The Detroit Lions are headed to San Francisco to take on the 49ers in the NFC Championship game this Sunday. This is a huge matchup. A trip to the Super Bowl is on the line and the loser goes home and starts planning for free agency and the draft.
The Lions have a real shot to win this game and stay in the race. Here's four guys that stats and analytics say can help the Lions the most in their quest to get to the big game:
Aidan Hutchinson
Hey, it's Aidan Hutchinson again. He's in every single one of these articles. How could he not be? Especially lately when Hutchinson has had eight sacks in the last four games. He's playing very good football right now.
Your first thought here might be "he can't do that against Trent Williams." That might be true. Williams is one of the best left tackles in the NFL. The thing though is that Hutchinson spends most of his time lining up on the left side of the of the Lions defensive line and going up against right tackles. He can get home against 49ers right tackle Colton McKivitz.
McKivitz has allowed the fourth most pressures (52) in the league this season. That's among all offensive lineman, not just tackles. He's also allowed the third most sacks (9) in the league too. Their right guard Spencer Buford is also letting some pressures and sacks get by him. He's allowed 34 pressures and five sacks this season.
Penei Sewell
This is going to be a key matchup here. Penei Sewell vs Nick Bosa. The Lions are going to be looking to take away the 49ers pass rush and Sewell can do that against their best pass rusher in Bosa.
Bosa has 102 pressures this season. Sewell has 14 all year long. That includes the regular season and the playoffs. Sewell has also only allowed one sack all year long. he's the best right tackle in the NFL and it's games like this where he can really show why that's true and not just something that people believe.
Sewell did go up against Bosa once in his career. That was the first game of Sewell's career. Bosa did get a sack in that game, but it wasn't against Sewell. He got it on the other side against Matt Nelson.
Jahmyr Gibbs
The 49ers have the the third best rushing defense in terms of yards allowed, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. That number is so low, in part, becasue the 49ers get out to leads every week and teams have to abandon the run game. The 49ers have allowed the third fewest yards, but they also have the lowest rush attempts against them in the league.
Lately that's changed. Since December, teams are running the ball on the 49ers more. They went from just 19 rush attempts a game to 24 since the start of december. That number goes up to 27 in the last five games.
They're also allowing the yards on the ground to ramp up. The 49ers went from allowing 3.6 yards per carry at the beginning of the season to 4.2 a carry since the start of December. The 49ers can be ran on.
Jahmyr Gibbs should be able to take advantage here and help the Lions establish their run game and get control of the clock. Even if the Lions get in a shootout, we know that this team is not going to abandon the run game.
Craig Reynolds
Not as a running back, but as a kick returner. The Lions haven't had any shots at kick return in a while since they've played teams that largely kick it out of the back of the end zone. The 49ers are not one of those teams. They've allowed the third most returns in the league and, along with that, they've allowed the third most return yards in the league.
The Lions are going to need to be solid in every area to win this game. The field position game is going to be a crucial one. Reynolds should get a shot to shine in a playoff game for the second week in a row if he can do some work in this department.
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