Detroit Lions grades: Jared Goff, OL, DL, coaching all fail vs. Packers

Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 29-22 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday at Ford Field:

Quarterback

Jared Goff seemed to be over the turnover problems that greased his exit from the Los Angeles Rams, but he has six giveaways in the past two games and lost three fumbles Thursday. The Lions didn’t do a great job protecting Goff, but he was careless with the ball, too. He lost his first fumble when a pass looked like it was slipping out of his hands as he got hit by Rashan Gary, and a second when he didn’t secure the ball with two hands on a scramble. Goff threw a laser of a pass to Sam LaPorta on the Lions’ first touchdown, with Packers defensive back Corey Ballentine in tight coverage, but most of his production came in catch-up mode. He was high on a third down pass to LaPorta over the middle early, low on a check down to Jahmyr Gibbs late and took a costly intentional grounding penalty on one of the few drives the Lions moved the ball in the first half. Grade: F

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Running backs

David Montgomery had another productive day with 15 carries for 71 yards, but neither he nor Gibbs delivered any of the truly big plays we’ve come to expect from the Lions backfield. Montgomery had four carries for 27 yards and a touchdown on the Lions’ first series of the third quarter, and Gibbs was a shoe-string tackle away from breaking one run for a long TD. Linebacker-turned-fullback Malcolm Rodriguez made a nice diving catch on his only target for his first career reception of 6 yards. Grade: C-plus

Receivers/tight ends

Amon-Ra St. Brown was a non-factor in the first half (two catches, 14 yards) but had another productive day overall (nine catches, 95 yards). His biggest catch came early in the third quarter, when he wrestled an interception away from Carrington Valentine when Goff probably should have thrown the ball to LaPorta instead. LaPorta and Josh Reynolds caught touchdown passes, while Kalif Raymond had a holding penalty that wiped out a touchdown run by Montgomery. Jameson Williams (two catches, 51 yards, took two bumps from defenders at the line of scrimmage and ran a nice drag for a 13-yard gain on an third down conversion, then his speed helped open up the field on LaPorta’s TD. Donovan Peoples-Jones still hasn’t caught a pass since coming over from the Cleveland Browns, but he did have an offsides penalty Thursday. And Goff didn’t seem to have a ton of open receivers when he did have time early. Grade: C

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Offensive line

The Lions have one of the best offensive lines in football, but the unit had probably its worst day of the season Thursday. The Packers had 12 quarterback hits, three sacks and forced all three of Goff’s fumbles with their pass rush. Rookie Colby Sorsdal, making his second start at left guard in place of the injured Jonah Jackson, was benched late in the first half. He gave up an inside pressure to Kenny Clark on Goff’s first fumble that allowed Rashan Gary to retrace his steps and hit Goff from behind. He was late coming off a double-team block on a run stuff and got beat by Colby Wooden on another run play the series before he was pulled. Sorsdal wasn’t the only weak link up front. Taylor Decker allowed the sack-fumble to Gary in the second half and Penei Sewell whiffed on a block on Preston Smith when was hit as he threw incomplete on fourth-and-4. It wasn’t a great day up front overall. Grade: F

Defensive line

The Lions, conversely, got little pressure on Jordan Love. They didn’t record a sack for the fourth time this season and had one quarterback hit from their defensive line. Aidan Hutchinson stayed home to stop a reverse that looked like it was going to be a pass by Romeo Dobbs on a two-point play, and he pressured Love into a third-and-5 incompletion with about 12 minutes to play. He didn’t have a big impact on the game, though, as the Packers did a good job keeping extra protection in whenever they took shots deep. The Lions did a fair job against the run until Love broke a 37-yard run in the fourth, but the Packers won up front on both sides of the ball. Grade: F

Linebackers

Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes and safety Brian Branch combined to stuff AJ Dillon on fourth-and-inches early in the second quarter, when Dillon went the wrong way on a handoff and collided with Love. Anzalone had six tackles and did force an incompletion with a fourth quarter blitz, but both he and Jack Campbell bit hard on a run fake on Green Bay’s second touchdown, when Tucker Kraft dis-engaged on a block with Hutchinson and was wide open in the right flat. Anzalone and Jerry Jacobs shared a tackle for loss on a run blitz in the third quarter, but he and Barnes crashed too hard on the zone-read when Love pulled the handoff and scampered for his big gain. Grade: C-minus

Defensive backs

The blueprint to beat the Lions defense is through the air, both because they get inconsistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks and because of persistent leaks in their secondary. Christian Watson ran by Cam Sutton for a 53-yard catch on the first play of the game, and Dillon leapfrogged Jacobs for extra yards on a 22-yard gain in the second quarter, when Anzalone also missed a tackle on a short pass to the flat. Love entered Sunday completing less than 60% of his passes on the season and finished 22 of 32 for 268 yards. Tracy Walker made six tackles and forced an incompletion with a hit on Love on a third-quarter blitz, and Branch finished with a team-high eight tackles and one pass breakup. Walker did miss a tackle on Jordan Reed’s 15-yard jet sweep, when Branch also got wiped out of the play on a block. Grade: D

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Special teams

The Lions failed on a fake punt in the second half from their own 23-yard line. Dan Campbell blamed himself for the call, but wouldn’t say whether the Lions got the right look to run the fake. Riley Patterson also missed an extra point after the Lions’ first touchdown, when it appeared as if the laces on the hold were turned the wrong way. Khalil Dorsey did have a nice return on the second half kickoff and Raymond returned Andres Carlson’s long missed field goal 50 yards at the end of the first half. Jack Fox netted 41.5 yards on his punts and the Packers recovered the Lions’ late onside kick. Grade: D

Coaching

It’s easy to say the Lions shouldn’t have tried the fake punt deep in their own territory in the third quarter, but I didn’t mind when Campbell rolled the dice in a similar situation against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 so I can’t bash him for the call Thursday. He’s a risk-taker, and the Lions aren’t going to hit on 100% of his risks. I didn’t like the Lions passing on a field goal try to try and convert a fourth-and-7 on their next possession. I thought it was still too early in the game, and the Lions could have used the field goal to cut their deficit to 12 points. The Lions’ biggest issue Thursday is they came out sluggish against another inferior division opponent gunning for them in the standings. Campbell said it was fault his team looked unprepared, and wondered whether he and his assistants put too much in the gameplan for a short week. Perhaps the Lions could have had more offensive variety on early downs, and the defense’s persistent struggles against the pass are confounding. Grade: F

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions grades: Jared Goff, OL, DL, coaching all fail vs. Packers