Grading Detroit Lions' win over Chiefs: Gutsy Dan Campbell gets A for another fake punt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 21-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night:

Quarterback

The Lions managed just two scores on offense against a Chiefs team playing without its best defender, but I thought Jared Goff played well overall. He was 22-for-35 passing for 253 yards and made a handful of big throws with the game in the balance, including a third-and-12 completion to Josh Reynolds when he stood in the pocket and took a hit as he delivered the ball. Goff wasn’t perfect. He threw behind Amon-Ra St. Brown on one third down, one play after he completed a 20-yard laser to Kalif Raymond on second-and-22 in the shadow of his end zone, and he may have been at fault for the timeout the Lions wasted after a kick in the second quarter. But he navigated a tough road environment without a turnover and led the offense on a late touchdown drive with the game in the balance. Grade: A-minus.

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Running backs

David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have the potential to be one of the best running back tandems in the NFL. Montgomery averaged just 3.5 yards per carry Thursday, but he scored the game-winning touchdown with a nifty 7-yard touchdown, when he sidestepped one tackler in tight quarters, and he iced the game when the Lions went to their 4-minute offense. Gibbs broke four tackles on his first three carries, including two on his 17-yard run on the Lions’ first touchdown drive. He plays at one speed — fast. Montgomery was solid in pass protection, and fullback Jason Cabinda had a nice block off a run-action fake when he slid to the back side of the formation to clip a blocker and give Goff time to complete a 21-yard pass to St. Brown. Grade: A-minus.

Receivers/tight ends

St. Brown was his usual consistent self with six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, and Reynolds delivered two key fourth-quarter catches on the Lions’ last touchdown drive. On his 33-yard catch two plays before Montgomery’s TD, he ran a sharp comeback route then blew past L’Jarius Snead on his way upfield. But the Lions got minimal production from the rest of their receiving corps, and Marvin Jones lost a crucial fumble — the first of his career — in the second quarter, dropped one pass and had another sail through his hands. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta (five catches, 39 yards) had the key insert block on Montgomery’s TD run to help get him in the end zone, and the perimeter blocking overall was key to the Lions’ 118-yard rushing performance. Grade: C-plus.

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Offensive line

Goff had plenty of time in the pocket, thanks to a line that mostly played up to its potential as one of the NFL’s best. The Chiefs had four quarterback hits — one when Snead came unblocked on a corner blitz — and one sack, when Mike Danna beat Jonah Jackson straight upfield then stopped on a dime to corral Goff as he stepped up in the pocket. Frank Ragnow had a premature snap that hit motion man Brock Wright, which Goff was fortunate to recover for a 10-yard loss, and a snap infraction, and Penei Sewell was called for a personal foul that was part of offsetting penalties. Grade: B-plus.

Defensive line

The Lions didn’t have a single sack on Patrick Mahomes, but they got enough pressure on the two-time MVP to keep Kansas City’s Travis Kelce-less offense off track. Aidan Hutchinson had three quarterback hits in the first half, drew a holding penalty on guard Trey Smith and was most effective on interior rushing in sub packages. Hutchinson tackled Mahomes just short of the sticks on one third-down scramble, but gave up the edge when he tried a spin move that didn’t work on a third-and-6. Collectively, the line was a tad too loose with its rush lanes in the first half, when Mahomes ran for 27 yards on four scrambles. Josh Paschal made a huge tackle-for-loss when the Chiefs tried a third-and-1 trick play late. He was barely touched on the play, but gets extra credit for defending the jet sweep after Kansas City showed the same formation in the preseason on a tight end sneak up the middle. Benito Jones nearly gave the Chiefs a free first down on the play, but Kansas City didn’t get the snap off in time to catch him offsides. Grade: A-minus.

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Linebackers

No linebacker is likely to put up huge numbers if the Lions rotate at the position like they did Thursday. Alex Anzalone tied for the team lead with six tackles as the one every-down player in the unit, and Derrick Barnes (six tackles) played well as the other starter. Anzalone guessed wrong on Mahomes’ second touchdown pass, when he left Blake Bell open at the goal line, and Malcolm Rodriguez and Jack Campbell got beat in man coverage for first-down catches in the first half. Campbell bit on a double move, when Rashee Rice faked a curl that turned into a drag and a 25-yard gain over the middle, but also made a great diving pass breakup in the middle of the field one play before Brian Branch’s pick-six. Collectively, Kansas City’s running backs had just 45 yards rushing on 14 carries. Grade: A-minus.

Defensive backs

Branch’s pick-six, which deflected off Kadarius Toney, was the kind of game-changing play the Lions needed when Mahomes appeared to be heating up, and the Lions would have had more turnovers had C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jerry Jacobs held onto near-picks. Mahomes had a modest day with 226 yards passing, but I counted at least five drops by his receivers. The Lions also had some communication issues in their secondary in the first half. Jacobs and Gardner-Johnson didn’t properly pass off receivers on Mahomes’ touchdown pass to Rice, Branch and Kerby Joseph weren’t on the same page on a long third-down conversion in the first half and Jacobs appeared to be playing zone while his safety help was expecting him to be in man on the 26-yard pass before Bell’s touchdown. Cam Sutton was flagged for pass interference, though the Lions argued the contact was incidental. Grade: B.

Special teams

If it’s a big game, you can almost bet the Lions are going to try to steal a possession with a fake on special teams. They did that Thursday, executing a direct-snap run by personal protector Jalen Reeves-Maybin on a gutsy call from their own 17. Jack Campbell and Brock Wright had key blocks up front on the run. Khalil Dorsey handled kick returns (though they were all touchbacks) and had two tackles as a gunner on the punt team. He nearly forced a fumble with one hit, and made a great hustle tackle when he sprang to his feet after getting blocked to the ground to pull Richie James down from behind. And Jack Fox landed three of his five punts inside the 20 without a touchback. Grade: A

Coaching

Dan Campbell has made an art out of calling fakes at the right time, and his decision-making is empowering to his players. The Lions have the most talented roster they’ve had in a long time, and they came into Thursday’s game believing they were going to win and establish themselves as one of the NFL's best teams. I didn’t like the decision to decline a defensive holding penalty and play a second-and-2 rather than have a first down and I was surprised Campbell punted on fourth-and-3 from the Chiefs’ 40 in the second half. But the Lions played complementary football, didn’t have an enforced penalty in the first half and made the proper adjustments to take Mahomes’ scrambling away after halftime. In one of the NFL's toughest road environments, they looked like a well-coached team. 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. Kansas City Chiefs: Dan Campbell earns an A