Howdy fellow Lions fans.
After doing the Lions preview for r/NFL in the offseason, I thought it would be fun to do a midseason overview. While this isn’t going to be as comprehensive as the original offseason preview * I hope you’ll enjoy the time/effort put forth.
*Well, this got a little more detailed than I expected. While I wanted to keep this under the 40,000 character post limit, that’s going to be impossible with the amount of tables needed to display relevant stats.
I decided to break it up into three parts. Parts one and two will be released today, part three will come sometime this weekend.
Hope you enjoy it.
All stats, scores, and rankings are from pro-football-reference, football database, yahoo sports and ESPN.
Current Record: 6-2 (1-0 vs division)
- Home Record: 3-1
- Away Record: 3-1
- vs. AFC: 2-1
- vs. NFC: 4-1
- Points For: 200
- Points Against: 165
- Point Differential: 35
Game-by-Game Breakdown
- W 21-20 @ Kansas City
- After a offfseason of the sweetest koolaid to ever touch these lips, we were able to defeat the defending Super Bowl Championship on banner night in the 2023 opening game. Known now as the asterisk game, some in the media were struggling (and some still are) with the fact that the historically terrible Lions beat the NFL’s golden team. Play of the game was a amazing pick 6 by rookie Brian Branch (more on him in the rookie watch section).
- L 37-31 OT vs. Seattle
- Geno Smith did his best Patrick Mahomes impersonation leading the Seahawks to an overtime victory in Detroit. We had great difficulty on defense dealing with QB runs and a very accurate passing attack. Offense looked good, just wasn’t enough to overcome Geno’s great day.
- W 20-6 vs. Atlanta
- Looking to bounce back after a home loss, the Lions dominated this contest from the beginning. While the score doesn’t reflect a blowout, Atlanta never really had a chance with our harassing and smothering defense making their offense basically nonexistent. Probably our best total defensive effort of the season thus far.
- W 34-20 @ Green Bay
- A lot of hype heading into this game after Green Bay started 2-1 with some good play from Love. Unfortunately for them, they ran into a Lions buzzsaw and were dominated for most of the game culminating to a 27-3 lead midway through the 3rd. David Montgomery had a great day with 121 yards on 32 carries with 3 TD’s.
- W 42-24 vs. Carolina
- Another dominating victory over a rebuilding opponent. Carolina was trailing 35-10 at the start of the 4th and never felt like they had a chance all game. Goff was stellar on the day going 20/28 for 236 yards and 3 TD’s
- W 20-6 @ Tampa Bay
- Another banner day from Goff (30-44, 353, 2TD’s) propelled the Lions to a road win over the then 3-1 Buccs. We had a lot of trouble getting the running game going totaling only 40 yards on the ground, adding to the importance of Goff’s great day. Defense played strong keeping the Buccs out of the end zone. Leading the way was Anzalone with 9 tkls, 1 tfl, and 2 pd.
- L 38-6 @ Baltimore
- Don’t remember this game for some reason, pretty sure the team forgot they were playing that day too. Burn the tape, move on.
- W 26-14 vs. Las Vegas
- After the stumble in Baltimore, we had a nice bounce back game on Monday night against the Raiders. Gibbs had his best night as a pro putting up 152 rushing yards on 26 carries and 1 TD. While we left a lot of points on the field (1-5 in the red zone) and had three turnovers (including a pick six) we were still able to overcome those mistakes with a amazing defensive performance that included 6 sacks. Luckily, we had these issues against a dysfunctional Raiders team (congrats on firing McDaniels) as those mistakes would likely cost us the game playing a more opportunistic team.
Season Summery
While we’ve played far from perfect football, we have impressed the first half of the year. Being 6-2 heading onto the second half we have all of our season goals very much in reach. The mindset has changed as we’ve gone from the scrappy underdog to divisional front runner and possible playoff contender. The expectations have never been higher and anything short of winning the division and hosting a playoff game would be considered a failure. The way we have been able to whether injuries speaks volumes about the depth Brad Holmes has brought in. The organization seems to be on the same page from the front office to the equipment manager.
Buckle up, the fun should just be beginning.
Divisional Standings
| TEAM | Record | Division Record |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit Lions | 6-2 | 1-0 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 5-4 | 2-0 |
| Green Bay Packers | 3-5 | 1-2 |
| Chicago Bears | 2-7 | 0-2 |
-General Thoughts: Through the midpoint of the season, the division is currently a two horse race. Both the Bears and the Packers have seemingly played their way out of playoff contention already, and without a complete turnaround, are probably already looking to the offseason. After a terrible start, the Vikings have turned their year around by winning their last four. Unfortunately (sincerely, no one wants injuries), the loss of Cousins is going to make it a lot harder to play catch up for the division. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, the Vikings (much like the Lions) have an easy schedule on paper. The 2/3 games to finish the year against them could be very important for both franchises.
Conference Standings
| TEAM | Record | Conference Record |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Eagles | 8-1 | 6-0 |
| Detroit Lions | 6-2 | 4-1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 5-3 | 4-1 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 5-3 | 4-1 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 5-3 | 2-3 |
| New Orleans Saints | 5-4 | 2-2 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 5-4 | 5-2 |
| Washington Commanders | 4-5 | 2-4 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 4-5 | 3-3 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3-5 | 3-3 |
| Green Bay Packers | 3-5 | 3-3 |
| LA Rams | 3-6 | 2-4 |
| NY Giants | 2-7 | 2-3 |
| Chicago Bears | 2-7 | 1-4 |
| Carolina Panthers | 1-7 | 0-5 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 1-8 | 1-5 |
-General Thoughts: If you would have told any Lions fan before the season that we’d be 6-2 and 2nd in the NFC going into the bye, they’d have been extremely happy. While dropping a game against the Seahawks could prove problematic come playoff seeding, us winning the division and securing (at least) one home playoff game is not only on the table, but should be an expectation at this point.
Team Stats
*16 teams with 9 games played, 16 with 8
-Offense
| PF-PD (NFL Rank) [NFC Rank] | Pts/G | YDS | Plays | Y/P | Y/G | TO-L | 1stD | P-YDS | P-YDS/G | P-TD | NY-A | R-YDS | R-YDS/G | R-TDS | R-AVG | TOP/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200/+35 (10th/10th) [5th/4th] | 25.0 (8th) [4th] | 3,125 (7th) [3rd] | 553 (15th) [9th] | 5.7 (6th) [2nd] | 403.1 (2nd) [1st] | 10 (T-14th) [8th] | 176 (11th) [7th] | 2074 (10th) [6th] | 271.8 (6th) [3rd] | 13 (12th) [6th] | 6.7 (9th) [3rd] | 1051 (10th) [6th] | 131.4 (6th) [3rd] | 12 (6th) [3rd] | 4.3 (9th) [4th] | 33.55 (2nd) [1st] |
-General Thoughts: Coming into the season, we knew the offense would be built around running the ball to set up play action. So far, so good. We’re in the top 10 of the league in most running and passing metrics, 8th in PPG, and feature a well balanced attack that is 6th in yards per play. Building around the running game has also given us a leg up in the TOP battle, ranking 2nd in the league. Ben Johnson continues to be creative setting up opposing defenses even though they know what we intend to do. Quick counts, motion, exotic personal packages, anything to get an edge or tip the defenses hand presnap, we do. That doesn’t mean everything is sunshine and roses though, as I’ll get into more below, we still have a lot of work to do improving in the redzone. Looking forward, I’m very excited to see what we can do the second half of the season with a now healthy roster. Also wouldn’t be surprised to see us in the top 5 of most offensive categories by the end of the year.
-Defense
| PA (NFL) [NFC] | Pts/G | YDS | Plays | Y/P | Y/G | TA | 1stD | P-YDS | P-YDS/G | P-TDS | INT | R-YDS | R-YDS/G | R-TDS | RYDS/A | RYDS/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 165 (13th) [4th] | 20.6 (T-14th) [5th] | 2375 (5th) [2nd] | 466 (4th) [2nd] | 5.1 (15th) [8th] | 296.9 (5th) [2nd] | 10 (21st) [9th] | 150 (6th) [2nd] | 1761 (10th) [5th] | 220.1 (15th) [8th] | 11 (T-15th) [6th] | 7 (T-12th) [4th] | 614 (2nd) [2nd] | 76.8 (2nd) [1st] | 6 (T-13th) [T-6th] | 3.7 (6th) [3rd] | 3.7 (6th) [3rd] |
-General Thoughts: The difference between our defense last year and this year (through the first half of the season) is night and day. We rank in the top half of the NFL in most metrics including being 2nd in total rushing yards allowed and rushing yards allowed per game. A lot of the credit should go to a much improved LB core that has done a tremendous job against the run. The dline has had it’s ups and downs. While great against the run, it’s struggled at times to consistently gain pressure on the QB. If we want to win playoff games, it’s going to have to be more than Hutch and company going forward. The back end of the defense has been decimated by injuries this year, including two starters that are done for the season (CJ has a chance to come back for the playoffs) and multiple guys missing games. If this unit can stay healthier down the stretch and if our pass rush can find some consistency, we should have a defense ready for the playoffs.
-Special Teams
| FGA (NFL) [NFC] | FGM | FG/P | XPA | XPM | XPM/P | Pnt | PntY | PntY/A | KR | KRY | KRY/A | PR | PRY | PRY/A | KRPR/TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 (26th) [14th] | 11 (28th) [15th] | 84.6% (18th) [7th] | 23 (7th) [3rd] | 23 (7th)[3rd] | 100% (T-1st)[T-1st] | 27 (28th) [12th] | 1229 (26th) [13th] | 45.5 (26th) [15th] | 8 (17th) [11th] | 160 (19th) [11th] | 20.0 (24th) [13th] | 15 (17th) [10th] | 156 (10th) [5th] | 10.4 (10th) [5th] | 0 (T-6th) [T-2nd] |
-General Thoughts: Special teams seem to be in the middle of the pack all around. With the aggressiveness on offense, we don’t have a lot of attempted or made FG’s. Punting average is uncharacteristic low for Fox, expect a slight bounce back from him going forward.
-Conversions
| 3DAtt (NFL) [NFC] | 3DConv | 3DConv/P | 4DAtt | 4DConv | 4DConv/P | RZAtt | RZTD | RZTD/P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113 (16th) [12th] | 46 (15th) [10th] | 40.7% (13th) [8th] | 17 (3rd) [3rd] | 8 (4th) [4th] | 47.1% (17th) [10th] | 27 (T-16th) [T-9th] | 13 (T-20th) [11th] | 48.1% (T-24th) [14th] |
-General Thoughts: No surprise we’re near the top in both 4th down attempts and conversations. Our success rate needs to improve though. 3rd down conversation rate could also see some better consistency. The one stat that jumps out at me is the red zone TD’d and our red zone TD percentage. A big part of our stratagy inside the 20 is the power run game, being down multiple starters on the inside oline and our primary short yardage back has taken it’s toll. Getting healthy should help out tremendously, but the team in general needs to be putting up more points once they’re inside the 20.
-Takeaways/Turnovers
| INT (NFL) [NFC] | Fum | TTA | INTG | FumG | TTO | TODiff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 (12th) [6th] | 3 (27th) [13th] | 10 (T-20th) [T-9th] | 5 (T-8th) [T-2nd] | 5 (T-7th) [T-2nd] | 10 (9th) [4th] | 0 (T-12th) [6th] |
-General Thoughts: We’re doing okay on the backend with 7th interceptions. Unfortunately, we haven’t had much luck recovering fumbles so far this year. Going forward, It would be nice to see us winning the turnover battle more and helping generate a short field for the offense. In terms of giveaways, we’re in the top 10 for interceptions and fumbles given, so let’s hope we continue taking care of the ball while getting more turnovers on defense.
Part 2 will be out in a few hours. It will include a rookie section and a breakdown of individual stats.