Ticket on Tuesday and was asked if McVay’s comments meant anything to him. “I mean, yeah, that’s good to hear, of course. That’s good to hear,” Goff said Tuesday on the Karsch & Anderson Show. “But at the same time, it was handled the way it was and there’s really not many hard feelings. It’s just the way the business is. We’ve had our talks obviously since the trade, back when it happened, but it’s alright. I mean, I appreciate him saying that, but it was handled the way it was.”

With or without this storyline, the Lions will be looking for their first win without Matthew Stafford since 2011. They are 0-14 in that stretch. To close this out, here is where the Lions and Rams are in the standings. Let’s look to see if the outcome of this game changes their divisional standing.

Standings

Detroit Lions: 0-6, 4th in NFC North. A win or loss doesn’t change their standing in the NFC North. The Vikings and Bears both have three wins, so they’re not losing ground to a one-win Lions team or a still winless Lions team.

Los Angeles Rams: 5-1, 2nd in NFC West. A win or loss won’t change their standing in the NFC West, even if the Cardinals lose to the 49ers. The Cardinals have a better head-to-head record, and therefore will retain first place even with a loss.

Featured Photo Credit: Daniel Mears/Detroit News

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The Kneecap Recap: Lions-Bengals Review

Following their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars win over the Miami Dolphins in London, the Detroit Lions are now the lone winless team in the NFL this season. And unlike their losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings, they never had a chance. The Lions fell to the Bengals 34-11 Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, in a display that will not be fondly remembered. In my first edition of The Kneecap Recap, I’d like to look at where this game puts each team in the standings at the time of this writing, a few top performers for both teams, a big takeaway from both teams, before giving an overall closing thought.

Standings

Detroit Lions: 0-6, 4th in NFC North (next week: @ LA Rams)

Cincinnati Bengals: 4-2, 2nd in AFC North (next week: @ Ravens)

Top Performers

Detroit Lions: QB Jared Goff (28/42, 202 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT), RB D’Andre Swift (67 total yards, 1 rush TD), TE T.J. Hockenson (8 catches, 74 yards)

Cincinnati Bengals: QB Joe Burrow (19/29, 271 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT), RB Joe Mixon (153 total yards, 1 rec. TD), WR Ja’Marr Chase (4 catches, 97 yards)

Lions Takeaway: Frustration Abounds

Photo Credit: Kirthmon F. Dozier/Detroit Free Press

In my Lions-Bengals preview, I said that the fight that this Lions team had would prevent them from being well and truly blown out. In actuality, there wasn’t much fight from this Lions team. They replaced their fight with something else: frustration. The Detroit Lions were frustrated today, and it was clear no matter where you looked. Anytime the FOX NFL cameras focused on head coach Dan Campbell, you could see it in his expression. When you saw the Lions’ offense stall out, you could see it in their body language. Hell, anytime the cameras focused on the fans, you could see it on their faces.

And I guess I should have seen it coming. If there’s any team in the NFL you’d expect to be frustrated, it’d have to be the Detroit Lions. After all, what team wouldn’t carry some frustration with them after losing twice in three weeks on last-second 50+ yard field goals, one of which was an NFL record? Today, it just seemed like the team couldn’t bottle it up any longer. They wore their frustration on their faces, in the way they carried themselves, but they didn’t channel it into their play. And as a result, they got blown out.

Ultimately, this loss comes down to their failure to execute once again. They were consistent today, which may be a first, but they were consistently bad. They failed to execute on offense most of the game, until offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn just said to hell with it and instructed his receivers to run five-yard routes for most of the second half. And even, the offense struggled to execute much of anything. The defense, while better than the offense, eventually broke down, allowing the game to get away.

Bengals Takeaway: Exactly What They Needed

Photo Credit: David Reginek/USA TODAY Sports

This may sound like I’m down on the Bengals or their performance, but I assure you I’m not. It sounds boring to say, but this is exactly what this team needed all around. After narrowly escaping a then-winless-Jaguars team and losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Green Bay Packers, this kind of win is what the Bengals needed. They were strong on both sides of the ball and never took their foot off the gas. Unlike the Packers, who trailed at half to this same Lions team, they were never in danger of losing.

In my preview, I said the biggest mistake the Bengals could make was underestimating this Lions team. And it seems like they agreed. Taking a 10-0 lead into the half, the Bengals poured it on in the second half, scoring 24 total points to secure the win. Even when head coach Zac Taylor sat Burrow and had Brandon Allen under center, they kept pushing. And it was Allen’s TD pass to wideout Auden Tate that kept the Lions and their fans from having delusions of a comeback.

This is what good teams do. Good teams should be able to face a team like the Lions and win comfortably. And that’s exactly what the Bengals did. They have a huge test next week against the Ravens, but they’ll celebrate this one tonight.

Closing Thoughts

Photo Credit: Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

I am not under any delusions of this actually happening. I don’t believe it’s even under consideration. And I really don’t want this to appear as me jumping on the bandwagon. However, as I sat back at halftime and I considered Jared Goff’s 38-yard first-half performance, I wondered what it is the Lions coaching staff sees in Goff that they don’t see in backup David Blough. He certainly won’t light the world on fire, but I feel confident that Blough will at least see open receivers and/or feel confident enough to throw further than five yards down the field more than once per game.

The Lions are on the road next week to face their greatest quarterback in franchise history. A man who’s thriving with the Los Angeles Rams in a way he never was given a chance to in Detroit. I’ll obviously have clearer thoughts about the Matthew Stafford Derby, if I may borrow a soccer term, later on in the week when it comes time for the preview. However, I don’t see an outcome that doesn’t involve Stafford unleashing years of frustration with this organization onto their defense.

I’ll see you all later this week for The Hunt For Kneecaps Preview.

Featured Photo Credit: Daniel Mears/Detroit News

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The Hunt For Kneecaps: Lions-Bengals Preview

The Detroit Lions are still looking for their first taste of sweet, sweet kneecap this season, and will welcome the Cincinnati Bengals to Ford Field on Sunday. This is the first meeting between the two teams since Christmas Eve 2017 when the Bengals came out on top 26-17 in Cincy. If the Lions were to win on Sunday, it’d be their first victory over the Bengals since 1992, according to The Football Database. Let’s look at their place in the standings, the injury reports, and what exactly each team needs to do in order to pull out the win. And I will give a game prediction at the end of the piece. Let’s get started.

Standings

Detroit Lions: 0-5, 4th in NFC North (last game: L @ Vikings)

Cincinnati Bengals: 3-2, T-2nd in AFC North (last game: OT L vs. Packers)

Injury Report

Detroit Lions: LB Trey Flowers (knee, questionable), TE TJ Hockenson (knee, questionable), RB D’Andre Swift (groin, questionable), RB Jamaal Williams (hip/illness, questionable)

Cincinnati Bengals: G D’Ante Smith (knee, out), WR Mike Thomas (ankle, questionable), G Jackson Carman (not injury related, questionable), HB Joe Mixon (ankle, questionable)

Lions Gameplan: Execute and Execute Consistently

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Duane Burleson

It seems like the easiest thing in the world in discussing how this Lions team can win any game. And yet, Detroit has had serious issues with executing their game plan. A lot of this is because of their injury issues. Besides losing defensive back Jeff Okudah during their Week 1 loss to San Francisco, the Lions have also lost center Frank Ragnow (toe), wide receiver Quintez Cephus (shoulder), and pass rusher Romeo Okwara (Achilles) for the season. Starting kick returner Corey Ballentine is on injured reserve as well.

The Lions are going into this game with a lot of injury issues, but they cannot allow that to hinder them. They have to execute on both sides of the ball if they want to have a chance of winning this game. They’ve shown that they can put together scoring drives this season. This leads me to my next point: they cannot be wildly inconsistent in this game. The Lions haven’t played a good game of football this season.

They’ve had great stretches in a single quarter or half, but they’ve yet to put it all together for 60 full minutes. The closest they’ve gotten was last week against Minnesota. The defense played well enough to keep them in it, but the offense didn’t really show until the dying embers of the game. Even when the offense finally showed up, the defense disappeared, and the Lions lost once again on a last-second field goal. If the Lions can consistently execute their plays on both sides of the ball, they’ll give themselves the best chance to win.

The one player who absolutely needs to be better is quarterback Jared Goff. Yes, he has a makeshift wide receiver core and an offensive line missing key pieces. However, he isn’t guilt-free. He needs to trust himself to throw the ball further than five yards. If he sees an open receiver deep down the field, he needs to trust his arm and his receiver to make the play.

Bengals Gameplan: Don’t Underestimate The Lions

Photo Credit: Kareem Elgazzar/Cincinnati Enquirer

I might underestimate the Lions in my own right, which is weird as a Lions fan, but this is the one mistake I think the Bengals could make that would be costly. The Lions are not a good football team, that much is established. However, the Bengals have been in a similar situation this season. They faced the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also winless, two weeks ago at home. And it was a game in which the Bengals barely escaped with a win.

It’s not like the Jags played super well. Signal caller Trevor Lawrence barely threw over 200 yards. Wideout Laviska Shenault Jr had 99 yards receiving, but 52 of them came on one play. The Jags’ defense had one sack and two tackles for a loss and didn’t force a single turnover. Despite all of this, Jacksonville led 14-0 at the half and took a 21-14 lead in the fourth quarter. The Bengals needed a last-second kick from rookie kicker Evan McPherson to snatch victory away from Urban Meyer.

This isn’t to say the Bengals are a poor team because they aren’t. I’m saying that the Bengals played down to the Jaguars, despite the result. They cannot afford to do the same to this Lions team. This might be my bias as a Lions fan speaking, but I believe the Lions are better than the Jaguars. They certainly have more fight in them than Jacksonville does. Cincinnati should not give the Lions a chance in this game as they did with the Jags.

For Cincinnati, they should look to the Joe Burrow-to-Ja’Marr Chase connection all game long. Justin Jefferson burned the Lions last week, and there’s no reason to believe that the 5th overall pick in April’s draft shouldn’t do the same. This connection has worked all season, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Prediction

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Emilee Chinn

I apologize, fellow Lions fans, but I cannot see them winning their first game this Sunday. While Cincinnati played down to Jacksonville, they went toe to toe with the Green Bay Packers. If it wasn’t for the most bizarre kicking sequence in recent NFL history, the Bengals would be 4-1. And I just don’t see the Lions putting it all together to beat this team. However, the Lions will fight like they always do, so I don’t believe they’ll be completely blown out.

Prediction: Bengals def. Lions 24-14

Photo Credit: Quinn Harris/USA Today Sports

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