Detroit Lions vs. New York Giants quick thoughts: What Just Happened?

Hey guys, the Lions won a game. I know, right? It’s a feeling I almost forgot. The Lions haven’t won a game since September 22nd when they beat the Eagles. I know that wasn’t that long ago. But It feels like it was 22 years ago. The Lions barely won this game by the way. At least that’s the way it seemed when you consider the amount of chances the Lions gave the Giants to come back and win. Ultimately they got the job done with a 31-26 win at home.

As always, I have thoughts on this game, these are those thoughts.

Matthew Stafford is really good in 2019

Throw away the really bad interception he had on the games first drive. Just forget it ever happened. He certainly did.

Stafford went 25-of-32 for 342 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 78.1 percent of his passes for a passer rating of 129.4. He also did that with a run game that featured four running backs that ran for just 59 total yards.

Stafford isn’t going to be in the MVP discussion because of the team he plays for, but this man absolutely needs to be in the discussion for a Pro Bowl spot.

When Marvin Jones is cold, Kenny Golladay is hot

And vice versa. Last week, Marvin Jones Jr. went off for four touchdowns in one game and Kenny caught one ball for 21 yards. This week Kenny goes off for 123 yards and two touchdowns and Marvin Jones caught just four passes for 25 yards.

I love that at least one of them is productive, but imagine a world where both of them are in the same game. That’s a world I want to live in. Until then, I suppose I’ll settle for one at a time, because I really have no choice and despite my constant attempts, Darrell Bevell won’t return my texts about me calling some plays.

Razzle Dazzle

One thing I really like about Bevell this year is his willingness to draw up the spectacular trick plays. The Lions got a big one on Sunday with a flea flicker-like play that led to a big 41-yard Kenny Golladay touchdown.

The Lions offense has shown some creativity this season and it keeps on paying off. It’s really nice to see. Sadly, there’s a part of this offense that’s really not working out and hasn’t since Lou Bega needed a little bit of Monica in his life.

I’m clearly talking about the run game

The Lions are desperately in need of help in the run game. Sunday was a show of that more than any other time. Tra Carson, that’s right, I said Tra Carson, was the Lions’ leading rusher against the Giants. He ran for a whopping 34 of the Lions 59 rushing yards Sunday.

Ty Johnson showed some flash and flare a couple times but penalties erased a few of his good plays. He also missed big on two possible touchdowns catches. I can’t be mad at Johnson for really anything he did in this game.

Paul Perkins came off the practice squad to get revenge on his former team by rushing for 1.3 yards per carry. Also J.D. McKissic, who I had to roll with in fantasy football this past weekend, got me 0.10 points in the running back slot.

They have to fix this. Luckily we’ve been hearing a lot the last few days that grabbing a running back at the trade deadline is a top priority. It looks like they may have a man in mind too.

Okay, let’s talk about some worries

The Giants are an interesting team. They’re not as bad as their record shows them to be, in my opinion, but by no means are they a good football team. The Oakland Raiders, on the other hand, might be a good football team that masquerades as a bad one. The Lions won’t beat the Raiders playing like this on defense.

In fact, I don’t know how many teams they’ll be able to beat playing defense like this. Sure, they showed up late and had some really god stops, but they also gave up four passing touchdowns to a rookie quarterback and consistently allowed themselves to get hurt by penalties.

I’m not saying the Lions can’t still go on a mid-season run. They’re certainly capable of it, and the schedule is allowing it. But they are constantly going to be close to losing these games over the next few weeks and for the rest for the season... That is, if they don’t just flat-out lose them.

Perhaps a running back isn’t the only route they should go at the deadline. They might need a safety after trading their defensive captain Quandre Diggs earlier in the week and losing Tracy Walker injury during Sunday’s game. We’ll have to wait and see what the severity of Walker’s injury is on Monday.

Then they need a pass rusher, too, because Daniel Jones had enough time to watch a Martin Scorsese film in the pocket and it keeps hurting this defense.

None of that matters at this exact time, though. The Lions won Sunday and broke their three-game losing streak. They also put themselves at .500 and back into the playoff hunt.

Things could get really fun soon or they could get really dark and scary. I thought I knew who this team was weeks ago and now I’m just not so sure. But none of that matters at the moment. The Lions found a way to win and all I want to do is celebrate with some powerful break dancing.