FIRST DOWN: OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
All three phases get credit for Detroit’s 52-14 win over Tennessee Sunday afternoon that improved their record to 6-1 to start the season. Two big special teams returns and four takeaways set up the offense with short fields in Tennessee territory, and Ben Johnson and Co. capitalized, going 5-for-5 in the red zone.
The 52 points scored are tied for the second most in franchise history. Over their last four games, Detroit’s scored 172 points and 22 touchdowns. This marks the most points and touchdowns they’ve ever scored in any four-game span in a single season.
Six different players – David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Brock Wright, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and Kalif Raymond – scored an offensive touchdown for Detroit against the Titans, with Raymond finding the end zone twice thanks to a 90-yard punt return touchdown.
Detroit came in ranked No. 2 in total offense and third in scoring. They were also top five in both passing offense, rushing and third-down efficiency.
“(We) got Ben (Johnson), he can draw up anything for anybody,” Raymond said after the game. “He puts us in the best position every week. It’s so cool. We talk about something over and over during the week on coverages and what we’re expecting, and we get to the game and it’s exactly what he said it was going to be and he’s set up things from two weeks prior. It’s really cool to play on this team and to play for somebody like that who is so detailed and so innovative.”
SECOND DOWN: SPECIAL TEAMS IMPACT
Dan Campbell values special teams and the importance they have on wins and losses on gamedays. He dedicates a lot of practice time to them and some of Detroit’s top players also play teams.
Those units had a big impact on Detroit’s win Sunday.
Raymond had a career day with 190 total punt return yards, including his second career touchdown, a 90-yarder in the third quarter that tied for the second longest punt return touchdown in franchise history and longest in a home game since 1963. He was just 18 yards short of the NFL record for punt return yards in a game set by LeRoy Irvin (207) in 1981.
His 64-yard punt return in the second quarter down to the Tennessee 22-yard line set up a Lions touchdown. Raymond also had a 7-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, becoming the first player in team history to have a punt return touchdown and receiving touchdown in the same game.
Detroit also got a 72-yard kickoff return from Khalil Dorsey down to the Titans’ 25-yard line that set up Detroit’s third touchdown of the afternoon. Kicker Jake Bates made a 51-yard field goal and was 7-for-7 kicking extra points. Punter Jack Fox averaged 61.0 yards on five punts with a net average of 56.2. It was about as perfect a special teams performance as a team can have.
THIRD DOWN: DEFENSIVE TAKEAWAYS
The most important statistic in football is turnovers and one area where Detroit’s been pretty good on defense all year is creating takeaways. They had 11 going into Sunday, which ranked in the top 10 in the NFL.
Add four more to the total after recording two interceptions (linebacker Trevor Nowaske & safety Kerby Joseph) and two fumble recoveries (cornerback Carlton Davis III & defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas) on Sunday to make it 10 takeaways in their last three games. Cornerback Amik Robertson forced both fumbles.
“We emphasize it,” Campbell said. “Every day (at practice) we do a takeaways circuit. No different than we do ball security on offense. That’s how we start once we’re out of warmup. When you emphasize it, you try to take it as serious as you can. They need to be like game reps.”
Campbell said takeaways can be contagious and we’re seeing that now with this defense. Three of the four takeaways Sunday led to Lions touchdowns.
Joseph’s interception was a team-leading fifth this season. He’s the first Lions safety to record five interceptions in a season since Glover Quin in 2014. He now has 13 career interceptions through the first three seasons of his career, tied for the third most by a Lions player since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger.
A couple weeks ago Campbell talked about Gibbs being really close to breaking a big run. Gibbs made Campbell look like a prophet by breaking a 45-yard touchdown and finishing with 116 yards in a win over the Vikings last week.
Fast forward one week and it seems like big runs have just become the norm for Gibbs now. Detroit’s fourth offensive possession of the game started with a handoff to Gibbs and he did the rest, reaching over 22 miles per hour down the left sideline for a 70-yard touchdown, the longest run of his career. Gibbs paced a Lions’ rushing offense that totaled 164 yards by rushing for 127 yards on 11 carries (11.5 avg.) with the one touchdown.
Gibbs now has 591 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on the season and is averaging a ridiculous 6.4 yards per carry.
He’s just the fourth player in league history to average at least 5.0 yards per carry (10 attempt minimum) in six straight games, joining Adrian Peterson (2012), Chris Johnson (2009) and Franco Harris (1972).
Detroit came into the game averaging 155.5 rushing yards per game, and for the first time since 1936 have rushed for 100-plus yards and a rushing touchdown in each of the first seven games of a season.
