The Detroit Lions have a great opportunity today to win back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 4 & 5 while at the same time preventing the NFC's No. 1 seed Los Angeles Rams from clinching a playoff spot. It's an important contest for Detroit's playoff and division title hopes.
Here are five things to look out for in today's intra-conference matchup:
1. Facing another great WR duo
Make it two weeks in a row Detroit's defense has had to face a dynamic receiving duo. Last week it was Dallas' CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. This week it's Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, who have combined for 149 receptions, 1,904 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns. Adams has 14 touchdowns by himself to lead the NFL this season.
The Rams lead the NFL with 50 receptions of 20-plus yards on the year, and quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is on an MVP trajectory with 35 touchdown passes and only four interceptions, will give both Nacua and Adams ample opportunities to make plays on 50-50 balls throughout the course of a game.
Stafford's a veteran quarterback who knows where he wants to go with the football and he has the arm and accuracy to get it to any part of the field.
It will be up to D.J. Reed, Amik Robertson and the rest of Detroit's back seven to try and slow Nacua and Adams. Another good pass rush performance like we saw last week against the Cowboys would go a long way.
2. Getting Jahmyr Gibbs the football
The Rams have the league's No. 11 rushing defense, allowing on average 103.5 yards per game on the ground. Detroit has the No. 5 rushing offense led by Gibbs, who is fifth in the NFL with 1,052 rushing yards. His 13 rushing touchdowns are second most.
The Lions are also finding other ways to get Gibbs the football other than just handing it off to him. Detroit's been looking for another reliable weapon in the passing game since the team lost Pro Bowl tight end Sam LaPorta to a back injury Week 10. The last four games without LaPorta, Gibbs has been targeted 31 times and has 26 receptions for 247 yards and a touchdown. Gibbs has a career-high 58 catches with four games to go and has four games this season with at least 75 receiving yards.
"He's certainly filled some of those targets and catches for us, and he can just do so much," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. "And it's kind of like, he's just scratching the surface on his route running ability and what he can do out in the backfield. So, it's exciting and maybe continue to do that with him."
3. Stafford vs. the blitz
The Lions aren't a heavy blitz team but both their number of blitzes (115) and blitz percentage (23.5) rank in the top half of the league. Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has to be sure when he does bring extra pressure today, it either gets home or gets Stafford off his spot.
Stafford leads the NFL with a 121.8 passer rating when blitzed this season with 22 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He's been sacked just eight times when blitzed. Can the Lions get consistent pressure with their front four so they can play coverage and limit Stafford's one-on-one opportunities in the passing game? They had 19 total pressures and 5.0 sacks last week against Dallas, helping Al-Quadin Muhammad win NFC Defensive Player of the Week after a 3.0-sack night. They'll be looking for more of the same this week against a Rams' offense allowing the fewest sacks in the NFL this season (17).
4. Protecting Jared Goff
The Rams' defense ranks third in the NFL in points allowed (17.5), second in red-zone efficiency (42.5) and fifth in takeaways (21). A lot of those numbers are a direct result of the ability and chaos created by a strong defensive front in Los Angeles. The Rams have generated 36 sacks on the year, sixth most in the NFL this season, despite the fact they blitz only 18.8 percent of the time, third lowest in the league.
Byron Young leads the Rams with 11.0 sacks and Jared Verse has chipped in 6.0 with Kobie Turner adding 4.5.
"The D-line's really good," Goff said this week. "They get after guys, and our O-line's ready for the challenge, they are, but that D-line has been building that for a few years now and they're starting to come together now."
5. Three in a row for Jamo?
After not catching a pass in Detroit's Nov. 23 overtime win over the Giants, wide receiver Jameson Williams has combined to catch 14 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown the last two games vs. Green Bay and Dallas.
Williams is closing in on his second straight 1,000-yard season and the comfort level between him and Goff seems to have taken a big leap forward the last couple weeks starting on Thanksgiving against the Packers when the Lions lost All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in the first quarter to an ankle injury. Williams is making plays all over the field with back-to-back games with seven receptions apiece.
"The way he works, the way he wants to put in the work, he wants to know what he can do better," Goff said of Williams. "And then he shows up on Sundays like he has been the last handful of weeks. It's like St. Brown out there, it's like who else do you want at receiver making those plays at the end of the game? I'm lucky to have them both and he's playing really well right now."
