Lions vs. Rams: Who gets the game ball?

The Detroit Lions had another nail-biter this week against the Los Angeles Rams. The offense made a ton of plays against a good Rams defense, while the defense played awful for 95 percent of the game, but came up with a few huge plays down the stretch of each half. Let’s give out a game ball for Week 6.

Here are the game ball standings through five games:

9 - Matthew Stafford
4 - Marvin Jones
5 - Sam Martin
3 - Andre Roberts
3 - Darius Slay
3 - Theo Riddick
1 - Devin Taylor
1 - Ameer Abdullah
1 - Eric Ebron

Matthew Stafford

The Lions went up against another solid defense this week, but looking at Stafford’s statline you’d have no idea. Stafford finished the day with 23 of 31 for 270 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. He made some impressive, even if slightly reckless throws, like his touchdown pass to Andre Roberts. He showed his smarts going deep to Golden Tate on a free play. And he gave this team the best chance to win despite an utterly hopeless defense.

Golden Tate

Reports of Tate’s disappearance appear to have been premature. Tate had a few huge plays including the aforementioned 61-yard catch on a free play and a 34-yard gain on the Lions’ first drive of the game. Then he followed it up with a late fourth quarter touchdown and this:

Kerry Hyder

I hesitate to give anyone credit on the defensive side of the ball, but Hyder continues to get even better in his limited snaps. Hyder had two tackles for loss on the day and was really the only one getting somewhat consistent pressure, Ezekiel Ansah included.

Anquan Boldin

The player I picked to have a big game today didn’t outdo Tate, but he had himself some big pickups. He seems to be Stafford’s go-to guy on third down. Boldin finished the game with a season-high eight receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Rafael Bush

Game winning interceptions get you into the top five. I don’t care what else happened.