What the box score didn’t tell you: 2 plays made the Lions defense look much worse than it actually was
Detroit pressured Geno Smith 24 times, sacked him five times and held New York to 58 rushing yards, but two costly flags completely changed how the afternoon looked.
The Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets 31-24 on Sunday, and the box score will tell you Geno Smith had a big passing day. That’s not the full story. The Lions defense generated 24 pressures and 5 sacks, held the Jets to 58 rushing yards, and controlled the game for long stretches. Detroit was up 24-10 and cruising. Then two defensive pass interference penalties changed the entire complexion of the second half.
Dan Campbell has been saying the same thing every week: we’ve got to clean some stuff up. You could see what he meant against Buffalo. You could go back to New Orleans and find the same little things. This game against the Jets, though, might be the most perfect example of the small fixes Detroit still needs to make.
The 3rd-and-17 that flipped the script
The Lions are up 24-10. The Jets have the ball on the Detroit 20. It’s 3rd and 17 after Aidan Hutchinson and Skyler Gill-Howard teamed up for a sack on the previous play. All the Lions need to do is get a stop, force a field goal, and go up 24-13. Instead, Smith throws deep to Garrett Wilson, and defensive pass interference is called on D.J. Reed.
Was it ticky-tack? Absolutely. You go back and look at that play, and there are elements of DPI. There are also elements where a different official on a different day lets that go. Some guys will call it, other guys won’t. The official on Sunday did not let it go. That penalty automatically put the Jets at the Detroit 4, and two plays later Smith threw a 4-yard touchdown pass. Just like that, a comfortable 14-point lead shrank to 8.
The Lions’ stalled drive made it worse
The Jets didn’t convert the 2-point attempt, so it was 24-16. You could feel a little better about it. The Lions had scored on their previous three drives. They were rolling. Then they picked the worst time to have their bad drive of the second half.
Detroit drove all the way to the Jets 46. Fourth-and-2. Of course Dan Campbell is going for it in Jets territory. On a play that probably converts in other situations, Jahmyr Gibbs got stuffed for only a yard. The Jets got the ball back at their own 46 in great field position.
The second DPI sealed the scare
New York drove down to the Detroit 19 before Christian Izien made a huge tackle for loss on Braelon Allen, pushing the Jets back 4 yards. They had to burn a timeout. It was 4th and 6 from the Lions 23. Get a stop here and the game is over. Simple as that.
Instead, another pass interference call. The Jets scored, converted the 2-point attempt, and tied it 24-24.
The Lions responded. They scored a touchdown, and then Chuck Clark forced a sack-fumble on the Jets’ final drive to seal the 31-24 win. It worked out.
The box score lied about the Jets’ passing game
Everybody is going to look at Smith’s stat line and say he had a great game. That’s not totally accurate. The Jets only ran for 58 yards, so of course they threw it constantly. They had to abandon the run, and they weren’t running well even before that. More importantly, those two DPI calls were the difference between 6 points and 14 points. Without them, you’re looking at a 24-16 Lions win, and nobody is thinking twice about this game.
The Lions secondary played well. The defense as a whole played much better. Twenty-four pressures, 5 sacks. They got after it. They did everything they needed to do.
Campbell said it after Buffalo: it’s the little expletives that kill us. Bush said it well too: it’s the little things that kill. That’s exactly what happened against the Jets. Being a little too handsy at the wrong moments turned a dominant win into a game that got uncomfortably close. Going forward, the Lions just have to be cleaner.
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