Ok, breathe. Calm down and get that heart rate to a good spot. The Detroit Lions may have sent a few of their fans to the hospital On Sunday, but they got the win 41-38.
As always, I have thoughts on this game. These are those thoughts:
Riley!
Riley Patterson is clutch. He may not hit the long ones, but this game and the game for the Jaguars in the playoffs last year show just how clutch he is. Patterson walked up and hit a chip shot for the win. I'm leading this story off with Patterson today because I've given him a hard time all year long and deserves to be a focal point here.
Dan Campbell's testicular fortitude
The super easy thing to do would have been to simply kick the field goal when the Lions had to convert on a late 4th-and-2. Then you hope your defense shows up. Campbell didn't do that. He said go for it and Goff was able to hit Sam LaPorta for a first down and that gave the Lions the opportunity to run the clock down and hit the game winning field goal. That man most have to wear large underwear.
Goff Report
Goff had a stellar performance in this one. He threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns. He completed a nice 69.7% of passes. He was sharp all day and the Lions were able to pass at will because of it. A solid showing from Goff and the offense.
Running all over the place
The Chargers came into this game with a defense that was top 10 against the run. The Lions apparently did not get the memo on that. Their running backs went off early and ended the first half with 175 yards and three rushing touchdowns combined. The highlight was David Montgomery's big 75-yard touchdown run.
The Chargers finished things out in the second half, but the Lions still finished the day with 200 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Jamo
Jamo deserves a shoutout for that Montgomery touchdown. He blocks two guys at once and it sprung Montgomery for the extras yards and the touchdown.
In the passing game, Williams got some opportunities to do some other things on Sunday and he looked good doing them. He finished the day with two catches for 18 yards. It should have been three catches and a touchdown, but the touchdown was called off on a weak penalty on Taylor Decker.
No Huddle
The Lions really need put stopping no huddle at the very top of their list of things to do this coming week. The Chargers started doing it in the first quarter and the Lions struggled to stop it all day long. The Chargers put up 421 yards of offense on the Lions. The good news is that they don't playJustin Herbert, Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler every week.
Aggression
We sort of knew, going into this game, that this would be an aggression off. Both Dan Campbell and Brandon Staley love to go for it on fourth down. Campbell showed that he was more aggressive. The Lions went for it on fourth down four times in the first half alone. They converted on three of them. One was for a touchdown. The Chargers went for it on fourth down and also converted for a touchdown.
At the end of the day, The Lions had five attempts and the Chargers had three.
Dear SportsCenter
You might want to include this in your top 10 plays tonight.
Brock Wright with separation and a touchdown?
You almost forgot he was on the team since he just doesn't do much outside of block. He showed he's still on the team in this one when he leaked out and grabbed a 25 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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