Lions notes: Frank Ragnow’s pass protection is back on track

Two weeks into the season, the Detroit Lions first-round draft pick Frank Ragnow didn’t look like himself. The man who didn’t give up a single sack in his entire college career was getting turnstyled by defensive tackle after defensive tackle. His pass protection, which was largely considered his best asset, looked like it needed serious adjustment at the professional level, and I even saw some commenters suggest the draft pick was “indefensible.”

Flash forward to two weeks later, and Ragnow seems to have ironed all of his problems out. Not only is he popping off in terms of his run blocking, but he’s improved phenomenally as a pass blocker—to a point where he’s had a completely clean rap sheet over the past two weeks:

That’s really good news considering T.J. Lang may be out for some time after suffering a concussion in Sunday’s game. The last thing the Lions need is two leaky holes on the offensive front.

If you want to know how Ragnow righted the ship, Andrew Kato had a great article on it from last week.

• Josh Cohen of The Athletic has an outstanding breakdown of how the Lions’ run defense got worked by Ezekiel Elliott, as well as some other defensive troubles vs. Dallas. Highly recommended read if you have an Athletic subscription.

• For no reason, let’s check in on Ndamukong Suh and... OH NO, TURN AWAY:

This is sure to make a lot of people mad—calling Jared Goff “the best QB I’ve ever had”—but, whatever, he’s supporting the quarterback he’s got.

• The Lions have an open roster spot after they released cornerback Dee Virgin on Tuesday. Virgin who was the player that just missed out on pinning the Cowboys deep in their own zone after just barely touching the goal line in punt coverage.

• Not a lot of NFL passers have seen the statistical success against the Packers that Matthew Stafford has:

• Bleacher Report gave the Lions a C- grade for their Week 4 performance against the Cowboys.