Amon-ra St. Brown – Page 4

Five reasons the Lions topped the Browns for third straight win

The Detroit Lions could have had all the excuses in their pocket – short work week after a Monday night game, coming off a huge win in Baltimore, playing against the NFL’s top defense in the Browns. It was all there. But, if you haven’t noticed, this team is wired differently.

It certainly showed in the 34-10 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at Ford Field. It marked the Lions third straight win.

“We knew going into this game our defense was going to need to set the tone and special teams. Offensively we’d be smart, find our spots and, for the most part, that’s the way the day went,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “Those three takeaways, (Kalif Raymond) on the punt return (TD) and offensively we were able to turn those three takeaways into 17 points which is huge.’’

Aidan Hutchinson sacked QB Joe Flacco twice, Flacco was intercepted twice and the Browns lost a fumble.

Take away the punt return touchdown and the Lions’ offense scored 27 points against a tough defense, but they had too many penalties and missed opportunities.

“We can be so much better certainly offensively —defense played outstanding. That is a good defense. They present a lot of problems,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. But he admitted many little things could have been better and pointed the finger at himself on many of them including the two false start penalties.

While Detroit’s defense allowed a touchdown on the Browns’ opening drive, they held them to just a field goal for the remainder of the game.

Five of the reasons the Lions won:

ONE: The Browns’ top-rated rushing defense had not faced a team with a running game like Detroit’s which finished with 109 rushing yards. The longest run the Browns had allowed in the first three games was 11 yards. Jahmyr Gibbs gashed them for a 24-yard scamper early in the second quarter and a 22-yarder late in the third. Gibbs finished with 15 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown, along with 2 catches for six yards. David Montgomery had nine carries for 12 yards.

TWO: Jared Goff was solid under pressure except for his one interception – an underthrown pass intended for Jameson Williams. Goff took the blame for that, saying he made a bad decision. He targeted Williams eight times but they could not connect until there was 11:10 left when Wiliams caught a 27-yard pass on a third-and-9 play. Williams finished with two catches for 40 yards. Once again – you may have heard this before – WR Amon-Ra St. Brown came up big on the biggest plays including a 2-yard receiving touchdown where he was wide open in the end zone and late in the game a 8-yard touchdown catch. He has six touchdowns in the last three games.

THREE: The Lions offensive line stood up against Myles Garrett and Cleveland’s defensive line. Goff was not sacked at all. He was hurried and pressured which may explain why it wasn’t his best game statistically. But he made enough plays when needed. Goff finished 16 of 27, 168 yards, 2 TDs and one interception. Goff said they had a plan facing Garrett and credited tackles Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell, along with the whole line, for doing the dirty work to protect him.

FOUR: Flacco was intercepted twice with D.J. Reed and Kerby Joseph ah coming up with the big plays. He was pressured often and sacked three times – two of them by Aidan Hutchinson who has had sacks in three straight games. “Just another big performance by him today. What everybody sees – the quarterback hits, the sacks, the takeaways, all big things that are right in front of your face,’’ Campbell said. “The guy plays the run too. He can do all of that stuff that gets you all the glory but he does all the dirty work. He plays with his hair on fire, he doesn’t take plays off, he’s relentless, he’s aggressive, he’s violent, he’s smart, he’s disciplined. It’s good to see him back playing at a high level. It’s good to have him back period.’’

FIVE: Detroit’s special teams came up big, highlighted by Kalif Raymond’s 65-yard punt return for a touchdown to give them a 27-10 cushion early in the fourth. “He’s amazing. He’s one of those heartbeat guys for us,’’ Goff said. Campbell echoed Goff’s praise. “I don’t know if I can say enough great things about Lif. He’s such a stud,’’ Campbell said. “…He was aggressive, he trusted our guys. He was fearless the whole game.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (3-1) at Cincinnati Bengals , 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5.

Five reasons the Lions bounced back and routed the Bears, 52-21

DETROIT — For the Detroit Lions, the train might have nearly gone off the track a week ago in Green Bay, but the boys were back on Sunday in a 52-21 rout of the Chicago Bears at Ford Field

“I’ve said this all along, this train keeps rolling and it’s always going to start with the players,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “We have players, we have playmakers, and they’re made the right way. They’re the right kind of guys. They know how to get in the ditch and just start digging. They don’t worry about the other stuff.’’

The fact they were facing former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the Bears head coach, did not play a huge role in their turn-around. Moreso it was just motivation to win a division game.

Both offensive and defensive lines stepped up their games.

“I knew we would play better because our guys came into work and we knew what we needed to clean up and we worked at cleaning it up,’’ Campbell said. “They had the right look and they came out fighting – that’s what they do.”

The Lions came out and scored the first touchdown on a 5-play, 60-yard drive ending with a Jahmyr Gibbs 6-yard touchdown run.

They were up 28-14 at the half and held the Bears to just one touchdown in the second half. The Lions moved to 1-1 while the Bears dropped to 0-2.

Five of the reasons the Lions won:

ONE: Jared Goff pitched a near-perfect game, passing for five touchdowns and completing 23 of 28 passes for 334 yards. He got plenty of help from WR Amon-Ra St. Brown who caught nine balls for three touchdowns and 115 yards. “He’s a stud. He’s as good as they get in our league, he’s a stud, he does everything in the run game, everything in the pass game,’’ Goff said. “As reliable of a player as I’ve ever thrown to in my life. We have a pretty good chemistry going on in our fifth year. We push each other really hard.’’

TWO: Explosive plays were huge. Goff threw five passes of 29 or more yards. Jameson Williams had just 2 catches — one for 64, the other a 44-yard touchdown. He wasn’t alone. “It always starts with the O-line here, it does, probably most teams but for sure us. When they play well it allows us to do a lot,’’ Campbell said.

THREE: The defense made huge stops, none better than stuffing the Bears on back-to-back plays of third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 early in the second quarter. Safety Brian Branch was all over the field finishing with a sack, a forced fumble, a pass defense, two tackles for loss and six tackles. Bears QB Caleb Williams was sacked four times with Aidan Hutchinson getting first sack of the season and Branch, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Marcus Davenport also pitching in. “Just moving forward we re-established our brand of football,’’ Branch said.

FOUR: The Lions created two turnovers with a Kerby Joseph second-quarter interception that led to a Brock Wright TD catch. Earlier Branch forced a fumble with Jack Campbell recovering. Terion Arnold’s interception with 12:15 left was negated by a roughing the passer penalty. “It’s huge in this league, that’s what it’s all about getting takeaways, coach Campbell and coach Shep (DC Kelvin Sheppard), all our coaches preach that — no matter what the offense is doing the defense has to force turnovers,’’ Branch said, “We force turnovers then it gives our offense another chance to score.’’

FIVE: The offensive line settled down and was much improved from Week 1. RBs Jahmyr Gibbs (12-94 yards, 1 TD) and David Montgomery (11-57, 1 TD) got the run game in gear averaging 5.9 yards per carry – much improved over 2.1 in the Green Bay opener. Gibbs scampered 42 yards to set up another Goff-St. Brown touchdown late in the third. Goff could see the line really jell. “In particular, Tate (Ratledge) and (Christian) Mahogany as younger players were able to get last week out of the way and settle in a little bit today,’’ Goff said. “More Tate than Mahogany who had experience last year. I thought Tate played great today. I haven’t seen the tape but at least in pass pro I felt firm there, you felt strong, it felt like he was pushing downhill.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (1-1) at Baltimore Ravens (1-1), Monday, Sept. 22 at 8:15 p.m.

Five reasons the Lions were able to fight back to defeat the 49ers

It did not seem like a ‘meaningless’ game

Another Lions win, more franchise records.

With the 40-34 victory at the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night, the Lions have won 14 games in a season for the first time in history and finished with an 8-0 road record, another first.

While Monday night’s game technically didn’t mean a thing for the playoff standings, coach Dan Campbell had said they were going out to win it, no holding back. Like always, he was a man of his word.

He said it was a tough decision but the right thing was to play the guys, saying he owed it to the team. “You cross your fingers and hope nobody gets hurt,’’ Campbell said. “We were fortunate.”

Sunday night’s game against the Vikings at Ford Field is for the NFC No. 1 seed and a bye. The loser will be the No. 5 seed. Huge difference. Campbell called it a “fairy tale” scenario with two 14-win teams battling it out.

On Monday night, Detroit’s defense tightened up, holding San Francisco to just 14 points (one touchdown with 43 seconds left) in the second half, after allowing three touchdowns in the first half. The 49ers were up 21-13 at the half.

Prior to the game, the Lions downplayed the revenge factor. They lost to the 49ers, 34-31, in the same location in the NFC Championship game last January.

“It was good to get this one, good to come to the scene of the crime and get it done,’’ Campbell said.

Five reasons the Lions won:

ONE: Jared Goff had the Lions offense rolling, throwing three touchdown passes – to Jameson Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta. “Goff played lights out,’’ Campbell said. Goff said he thinks the whole offense has been playing at an elevated level. He completed 26 of 34 attempts for 303 yards. He’s completed at least 70 percent of his passes for 11 straight games. The Lions set a single-season franchise record by producing 20-plus points in 14-straight games. He’s the only quarterback to pass for three or more touchdowns in four straight games in franchise history.

TWO: Safety Kerby Joseph intercepted Brock Purdy twice in the second half to give him a league-leading nine picks. The Lions took advantage of both turnovers, scoring a touchdown on a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown and then a touchdown scamper by Jahmyr Gibbs. “When we needed it the most, he came up in a big way,’’ Campbell said, noting it wasn’t just his picks but he also made critical tackles. The Lions defense, which is missing so many key guys, did not have its best game. They could get linebacker Alex Anzalone back either for the Vikings or first playoff game.

THREE: While the Lions defense limited Purdy in the second half, they will have to play much better to beat Sam Darnold and the Vikings on Sunday night. Too often 49ers receivers were wide open and they had no answer for the play-action. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has his work cut out although the Lions did beat the Vikings 31-29 on Oct 20 in Minnesota. “For me, do you want to play a little bit better? Yeah, you do in areas. We calmed some things down in the second half, A.G. and those guys did a good job. We talked about disruption and takeaways and we got those,’’ Campbell said of the defense. “I feel good because I know the most important thing is we do complement each other.’’

FOUR: The run game flourished again without the injured David Montgomery. Jahmyr Gibbs had a stellar showing with 161 yards from scrimmage — 18 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown, along with four catches for 46 yards. Running back Craig Reynolds pitched in with seven carries for 41 yards and two catches for 35 yards.

FIVE: Wide receiver Jameson Williams scored the Lions first two touchdowns – one rushing for 3 yards and one receiving on a 42-yarder from Goff. He became the fourth Lion with more than 1,000 scrimmage yards this season. He joins Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta. “We’ve got a good group, an unselfish group,’’ Goff said.

UP NEXT: Lions (14-2) host the Vikings (14-2) at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field for the NFC North title and the NFC No. 1 seed.