Detroit Lions game balls and goats: Brian Branch might be best defensive player already

Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances from the Detroit Lions' 20-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Ford Field:

Game balls

DB Brian Branch

He’s three games into his NFL career, but it’s not hyperbole to say Branch may be the Lions’ best defensive player already. On Sunday, the rookie cornerback had 11 solo tackles, three for loss, and two pass breakups to key the Lions’ best defensive effort since 2018.

Branch has phenomenal football instincts. He plays the run like he’s shot out of a cannon, beating blockers to the edge like he’s in the offensive huddle. He has cut down his mistakes in pass defense and helped make Kyle Pitts (five catches on nine targets for 41 yards) a non-factor Sunday. And he had the type of sparkplug performance the Lions will need more of with C.J. Gardner-Johnson possibly done for the year.

“You could feel his energy,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “And I’ve said this, he gets better every practice. Every day he gets a little bit better and now some of those critical errors aren’t as — particularly today, he’s making big plays in critical moments as opposed to the other way. So there again, the more he plays the better he gets. … He’s a playmaker.”

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

The Lions didn’t have much going in the passing game Sunday as Jared Goff targeted just four players — and two receivers — on pass attempts. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta had a big day with eight targets for 84 yards, but St. Brown deserves a mention for his nine-catch, 102-yard performance.

St. Brown missed practice time with an ankle injury this week and wasn’t at 100% Sunday. He still found a way to have a huge impact on an offense that struggled to move the ball. He made an important 15-yard catch to dig the Lions out of first-and-25 on their first quarter field goal drive, he had a 19-yard catch on third-and-8 to set up LaPorta’s touchdown, and he opened the Lions’ second and final touchdown drive with a 17-yard gain.

St. Brown is so consistent it’s sometimes easy to overlook his production and what he does for the team.

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Goats

CB Jerry Jacobs

Jacobs makes this list more as a representative for the Lions’ penalty problems than for his play. He was flagged twice for pass interference Sunday, and while one of those calls was questionable, he was lucky to avoid a third pass interference penalty when he hit a receiver early after Aidan Hutchinson tipped a ball at the line of scrimmage.

The Lions had 10 enforced penalties for 119 yards Sunday. Branch was flagged twice for personal fouls and Penei Sewell was called for two holding penalties. Carl Cheffers’ officiating crew is one of the most flag-happy in the NFL, but as Campbell said after the game, the Lions need to clean up the penalties.

The New Orleans Saints

The Lions would be alone in first place in the NFC North right now if it weren’t for a monumental collapse by the Saints in their 18-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Trailing 17-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Packers mounted three straight scoring drives, kicking a 38-yard field and scoring touchdowns on a 1-yard run by Jordan Love (followed by a two-point conversion) and an 8-yard pass from Love to Romeo Doubs to score 18 unanswered points for the win.

The Saints lost starting quarterback Derek Carr to injury, which explains why their offense went so cold. But as slim as the margin for error is in the NFL, it would have been nice to see the Lions go a game up on their rivals heading in Thursday’s showdown in Green Bay.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions game balls and goats: Brian Branch a star in the making