Detroit Lions Strategy And Personnel 10-12-11
PLAYER NOTES
--QB Matthew Stafford had five overthrows Monday, but he still managed a 107.7 rating. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He has thrown at least two touchdowns in all five games. His best pass of the night was a pretty, 73-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson, which he lofted 55 yards in the air.
--RB Jahvid Best had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career. He almost got it on one play. He busted through the right side of the line untouched for an 88-yard score, the second longest scoring run in Lions history. Best also had a 43-yard run in the fourth quarter that set up the game-clinching field goal. His 163 rushing yards were the most by a Lion since Kevin Jones ran for 196 in 2004.
--TE Brandon Pettigrew's 18-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter was a direct result of Jahvid Best's running. A simple play-fake to Best froze LB Brian Urlacher. Pettigrew raced over the middle unattended. He had four catches for 39 yards.
--WR Calvin Johnson had a tough matchup with 6-foot-2 CB Charles Tillman and the Bears' Cover-2 defense. Still, he found a way to catch five of the six balls thrown his way for 130 yards and a touchdown. On the 73-yarder, the Lions caught the Bears in single-safety coverage, and he bolted past Chris Harris. Johnson has nine touchdown receptions through the first five games, an NFL record.
--KR Stefan Logan is sneaking back into the offensive mix. He lined up in the slot and wound up taking a misdirection handoff for 6 yards. He has been used on reverses and fake reverses, as well.
--OLB Justin Durant (concussion) will have to go through the entire battery of tests again this week. He was cleared last week but had a relapse of symptoms during warmups Monday.
--TE Tony Scheffler (concussion) did not finish the game Monday. He was crunched by Bears LB Brian Urlacher after a 12-yard catch in the third quarter.
--SS Amari Spievey was a late scratch Monday night. Coach Jim Schwartz said Spievey was held out for physical reasons. Spievery was limited all week by a sore hamstring, but his heart was also hurting. His cousin, professional basketball player Chauncey Hardy, was killed in a bar fight in Romania.
--OLB DeAndre Levy posted 13 tackles against the Bears. He had been slowed by knee soreness in Weeks 2 and 3, but he has come on strong. "He was playing heavy," coach Jim Schwartz said. "He was knocking guys back when he was tackling."
REPORT CARD vs. BEARS
PASSING OFFENSE
B -- Again, after a slow, erratic start, Matthew Stafford found his groove in the second half. He was overthrowing a lot of passes early, just as he was in Dallas the previous week. Still, he finished with a 107.7 rating (19-for-26, 219 yards), two touchdowns and an interception. He's thrown at least two touchdowns in five consecutive games. His best pass of the night was a gorgeous, feathery 73-yard hookup with Calvin Johnson. Johnson outran single-safety coverage, and Stafford hoisted the ball some 55 yards.
RUSHING OFFENSE
A -- Well, there it is. After four weeks of hearing Jim Schwartz defend the run game as "efficient," it was electrifying and game-changing Monday. Jahvid Best posted a career-best 163 yards, including an 88-yard touchdown. It was the second longest touchdown run in team history. C Dominic Raiola and RG Stephen Peterman blasted a huge hole, and RT Gosder Cherilus kept the end from crashing down. Best was untouched.
PASS DEFENSE
B -- Give Bears QB Jay Cutler credit. That he managed 249 passing yards against the pressure he faced was remarkable. According to ESPN, Cutler was under pressure on 42 percent of his 38 pass attempts. That's the most any quarterback has been pressured in a game this season. He was sacked three times and hit six times.
RUN DEFENSE
C -- The Bears had great success running around the left side of the Lions defense. They were allowing either DE Cliff Avril or Willie Young to crash and then effectively taking out OLB Bobby Carpenter and CB Chris Houston. RB Matt Forte finished with 116 yards (5.3 per carry). But in short-yardage situations, the defensive line was stout, in particular, DT Ndamukong Suh, who ended a first-quarter drive by stopping Forte on third-and-1 and then fourth-and-1.
SPECIAL TEAMS
A -- You have to give the Lions top marks for taking Devin Hester out of the game. They only kicked the ball out of bounds twice on punts and out of the end zone on kickoffs once. Even so, Hester had 1 yard on punt returns and averaged 21 on kick returns. The Bears started drives eight times at or inside the 20.
COACHING
A -- Hard to say where you would take points off. The team is unbeaten. The game plan is sound and creative every week, yet, when things have gone badly in the first half, there's no panic. The coaches just make calm, subtle adjustments, without drastically altering the plan, and the team handles its business in the second half. The Lions have outscored their last four opponents 92-16 after halftime.
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