Detroit Lions grades vs. Bucs: Offensive line sets tone for all-around great day

Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 31-23 playoff win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Ford Field.

Quarterback

Jared Goff started 2 of 6 passing and was lucky Jamel Dean dropped an interception in the end zone on a poor pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown on the Lions' second offensive possession, but caught fire in the second half. Goff finished 30 of 43 passing for 287 yards with two touchdowns and did not turn the ball over for the second time in as many playoff games. St. Brown was open on Goff’s near pick, but Goff threw off his back foot after getting pressure from the right edge against Taylor Decker and up the middle against Frank Ragnow. He didn’t make many other mistakes Sunday, and he made a couple unexpected plays with his feet, picking up a first down on a quarterback sneak and scrambling for 7 yards against a blitz. The Lions need to get their offense going faster, and part of that falls on Goff. But he played winning football to send the Lions to the NFC championship game. Grade: A-minus

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Running back

Jahmyr Gibbs was the Lions’ offensive star Sunday, amassing 114 yards from scrimmage on 13 touches and keying the game-winning drive with four touches in five plays for 57 yards and a 31-yard touchdown. Gibbs did have one big play in the first half when he stoned K.J. Britt on a blitz pickup to help Goff complete a third-and-2 pass to St. Brown late in the first quarter. David Montgomery (10 carries, 33 yards) didn’t have as impactful a night. He was called for a chop block on third-and-10 when he went low on a blitzer just as the defender engaged with Graham Glasgow. Montgomery ran hard in limited touches, but also gave up a sack to Lavonte David. Craig Reynolds scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on his first carry since Week 8. Grade: A-minus

Receivers/tight ends

The Lions passed early as a way to open up the run, and they leaned heavily on Sam LaPorta when they did. LaPorta caught a rookie tight end playoff record nine passes in his second game back from a knee injury, and Brock Wright slipped off a block for an important 29-yard gain before leaving with a forearm injury that likely will keep him out of next week’s NFC championship game. Jamel Dean made life tough on St. Brown for most of the first three quarters, but St. Brown (eight catches, 77 yards) converted a third-and-15 after Dean left with an injury and beat backup cornerback Zyon McCollum for a 9-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. St. Brown did have a drop on a would-be third-and-10 conversion, but he also made a tough catch on an early third-and-2 pickup and ran a nice option route to clear out safety Antoine Winfield on Josh Reynolds’ easy 9-yard touchdown catch in the first half. Grade: B-plus

Offensive line

Give Ragnow credit for handling the protection calls against one of the most complicated defenses in the NFL. Goff had ample time to throw most of the game and took just two sacks on 46 dropbacks. Ragnow didn’t miss a snap despite injuring his knee in the first half and made the key block against Vita Vea on Craig Reynolds’ TD run. Glasgow and Penei Sewell parted the hole on Gibb’s 31-yard TD, and Sewell had a nice pulling block on a 6-yard run by Gibbs early in the game that was a shoestring tackle away from being a long touchdown. Calijah Kancey did beat Glasgow for a sack just before halftime on a third-and-2 play, but the Lions finished with 114 yards rushing against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. Grade: A

Defensive line

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The Lions didn’t get much from their four-man pass rush Sunday. Aidan Hutchinson delivered the only impact play from the defensive front, when he sacked Baker Mayfield on third-and-4 on Tampa’s opening drive of the second half when he was left unblocked off the edge. Hutchinson had one other pressure on a third-and-10 incompletion, but the Bucs averaged 5.9 yards per carry before abandoning the run in the second half. Veteran defensive tackle Tyson Alualu was the Lions’ next most impactful lineman. Alualu hit Pro Bowl tackle Tristan Wirfs so he couldn’t kick out on screen block, when Hutchinson stopped Chris Godwin for no gain, and he had a pressure late in the third quarter when officials ruled Mayfield threw the ball away just before taking a sack (though replays showed Mayfield was down before he released the pass). Benito Jones also had a pressure to force an incompletion. Grade: B

Linebackers

Derrick Barnes made the defensive play of the game, intercepting a Mayfield pass with 1:33 to play to clinch the Lions' victory. Barnes finished with four tackles and pressured Mayfield into a third-and-5 incompletion with a blitz up the middle just before Chase McLaughlin missed a 50-yard field goal off the left upright. Alex Anzalone (six tackles) got caught on a pick play on Mayfield’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Cade Otton, but teamed with Cam Sutton to haul Chase Edmonds down just short of the sticks on a third-and-15 pass and made another third-and-10 stop just short of the sticks. The unit had some slip-ups against the run, including on Tampa’s first rush of the game, when Jack Campbell was pancaked on a 16-yard gain by Rachaad White. Grade: A-minus

Defensive backs

Sutton got beat twice by Mike Evans for long gains on Tampa’s touchdown drive just before halftime, but the secondary played one of its best games overall. The Lions got two huge plays from their secondary on Tampa’s opening drive. Ifeatu Melifonwu sacked Mayfield when he came unblocked off the edge on a safety blitz and C.J. Gardner-Johnson intercepted a pass that deflected off Evans’ hands when the Lions dropped eight into coverage on third-and-16 on the next play. Brian Branch also had a sack on a safety blitz in the first quarter, and Sutton had a nice pass breakup on the Bucs’ second drive. Melifonwu did miss a tackle on White on a third-and-6 conversion in the second quarter and he and Branch had back-to-back penalties in the second half. But Branch (nine tackles) had a TFL on a safety blitz in the third quarter, Kerby Joseph laid a big hit on Otton for pass breakup on the next snap and Sutton followed with good coverage on an incompletion to Evans on third down. Grade: A-minus

Special teams

Jack Fox netted 43.6 yards on his five punts, dropping three of them inside the 20-yard line, but he didn’t get a great kick on his 45-yarder that rolled dead at the Tampa 40 in the third quarter. Donovan Peoples-Jones averaged 9 yards on his two punt returns, but seemed to have more space than that and isn’t quite as electric with the ball in his hands as the injured Kalif Raymond. Michael Badgley did make his only field goal of the game from 23 yards. Grade: B-plus

Coaching

Dan Campbell inherited one of the worst rosters in the NFL when he took over as Lions coach on Jan. 21, 2021, and three years to the day of his introductory news conference, he led the Lions to a win that put them in the NFC championship game. Campbell’s leadership and the trust he’s built with players have played a huge part in the Lions’ success. He had his team dialed in for the second straight week in the playoffs and both of his coordinators put together winning game plans. Aaron Glenn, in particular, deserves recognition for a defensive plan of attack that made life difficult on Mayfield with its blitzes. I thought the Lions could have run the ball more early, and would like to see Gibbs more involved in the offense, but the Lions did put up 31 points against a defense that had allowed more than 27 points in a game just once all year. Grade: A

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions grades vs. Bucs: Offensive line sets tone for great day