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- This team is starting to look more and more like the 2014 Detroit Lions. Sunday was another dominant performance from the defense.
- How dominant? Derek Carr, who came into the game with the sixth-best passer rating of 101.4, was held to lowest yardage total and passer rating since Week 1 -- a game in which Carr only played a half.
- This is especially surprising considering the Lions are not receiving much of a pass rush from their defense. This is all on the secondary.
- Once again, the secondary was led by Darius Slay, who mainly covered Amari Cooper all game and held him to just one catch for four yards. In the past three weeks, he has been as close to a shutdown corner as you can get.
- On the other side of the ball, it was nice to see Ameer Abdullah finally see an increased role in the offense. Even though his contributions tapered off toward the end of the game, he finished with 12 carries, his highest total in a month.
- Matthew Stafford did not have his greatest day today. He looked very uncomfortable in the pocket, often running himself right into a sack. But he came up big on the Lions' go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, especially his impromptu flip to Theo Riddick on third down which was probably the biggest play of the game.
Game Balls:
1) Ezekiel Ansah. Ansah was quiet for a lot of the game, and only had a single tackle on the day, his eighth sack of the year. But it was his pressure deep in Raiders territory that forced a holding penalty and earned the Lions a safety.
2) Slay. Detroit's defense has been the biggest reason for the LIons' two-game winning streak and Slay has been the best player on that side of the ball. Cooper had not been held below 40 yards yet this season. He had four today.
3) Theo Riddick. Riddick didn't do much in the running game -- six carries, 14 yards -- but his contributions in the passing game was huge in the fourth quarter. Riddick had 56 receiving yards in the final quarter and gained three crucial first downs.