Lions vs. Packers: What I learned from film study of Detroit’s big win

Decker stepped back into the lineup at left tackle after missing two weeks with an ankle injury. And while he was clearly not 100 percent, his presence allowed the rest of the line to function better and OC Ben Johnson to be more creative.

It primarily stems from having Penei Sewell back at right tackle and the increased trust Johnson has for the line to execute more advanced concepts. There were pin/pulls, inside powers, heavy pulls–all sorts of run-game variety and advanced blocking concepts that simply cannot be run when reserves are in the game like they’ve been when Decker was out.

I thought it was Graham Glasgow’s best game of the year. I also strongly believe that’s because he had Sewell to his outside shoulder instead of Matt Nelson or Dan Skipper. Decker gutting out a painful injury where he knew he wouldn’t be at his best made all that possible.

As for Decker’s performance, he was clearly limited in his range. I thought he handled power well and turned in a B-level game. That’s a positive given the context of his injury and lack of practice.

There is one really easy lesson to draw from the Lions defense in the last two weeks. When coordinator Aaron Glenn dials up pressure, this Detroit defense is fantastic.

Aidan Hutchinson is the key to it all, but he’s getting a lot more help in the last two games. That’s in no small part because Glenn is allowing Alim McNeill, John Cominsky, Alex Anzalone, Charles Harris, Isaiah Buggs and Derrick Barnes to do more than just “beat your guy one-on-one.”

I focused hard on McNeill. It was hard not to gawk at No. 54 in attack mode. His speed-to-power on the inside was unstoppable against Green Bay. McNeill, Buggs and Cominsky all did a great job at leveraging gaps and splitting between blocks. When they tried twists and loops, they worked very well–just as they did in Week 3.

Anzalone played a great game behind them. He’s at his best when the blockers can’t pay him any mind, and that was the case on Thursday night. Anzalone roaming underneath and cutting off where Jordan Love wanted to either run or go with his safety valve was consistently spot-on. I’m not sure Love had much of an inkling to ever find the safety valve, but Anzalone (and also Jack Campbell at times) were smartly hedging it without overcommitting.

For as dominant as Glenn’s defense can be when they amp up the pressure, they’re really not good when they don’t. That was the first 25 minutes or so of the second half, and it was incredibly frustrating in real-time.

Watching it on film and with hindsight of the outcome, it felt better. Less stressful. And that’s because the plan was to force the Packers to take time to matriculate down the field. Instead of aggressive work up front and more physical man coverage on the outside, both of which suffocated Green Bay in the first half, the Lions deliberately switched to being more passive. However, it wasn’t a prevent defense.

It was a softer, more careful defense. The goal was very clear on the All-22: nobody gets behind you, no matter who you are. Let the Packers catch the ball and then tackle them. No deep shots, no loss of containment, no quick-strike scores.

My takeaway was that the failures and breakdowns that happened in that strategy, and there were not many, were player errors more than schematic issues. It worked a lot better when Brian Branch was in the game. His discipline to execute the plan and not deviate outshone veterans Will Harris and Ifeatu Melifonwu, who occasionally chased the cheese instead of sticking to Operation: Bleed the Clock at safety.

The plan morphed into the clock being the enemy more than Love and the Packers were, and the Lions defense played to win the clock more than stopping the Packers. They did get back to more attacking, more risk-taking once Green Bay crept back and made it a game. The fact Glenn and the players both adapted and reverted to what was working so well prior to being more passive should be seen as a very encouraging development for Detroit.

–Dave Fipp deserves a ton of credit for the Lions’ exceptional punt and kick coverage units. I didn’t see one player lose their containment lane or crease all night, and I looked. Chase Lucas and Jack Campbell were both phenomenal.

–Lucas might never play a snap on defense and he’s good enough on special teams to merit a roster spot. Every rep on Thursday, he was better than the Packer trying to stop him. Not the first game the second-year CB has done that, either.

–We’re going to do more detailed film work on the run game and Jahmyr Gibbs, but other than pass protection, the rookie RB played very well. He’s not running with the balance through contact expected from his collegiate film, but he’s still effective. As for the usage in comparison to David Montgomery, that’s for fantasy football worries and not actual football issues. Montgomery was perfect for attacking the speed-based Packers defense and it was very effective.

–There was one throw from Jared Goff to Josh Reynolds where he had TE Sam LaPorta over the top for a potentially easy touchdown catch-and-run. LaPorta lined up out wide and ran a post that quickly won deep, and it’s a throw Goff can make. He drilled the hook route into Reynolds underneath and moved the sticks.

This felt like one of those instances where Ben Johnson is setting up a play for later, when they need the bigger play shot. Now we’ve seen LaPorta can win deep on the route, and defenses have seen that Goff wants to hit the safer option. The wrinkle of LaPorta playing the X-receiver is something we saw a lot of in training camp but hadn’t really seen in the first three weeks. It works, and Johnson and Goff can flip that card over when they need it.

–The Lions tackled so very well in this one. It helped that the Packers have a lot of skill position players who are straight-line fast but not blessed with a lot of elusiveness. A.J. Dillon should never scare Lions fans, period.

–Sticking on the Packers side for a second, their best defensive player all night was Quay Walker. He was fast to the ball, shed blocks well and created some problems for the Lions in coverage. But he also ended any hope for his team with his colossally idiotic penalty that allowed David Montgomery’s final touchdown to happen. This is the same Walker who got ejected against the Lions a year ago and directly led to Detroit winning.

–The officiating crew let a lot of holding go on both offensive lines. Felt like the Lions offense adjusted to the loose application of the rules better than the Packers did, though Aidan Hutchinson would probably disagree with the crazy amount of times he was “held” in the game.