Allen Park — Winless through seven games, the most compelling thing to evaluate for the Detroit Lions is the future. So instead of finding a theme for the film review from Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, we thought there would be more interest and value in zeroing in on the performance of Penei Sewell.
It’s unquestionably been an up-and-down year for the rookie offensive tackle. He came out the gates strong against a Pro Bowl edge rusher in Nick Bosa, but stumbled through a rough stretch a few weeks later, which included getting beat for a strip sack back-to-back games.
Overall, Sewell has allowed four sacks and been flagged for six penalties, four of which have been accepted. For context, Taylor Decker, the man Sewell has been filling in for as the blindside blocker this season, allowed two sacks and committed six penalties in 16 games last year. And if you prefer a more apples-to-apples comparison, it was 4.5 sacks and eight penalties in 16 games for Decker as a rookie.
Anyone who thought this was going to be an easy transition for Sewell — who just recently turned 21 and was the youngest player in NFL history to start at game at left tackle — simply weren’t being realistic.
And from the sounds of it, even Sewell was a little caught off-guard by how different this level would be from college, where he dominated week in and week out.
“It’s way different in college,” he said this month. “In college, everybody was just running into you. All you have to do is just hug ’em, basically. But in the league, everybody knows what they’re doing, everyone’s out here and in the NFL, they know that, they’re here for a reason, and everyone gets paid to do this.”
But beyond Sewell’s physical gifts, one of the reasons the Lions were so excited to draft him No. 7 overall in April, was his mentality, the intrinsic drive to be the best. So despite these early bumps in the road, the coaching staff has remained confident he’d turn a corner sooner than later with experience, because of that drive.
And while no conclusions should be drawn from one game, one way or the other, Sunday’s matchup against the Rams did highlight Sewell’s rapid ability to improve and offered a window into his tantalizing future potential.
Against the Rams, Sewell saw a wide variety of blocking assignments, including edge rushers Terrell Lewis and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, as well as bigger-bodied interior linemen such as A’Shawn Robinson and Jonah Williams. There were even a handful of reps against Aaron Donald, who many, myself included, believe is the most dominant defensive player of this generation.
For the sake of organization, we’re going to go through Sewell’s performance possession by possession, highlighting his best blocks and lingering areas of concern.
► Possession 1 (Six plays, 75 yards, touchdown)
It was a relatively quiet series to start for Sewell, but he set the day’s tone on the afternoon’s first snap, getting good push working against Robinson as part of a solid, collective effort by the offensive line on a 6-yard run for Jamaal Williams.
Sewell didn’t really have an impact on the next four snaps, but did a nice job stonewalling Lewis’ inside rush to keep the pass lane clear for Jared Goff to deliver a screen to D’Andre Swift, which the back took 63 yards for a touchdown.
► Possession 2 (10 plays, 35 yards, field goal)
Sewell had a bit of a snafu on the opening snap of this drive, overcommitting on Robinson’s first step and drawing a flag for holding when the defensive lineman abruptly changed directions.
Sewell quietly executed his next couple of assignments away from the play direction before one of his better moments of the day, working a combination block with guard Jonah Jackson on the snap before peeling off and effectively getting to a second-level assignment on a 7-yard run by Swift.
The rookie wasn’t as clean coming off his combo block on the next snap, getting his arm around the neck of a linebacker, but the official missed the hold.
► Possession 3 (Eight plays, 56 yards, field goal)
Again, not the best opening snap as Sewell as he wasn’t able to seal Robinson outside the designed run lane, allowing the lineman to be in on the stop after a short run. But there were no lingering effects from the execution error as Sewell adjusted to his initial assignment dropping in coverage on the next snap and adjusts to help Jackson on a double-team. That kept Goff’s pocket clean as the QB found tight end T.J. Hockenson for a 21-yard gain.
Two plays later, Sewell did a nice job crossing the face of Donald and sealing off the explosive lineman’s backside pursuit as Williams gained 12 yards around the right side.
Toward the end of the drive, Sewell’s technique wasn’t particularly clean. While doubling Donald on one snap, he allowed the defender, with one arm, to prohibit him from breaking off and getting to a second-level block. And on the series’ final play, Sewell again got his arm around the neck of a defender, luckily avoiding another holding infraction as Swift ran for 14 yards on the third-and-17 snap.
► Possession 4 (Three plays, 13 yards, punt)
The Lions went three-and-out after the Rams blew up a couple of screen passes to start the series. Neither of those plays had anything to do with Sewell.
On third-and-14, Goff’s pass to Kalif Raymond came up just short of the conversion, but Sewell impressively got his hands into the chest of Donald and locked him down, frustrating the three-time MVP. That led to some post-play shoving and Sewell didn’t back down.
► Possession 5 (Eight plays, 57 yards, field goal)
In the two-minute drill, Sewell had a strong series keeping the blindside rush at bay. Working mostly against Lewis, Sewell stymied the edge defender’s attempts to use both speed and power, nicely re-anchoring after letting Lewis into his chest on a bull rush.
The most impressive moment for the rookie tackle came when Lewis timed the snap and exploded out of his stance with a quick first step. Sewell remained calm and controlled getting to his spot, recovering in time to shut down the rusher’s attempt to bend the corner.
► Possession 6 (11 plays, 46 yards, turnover on downs)
For the third time in six series, Robinson won the first snap of the drive, leading to a Williams getting tackled for a loss. It’s difficult to say what Sewell was trying to do, because he appeared to be looking elsewhere at the snap and was late to react to Robinson’s penetration.
Three plays later, Sewell had his worst pass-protection snap of the contest. Lewis got another excellent jump, and as Sewell tried to get set, the defender effectively chopped away both of the tackle’s hands to get the edge. Goff escaped the initial pressure, but was eventually dropped for the sack as he scrambled from the pocket.
Sewell settled down nicely after the mistakes and dominated the outside linebacker on the next snap, knocking him to the ground.
At the conclusion of the drive, two failed short-yardage runs, Sewell was impressive. He got excellent push on Donald on third-and-one, knocking the defender to the ground. And on fourth-and-one, Sewell and Jackson absolutely bulldozed the edge, clearing a lane for Swift, who was slowed by poor execution of the play design by rookie tight end Brock Wright, pulling right to left.
► Possession 7 (Six plays, 41 yards, field goal)
This was a quietly effective possession for Sewell, executing a cut block that slowed Donald, as well as stuffed a pair of power rushes from Robinson and another from Lewis.
► Possession 8 (15 plays, 73 yards, interception)
Sewell continued to dominate down the stretch, starting by overwhelming the outside linebacker on the drive’s snap, sealing him inside on a designed play-action rollout.
Three plays later, Sewell impressively executed a quick double-team of Donald before athletically adjusting to pick up and shut down the edge rusher.
Sewell worked a couple more effective doubles against Donald over the next five plays, driving the defender well off his spot with the help of a chip from tight end Darren Fells on one.
After a holding penalty against the Lions, the offense found itself facing third-and-11 and opted to run a draw to Swift running behind Sewell. On the play, the tackle initially ensured the edge rusher went wide with a shove, then quickly turned his attention up field, sealing the linebacker inside to spring Swift for the conversion.
Sewell continued his impressive drive with a powerful inside seal block on a 14-yard Williams run, as well as effectively shutting down Donald one-on-one. The possession ultimately ended with a turnover, when Donald’s pressure led to an interception, but that penetration was surrendered by the right side of Detroit’s line.
► Possession 9 (Four plays, 19 yards, interception)
Down nine points with under a minute to go, the Rams ran a couple of stunts to try and generate pressure on Goff to end the game, but Sewell handled them both. On the final play, the offensive tackle shoved the edge rusher well wide of the pocket, but Goff’s pass to Swift bounced off the target’s hands and was intercepted.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers