Four Downs: Jared Goff doesn’t have enough to overcome Lions’ roster deficiencies

First down

You’ve heard Lions coach Dan Campbell mention his team’s razor-thin margin of error several times through his inaugural season helming the franchise. That’s easy-to-decipher code for the roster not having enough talent and experience to overcome its mistakes.

And while there are plenty of examples of that margin of error coming into play this season, this game against the Rams epitomized it. Just think about how much went right for the team in this matchup. Surprise onside kick? Recovered. Two fake punts? Both converted. These wild, out-of-the-box risks all paid off, but in the end, it still wasn’t good enough.

After the game, Campbell talked about one too many mistakes, but the game really came down to a handful of errors that didn’t go quite right, with the biggest being Jared Goff’s red-zone interception late in the fourth quarter.

But there was Goff and running back D’Andre Swift not being on the same page on a third-down route that went incomplete spoiling a likely touchdown, and a blown coverage on a Rams’ third down that saw Matthew Stafford hit Cooper Kupp for a 59-yard gain at the end of the third quarter, leading to the go-ahead touchdown.

All added up, it was enough for the Rams to close the gap, despite the Lions being rewarded for throwing caution to the wind all afternoon.

Obviously, Detroit’s margin for error isn’t going to change any time soon, but you have to imagine that’s a weighty thing for Goff to shoulder, knowing he has to essentially be perfect if the Lions are going to win.

I asked him about it after the game, and after a lengthy pause to gather his thoughts, he wisely chose the diplomatic response.

“You know, I love our guys,” Goff said. “And I think that’s like the No. 1 thing is our coaches and our guys in that locker room. I don’t care what you guys say about the roster, we’ve got dudes who fight and that’s all I can really ask for. I love these guys and we’re gonna keep fighting ’til the end.

“You guys have seen it week after week,” Goff said. “We fight. We battle. We played to the best of our ability and unfortunately it hasn’t been enough. We need to do things to fix it, but there’s always pressure and, you know, that margin for error that (Campbell) talks about is just — that’s where we’re at and that’s what we’re tasked with, but I wouldn’t do it with anyone else other than that locker room.”

Yeah, the Lions fight. They fought in this one, and even though they lost to a clearly superior opponent, it felt like they had the Rams on the ropes, scrambling at times.

But I can’t help but think back to a common discussion point when Stafford was here, that there was this underlying sense many of his mistakes were the result of trying to do too much, attempting to carry an inferior roster.

If there was any truth to that idea then, it’s even more true now. Goff has even less to work with, particularly at receiver. Near perfection is the unrealistic expectation, and he’s not the type of quarterback capable of routinely throwing the team on his back and making the improbable throws to carry the roster across the finish line.

Instead, the scouting report on Goff is he’s generally conservative with the propensity for at least one big mistake. That mistake came in the most critical of moments against the Rams, late in the game, when the Lions had a chance to take the lead.

It’s an unfortunate reality, but one Lions fans will have to continue to cope with until they build a better roster around Goff, upgrade at QB, or, the most likely scenario, try to do both.

Second down

After a predictable rough patch, given his age, rookie offensive tackle Penei Sewell appears to be back on the upswing. After a solid game against the Cincinnati Bengals last week — one that might have looked worse than it was because Goff was holding the ball too long trying to do too much — Sewell delivered what appeared to be his best performance of his debut season Sunday.

If there’s one play that properly exhibits Sewell’s rare athleticism and power, the traits that have the Lions projecting him as a Pro Bowl-caliber talent, it was a fourth-quarter, third-down draw to Swift.

On the snap, Sewell gave a powerful shove to the edge defender, driving him well wide of the pocket as Goff handed the ball off to the dynamic back. Immediately after that initial block, Sewell turned and located a hard-charging linebacker who had diagnosed the play and drove that defender out of the run lane, as well.

That cleared the path for Swift to get to the second level, where he picked up another perimeter block from receiver KhaDarel Hodge and danced his way to the unlikely first-down conversion.

After an early holding penalty, Sewell rebounded with an overall dominant run-blocking performance, while also doing a solid job in pass protection against a talented and aggressive Rams front, limiting their edge rushers to a pair of hurries and nothing else.

There’s plenty of reason to believe there will continue to be ups and downs this year for the rookie, given the continued adjustments to NFL talent who challenge his technique, but it’s been an unquestioned positive to see Sewell respond well to some recent struggles.

Third down

Another young player who delivered his best performance against the Rams was edge rusher Julian Okwara. Playing the most snaps (35) and highest playtime percentage (53.8%) of his career, the second-year edge rusher had an impactful day, generating a sack, a couple more quarterback pressures, three total tackles and a critical pass breakup on fourth down when asked to drop into coverage.

Okwara clearly is still a work in progress. He plays a little frantic at times, with a lot of wasted movement as he continues working toward refining his technique. But his combination of length and burst are proving more and more problematic for blockers as he gets more comfortable with his role.

Right now, Trey Flowers is hurting. Fans don’t want to hear excuses for one of the highest-paid players on the roster, but the amount of pain he’s pushing through with his knee injury is worthy of praise. He’s doing all he can to lead this young group, despite being hobbled, because he’s needed.

But with Okwara slowly emerging from the cocoon of development, maybe it’s time to slide some of Flowers’ snaps to the youngster. One, because it will ease the burden on Flowers’ knees, and two, because Okwara should be a key piece to the rotation next season, while Flowers’ contract makes him a likely cap casualty.

That might lead to some struggles in the run game, where Okwara can’t match Flowers’ technical proficiency or lower-body strength setting an edge, but that too can be a valuable learning experience to remind Okwara where he needs to get better to be fully effective in his role.

Fourth down 

Finally, allow me to steer a little attention away from Sunday’s game to earlier in the weekend, when Lions general manager Brad Holmes reportedly made a pitstop at the Rose Bowl to check out Oregon vs. UCLA on Saturday.

And while there are probably several NFL prospects between the two rosters, none matter more than Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, who is the consensus choice to the No. 1 player in the upcoming draft.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound junior hardly disappointed in his audition, racking up 10 quarterback pressures and two sacks in the victory.

Who knows where the Lions will end up in the draft order, but the winless franchise currently holds that No. 1 spot, and if they finish there, it’s going to be tough to pass on Thibodeaux.

Relating that back to Sunday, and really the past three years, the Lions simply don’t have enough juice on the edge. Okwara and Charles Harris combined for four pressures and the sack, but that was all despite Stafford dropping back to pass 46 times. The Rams quarterback had far too many clean pockets and it played a big role in the team’s success on third down, where they converted 9-of-13.

Detroit has some truly promising pieces on defense, at all levels, but Thibodeaux has the potential to be a transformative piece for the young unit, widening the roster’s overall margin of error significantly.

 jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers