A Look At Who Feasted And Who Struggled In Week Six Against the Saints.
Lions That Feasted In New Orleans
Golden Tate had a solid first half against the Saints. The receiver looked great make plays against tight man coverage and made many people miss in the open field. While Tate’s ability after the catch has been well noted in his career, this game had two of Tate’s better runs after the catch. The Lions first score of the day came off of Tate evading at three Saints players near the sideline for 45 yards. Tate had a perfect day catching the ball, registering seven receptions on seven targets.
Ashawn Robinson had a solid all around day. He may have had a few poor plays in power running situations, but he was very hard to move off the ball consistently. This consistency showed up in the box score with Robinson placing second on the team in tackles with seven. While Ashawn is still figuring out how to find a consistent pass rush, what he does well is getting his hands up to stop quick passes like the Saints ran so often. He added two deflections in this game. The second year defensive tackle capped off his day with a fumbled scooped up for a touchdown.
Jarrad Davis was fast and aggressive against the run again today. The middle linebacker led the team in tackles again this week with eight. His recognition against the run looks like it’s improving every week. Unfortunately, he really in coverage against the Saints. Davis was out of position in zone coverage for most of the game. But this was a tough game for Detroit, so this regression may be a result of the team struggling as a whole.
Lions In Famine
Marvin Jones had a mostly down game. While the one handed catch for a touchdown was impressive, Jones really struggled to create separation against the Saints man coverage-heavy defense. Jones managed to pull less than half of his fourteen targets with only six receptions. This struggle against man coverage is becoming more evident the more Jones plays and defenses appearing to be picking up on it.
Ziggy Ansah is either still bothered by his injury or is taking a big step back in his development. It is most likely the former than the latter. But it is concerning all the same. Not only has Ziggy not registered a sack in this game, but he has only had one in the past four weeks. He also really struggled to hold the edge in the running game. Saints running back Mark Ingram was able to make several nice stretch runs to Ziggy’s side. Ingram’s biggest run came in this fashion for a 51 yard rush.
Matthew Stafford had a very rough week. Not only was he battling injuries coming into the game, but added five sacks and eight quarterback hits to his body this Sunday. He did not help himself out any though with five turnovers in the game, two on the ground and three through the air. But the Saints defense was creating pressure and knocking down 16 passes, while their secondary was playing very well again for the third straight week.
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