Lions Red Zone Recap: Week 16 & Week 17

This post is sponsored by Comcast.

Because this slipped my mind last week, this week's Lions red zone recap looks back at both the Dolphins game and Sunday's win over the Vikings.

Dolphins Game

Lions - 2 scores on 2 chances (1 touchdown, 1 field goal)

Officially, the Lions had two red zone appearances against Miami. The first resulted in a 39-yard Dave Rayner field goal after the Lions went three and out. Detroit recovered a fumble on a punt and started the drive inside the red zone. The other red zone appearance came in the third quarter. Maurice Morris scored on a five-yard run that tied the game up at 17. (The reason I said "officially" is because the Lions scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Pettigrew, but the NFL didn't count that as a red zone appearance since the Lions weren't technically inside the 20-yard line.)

Dolphins - 4 scores on 4 chances (3 touchdowns, 1 field goal)

The Dolphins had four red zone appearances and scored on all of them. The first three trips inside the 20 resulted in touchdowns (two rushing and one passing) and the fourth one produced only a field goal. The Dolphins had 3rd and goal on the 14 before the field goal, but they opted to play it safe and run the ball rather than pass and try to get a touchdown.

Vikings Game

Lions - 3 scores on 4 chances (2 touchdowns, 1 field goal, 1 turnover)

The Lions opened the game by driving down the field and coming close to scoring. Detroit got inside the red zone and looked to be well on their way to a touchdown, but Tony Scheffler fumbled the ball into the end zone after he tried to reach out for the goal line. Minnesota recovered for a touchback. Luckily the other three red zone appearances went much better. Shaun Hill threw a seven-yard pass to Nate Burleson for a touchdown on the next one, and later in the game Maurice Morris scored a TD from five yards out. Dave Rayner also made a 37-yard field goal during one of the trips inside the 20.

Vikings - 1 score on 1 chance (1 field goal)

Minnesota's offense didn't do very much during this game. The only touchdown was scored by Jared Allen on an interception return, as the other six points came from a pair of field goals. One of those field goals was a 27-yarder by Ryan Longwell during the Vikings' only red zone trip of the game.

Overall

The Lions offense did a good job of converting their red zone chances into points against the Dolphins. They weren't bad against Minnesota by any means, but they did leave seven points on the field by turning the ball over on the goal line. Defensively, the Lions struggled a bit against the Dolphins, but they rebounded nicely by giving up only one red zone appearance during the Vikings game and holding Minnesota to only three points during it.