Two players have big bounce back games in an injury riddled win for the Lions, plus 8 more big takeaways from Thanksgiving
It's Thanksgiving, of course it's stressful Would it be a holiday game if it didn't stress the hell out of you? The Lions didn't play their best game of the year on Thanksgiving and it's because of that this game went the way that it did. That and all the injuries continuing to add up. […]
It's Thanksgiving, of course it's stressful
Would it be a holiday game if it didn't stress the hell out of you? The Lions didn't play their best game of the year on Thanksgiving and it's because of that this game went the way that it did. That and all the injuries continuing to add up.
Somehow the Lions managed to do the thing that the last 100 Lions teams would have totally done and they fought off the comeback and got their first Thanksgiving win since 2016. The Bears ineptitude certainly helped too.
Goff Report
This wasn't Goff's best day, but it was far from his worst. There were some red zone throws in the first half that I'm sure he wants back. Still, 61.8% of passes completed for 221 yards and two touchdowns got the job done.
Scorched Earth on the clock
The Lions absolutely dominated the time of possession game in the first half. When it was all said and done, the Lions had the ball for 22:54 and the Bears had it for 7:06.
The defense did their thing, but the offense made sure to just hold up the ball as long as they could to make sure there was a constant fresh defense out there. In the second half the script totally flipped. At the end of the day the Lions had the ball for 35:14 and the Bears had it for 24:16.
Penei Sewell allowed a sack…on himself
The Lions got creative early and tried to do some school yard stuff with Sewell. He had one hell of a stiff arm, but ultimately the play didn't work out and Sewell was declared as a passer in the moment. So they counted it as a sack. Interesting that the only way Sewell really lets sacks happen is if it's him getting sacked.
Red zone
The Lions went 1-4 in the red zone in the first half and that's a big reason why this game didn't get out of hand and the Bears were able to work their way back in. They went 2-5 in total. Just not the Lions usual performance. IF they score on one or two of those we're not talking about a heart pounding finish.
More injuries
The Lions lost both Josh Paschal (knee) and Levi Onwuzurkie (hamstring) in the first half of this game. Then in the second half Mekhi Wingo went down. Then Malcolm Rodriguez went down. Then Za'Darius Smith went down three different times. Luckily the Lions are going to get a few days off ahead of getting back to work against the Packers next Thursday.
LaPorta bounce back game
Was this a comeback game from LaPorta? We've been waiting for him to step back into being the guy that we're used to seeing. Maybe two touchdowns will help with that. Now all we need to see is him have more six yards. Still, it felt big.
Reader
In his first Thanksgiving game as a Lion, Reader had himself a day with two sacks. The second one was big because it killed a drive where the Bears had a chance to cut farther into the lead. It made the Bears have to work from a long third down in their own territory.
Jim Nantz ruined Bates perfect season
Commentators really have to stop doing the thing where they talk about how good a kicker is before the kicker goes for his kicks. It constantly leads to a miss. Bates has been perfect up until that, he just shanked this one to the right.
Vildor bounce back
That pass interference at the end of the game was one of the weakest I've ever seen. Like top five. Outside of that, Vildor had a big bounce back game. He played 38 snaps and allowed two catches on four targets for 14 yards. Last week he was the lowest graded corner in the league with a 23 grade. This week he had a 61.4. The DPI brought him down from the 70's where he was previous to that.
