Instant observations: Lions lose 5 second-half turnovers, their 4th straight game

ARLINGTON, Texas — The league’s worst defense played its best game of the season. It didn’t matter. Not with too many turnovers, too many penalties, and not enough points coming from the other side of the field.

Maybe one of these days/weeks/years/decades the Detroit Lions will play four quarters of complementary football. But that day was not on Sunday, when they fell 24-6 against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. That’s their fourth straight loss, leaving them just 1-5 heading into next week’s game against the resurgent Miami Dolphins.

They have their offense to thank for the pickle they now find themselves in. After getting shutout in New England, they came out of the bye just as sluggish. They managed just two field goals during the first half, then Jared Goff threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles during a nightmare second half.

Goff didn’t waste any time getting to work either. On the third play after halftime, he underthrew a deep ball into double coverage, and cornerback Travon Diggs picked it off without breaking a sweat. Dallas drove right back the other way for its first touchdown, and first lead too, 10-6.

Goff threw another pick to former Michigan star Jourdan Lewis to open the fourth quarter, which Ezekiel Elliott turned into another Cowboys touchdown, then lost two fumbles to turn the game into a sudden route in the final minutes. There was an audible laugh from the hometown fans after his final giveaway, and that’s easy to understand too, because it was a laughable effort to keep things together.

But Goff wasn’t alone in those struggles, as running back Jamaal Williams inexplicably lost the football at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter. The Lions faced their first deficit at the time, 10-6, before driving back the other way and nearly scoring on an 18-yard pass to Brock Wright. The backup tight end went out of bounds just inches shy of the goal line.

A poor spot from the officials pushed the football back to around the 1-yard line. That shouldn’t have mattered, because Williams has been one of the league’s best backs at the goal line — only Nick Chubb had more rushing touchdowns than him heading into the weekend — and the Lions have one of the best rushing attacks in the league overall. But the poor spot loomed large once Williams took the handoff from Goff and, well, it’s hard to say from the camera angles what happened next. As he approached the line of scrimmage, he somehow lost the football. Dallas dove on the loose ball, and the Lions — just inches from a fourth-quarter lead in Dallas — never truly threatened again, wasting the best four quarters of defense this team has seen in a very, very long time.

Let’s get to some more instant observations from the game:

— Goff continues to show he’s not the guy to see out this rebuild. The Lions have said what they have to about the guy, because they can’t just come out and say he’s taking up space until they can draft their guy. But how many times have the Lions won a game because of him? How many guys are playing better because of him? None, right? Some weeks, he’s good enough to hold things together. That’s OK for this stage of a rebuild. But if the Lions are serious about playing for something meaningful one of these years, they’re going to need a guy who can go toe-to-toe with the Josh Allens and Patrick Mahomes of the league. He’s never been that guy at his best, and lately he’s been very far from his best. Of course the injuries to D’Andre Swift, Amon-Ra St. Brown, DJ Chark and Jameson Williams hurt. They’d hurt anybody. But four second-half turnovers? Spoiling the best four quarters from this defense in ages? Come on.

— Brad Holmes has been banged pretty hard for not getting enough out of his draft classes, especially on the defensive side, and all of it was earned. On Sunday, they got massive contributions from this year’s class. Aidan Hutchinson, a first-round pick, had two third-down sacks. Josh Paschal, a second-round pick, was a huge factor up front while making his NFL debut, setting up others for sacks and tackles for loss. With Levi Onwuzurike on the shelf for the foreseeable future, the Lions were badly missing a physical pass rush presence. In Paschal, they sure seem like they have it now. And don’t forget about Kerby Joseph in the back end. The third-round pick sent receiver Noah Brown tumbling head over heels with a huge goal-line hit that jarred the ball loose. Amani Oruwariye scooped it up for a huge turnover.

— Let’s expand just a bit on Aidan Hutchinson. He had two sacks against the Cowboys, his first sacks since the hat trick he had all the way back in Week 2. And unlike that hat trick against Washington, these sacks were the result of individual wins rather than scheme wins. Hutchinson blew past his man on the first drive of the game for a third-down sack, forcing one punt. Then with the momentum turning in the game in the third quarter, Hutchinson put a wicked spin move on right tackle Terence Steele for another third-down sack, forcing yet another punt — and this one coming right after Dallas had picked off Jared Goff, then scored its first touchdown to take its first lead. Momentum was really turning, and Hutchinson helped kill it. Huge day for a guy who has really struggled to live up to the hype.

— That all being said, Jeff Okudah just might have been the best player on the field for the Lions. He racked up an astonishing seven tackles in the first 20 minutes of the game alone, including one where he sprinted from one sideline to the other. He drew one penalty on second-and-long, then immediately turned around and broke up the ensuing pass to Michael Gallup down the left sideline, forcing yet another punt. He was beaten a couple times by CeeDee Lamb in the second half, but all told, it was another outstanding effort from the former first-round pick.

— One week after Amon-Ra St. Brown was held the second-worst game of his career while battling a high ankle sprain, he was held to the worst game of his career after suffering a brain injury. He was removed from the game when he stumbled after a 4-yard catch in the first quarter, his only grab of the day. He was evaluated for several minutes in the medical tent before emerging without his helmet and getting escorted directly to the locker room. That 4-yard catch was his only grab of the day, a big blow for an offense that was already playing without skill players like DJ Chark, Jameson Williams and D’Andre Swift. That’s a big reason an offense that once was producing the most points in the league, has now produced just XXX over the last two games.

— Let’s talk about D’Andre Swift for a moment, shall we? Excellent player, no question about that. He leads the entire league in yards per carry despite being heavy for about 5 seconds this season. That man is one of the most electric human beings in the world with a football in his hands. The problem, of course, is how often he doesn’t have a football in his hands because his shoulder hurts, or his ankle hurts, or his groin hurts, or his hamstring hurts, or his hip hurts. Every running back suffers injuries, but even by that measure, Swift has never proven uniquely undependable. He barely participated in his first two training camps because of nagging injuries, which forced him to come off the bench for most of those seasons despite his undeniable talent. Remember when the Lions ran an aging Adrian Peterson out there for most of the 2020 season? That never happens if Swift is healthy. Alas, he wasn’t. Now he isn’t again. He missed a third straight game on Sunday because of ankle and shoulder injuries, despite practicing all week and saying he was “pushing toward playing” against the Cowboys.

If the Lions truly want to be a running team — and they do — they’re going to need another running back before this rebuild is ready to compete. Swift is so talented, but if you’re serious about making a playoff run some day/year/decade/millennium — and the Lions say they are — then you need guys you can depend on. Swift has never been one of those guys, and continues to not be one. With that, don’t be surprised to see Detroit use draft capital on a running back next spring, especially with Jamaal Williams in the final year of his contract. He’ll turn 28 before next season too, while at this rate, Swift will need another contract around the time this rebuild is supposed to start paying off, and paying big money for a running back usually isn’t good business. For these reasons and many others, yeah, running back is once again a draft need for this team.

— When it comes to the Detroit Lions’ odyssey-like kicker search, perhaps the 10th time’s the charm to finally replace Matt Prater. Michael Badgley made both attempts against Dallas, including a 53-yarder that is the club’s longest field goal since, yes, Matt Prater hit a franchise-record 59-yarder against Washington on Nov. 15, 2020. Prater was the best long-ball hitter in Lions history, but the Lions chose not to pay up for him last year as they embarked on a rebuild. That decision can be understood, although the swings and misses along the way since have cost Detroit games. On Sunday, Badgley helped keep Detroit hanging around on a day when it didn’t score a touchdown.

— We’ve talked a lot about Brad Holmes’ misfires in the middle rounds of the draft. We’ve talked far less about his decision to trade/extend Michael Brockers during his first days on the job, although perhaps we should. Man, what an awful decision that has turned out to be. The Lions didn’t give up much to acquire Brockers — a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft — but also elected to rip up his contract on the spot so they could sign him to a three-year, $24 million deal that included $11 million in new guarantees. All for a 30-something pass rusher who has hit exactly two quarterbacks in 21 starts for the franchise. Yikes.

On Sunday, Brockers became the third member of the defense to get benched. With Josh Paschal and John Cominsky both returning to the defensive line, Brockers didn’t so much as dress for the game. And with a $14 million cap hit looming in 2023, you have to figure his days in Detroit are numbered. Luckily for the Lions his dead money is just $4 million, so they could save $10 million by moving on. At this rate, they will.

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