The Lions made their choice between Cade Mays and Juice Scruggs, but one rough game could make this complicated fast
Detroit handed Mays the starting center job and kept Scruggs off the offense entirely. After a shaky debut, the question is how long the Lions will stick with that plan if things don’t improve.
The Detroit Lions got the win over the Green Bay Packers, but two things on the offensive line stood out to me more than anything else. First, Cade Mays looked rusty in his Lions debut. Second, Juice Scruggs didn’t play a single snap.
That second one might be the most shocking thing from the entire game. I thought for sure Scruggs would get some sort of opportunity. Maybe he flexes in somewhere along the interior. At the very least, I figured he’d see some time as a swing tackle. Neither happened.
Cade Mays had a rough day in pass protection
Let’s be honest about what happened with Mays. This wasn’t a great game.
The run blocking was good. Pro Football Focus liked what he did there, and he looked solid when Detroit wanted to lean on the ground game. Pass blocking was a different story. Mays allowed a sack and multiple pressures. He also had an aborted snap that led to a fumble, which was ugly.
Jared Goff said after the game that he thought things went well. Goff only went down once, so it wasn’t a disaster. Still, Scruggs looked a lot better in that spot through five games.
There are two schools of thought here.
The first one is simple. This was the first time Mays has ever played in an actual game for the Lions. It was also the first time he’s played in a game at all in quite a while. He got hurt during training camp, missed a lot of time, and just got his first practices back. There’s going to be rust. That’s perfectly normal, and it’s perfectly fair to think he looks better against the Vikings.
The second school of thought is just as fair. How long is Mays’ leash?
The Vikings are as big a test as it gets
I get it. Detroit gave Mays a three-year, $25 million deal, and you don’t pay a guy that kind of money to sit him after one shaky game. The Lions want to see if they’re going to get what they paid for out of that investment. That’s a reasonable thing to want.
On the other hand, the first thought a lot of Lions fans had when Mays came back was that you go with the hot hand. Scruggs was the hot hand. He looked really impressive in his five games, and now he’s watching from the sideline.
That’s what makes the next game so important. Minnesota has an unreal defensive line. The Vikings are going to blitz, they’re going to bring pressure, and they’re beating up everyone on defense right now. If you think Goff isn’t getting sacked in that game, you’re crazy.
So what happens if Mays goes out and has another rough day against that front? At what point do you start thinking about putting Scruggs back in there?
There’s also the swing tackle question. Larry Borom was okay against the Packers. Okay is fine, but coming out of this game, I think you have to start thinking about getting Scruggs some work at swing tackle. He’s too good to have zero snaps.
Everyone is going to be watching Mays against the Vikings, including the Lions. Can he shake off the rust and look like the guy Detroit signed? Or does the leash start getting shorter?
We’ll see where it goes.
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