The Detroit Lions suffered their worst loss of the season against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7. In the 38-6 loss, they were thoroughly outplayed on both offense and defense.
Two of the best young coordinators in the game right now, Lions' Ben Johnson and Ravens' Mike Macdonald, went head to head, and only one came out unscathed. Dan Campbell and Johnson will go back to the drawing board while still feeling good about their 5-2 record in the NFC.
The Ravens, fielding a nearly healthy team for the first time in what feels like forever, can boast one of the most complete playoff-contending squads in the league. No notes for the well-oiled Ravens,
The Lions, who looked enfeebled nearly all game, will be disappointed in these particular players' performances.
Here are three Lions who were exposed in the humiliating Week 7 loss.
3. Jared Goff
Turns out Jared Goff Under Pressure and Jared Goff Not Under Pressure are two extremely different quarterbacks.
Heading into Week 7, Goff was legitimately gaining steam as an MVP candidate. He had 1,618 yards and 11 touchdowns and was recording a career-high 69.5 pass completion rate.
His stats took a hit on Sunday when the Ravens blitzed the living lights out of the former Cal quarterback.
Goff was sacked five times and pressured 16 times. According to NextGen Stats, Goff went 8-for-16 for 82 yards and had one interception when under pressure.
Goff made some nice throws to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta, and finding Jahmyr Gibbs for easy check-downs helped relieve some of the pressure in the passing game. By and large, however, Goff did not deliver. He looked nervous and shaken up in the pocket against Baltimore's rejuvenated pass-rush featuring Odafe Oweh and Jadeveon Clowney and just seemed suffocated all game.
The Lions will hope Goff calms his nerves by the time next week's Raiders matchup comes around.
2. Jameson Williams
Jameson Williams was targeted six times and didn't record a single catch in the loss against the Ravens.
In his defense, the stats don't tell the whole story. On two of his targets, the Ravens arguably got away with a defensive pass interference, and on another, Williams had to make a difficult adjustment to Goff's pass.
Also in his defense, the Lions have been extremely inconsistent in their usage of Williams. He'll play a few snaps and then sit for chunks of the game.
If the Lions are serious about wanting to develop Williams, they have to give him more consistent looks. At the same time, Williams did struggle with drops in the preseason, and having zero catches on six targets isn't acceptable. Even if he got most of his playing time in the garbage minutes, Williams has to do better.
1. Run defense
NFL analysts were stumped when the Lions topped defensive rankings to start the season. The players didn't match the picture -- what was going on?
The Lions owned the No. 2 run defense and No. 6 pass defense in the NFL entering Sunday's game.
In one half alone, the Ravens absolutely demolished them, especially on the ground. The Lions hadn't given up 100 rushing yards in a game all year; in the first half, the Lions gave up that many yards to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
In total, Detroit allowed 353 scrimmage yards, 18 first downs, and 28 points in one half. That's incredibly tough to come back from, and a lot of the blame shifts to the Lions' defensive line for not holding its own in the trenches.
It was a well-known fact that the Ravens ranked as one of the top rushing teams in the NFL. Unfortunately, Aaron Glenn couldn't come up with a good enough game plan to stop Lamar Jackson and company, and the Lions will go home bruised from this one.
Onto the next.
