Detroit Lions 'set the tone' in SNF victory over Los Angeles Rams | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

okay the Lions burned some Rams eventually it it felt for a while like the lions were going to find a way to blow it and the Rams were going to find a way to steal it even with the injuries and Matthew Stafford getting banged around and here's Dan cble coach of the Lions after Detroit pulled off the overtime Victory on the Rams and Stafford and the tenacity that ultimately was required by the home team to get the victory you know there's a lot of I I respect it I do I respect it and that quarterback man Stafford I thought played lights out man and and played tough and hit after hit get just kept getting up and making unbelievable throws so um I just give them a lot of credit they did they fought now um but but we're hard to break so we did what we had to do and uh you know our defense held there uh before that fox makes a heck of a punt and uh defense holds off defense we get it back and uh you know get it in overtime we win the toss and and we don't look back so we eventually found our Rhythm we did what we had to do and I said it earlier in the week the team that makes the most mistakes is the one who usually loses these early games and uh we made one less mistake and and uh so now we just got to improve from there look there are still 16 games for both teams to play but that was a big one to get the victory to have two playoff rematches at home to start the season to have the Lions host the Rams and the Bucks backtack weeks to get things started yeah that that that kind of sets the tone for whether or not you're able to at least try to match what you did last year and obviously the Lions would like to get one step farther but they had to take care of business and the Rams aren't going away the question is can they keep from falling apart physically right cuz that's we talked about Lamar Jackson you're not going to make it through a full season playing like that at least he's fine after the game the Rams are already banged up they were banged up going they were already which is crazy right they don't play in the preseason and they were banged up going in anyways I I think I do want to start there and just give the Rams like you know a little bit of credit for being tough and hanging in there last night Matthew Stafford Ma I mean Dan Campbell said it right played phenomenal I mean they're down to what their fourth and fifth tackles playing in the football game they lose pukaa who probably is their best receiver on their football team and that's no disrespect to Cooper Cup who's still awesome right but I mean it either way they're both great to lose him is a big deal and then yes lose him on top of the fact that yeah we're missing offensive lineman and we had a guard go out in the game so we can't run the ball so we have to pass the ball and now we don't have pukaa to do that so McVey Stafford tough way to go way to hang in there way to pull it off but Dan Campbell said it right and I can't even believe believe I'm saying this but like the Detroit Lions are become one of those teams where I I never felt like they were going to lose the game last night even when they were losing I just went well they're going to make a stop and they'll get down there and who knows they might score a touchdown at the end of regulation and win this thing they've done that that's the the culture turnaround Dan Campbell has done Dan Campbell Jared goff's toughness Aaron Glenn on the sideline Ben Johnson and Mark Brunell they got a bunch of real football people who were just they don't buling and I I just think that shows and it wasn't their best game last night uh but it all came together at the right time and yeah they didn't play good second half football but they played good late third quarter and overtime football to put it away we had video of Matthew Stafford getting that ankle taped you could see his left hand he had some sort of a thumb thing that happened during camp and the hand was wrapped the glove was on it and Campbell made the comment that the more you hit him the better he plays and he had that one throw where it wasn't no look it was like unconscious like he wasn't even trying to look like he just was getting rid of the ball he just knows where it is knows exactly to where it needed to go he's the inventor of the no look pass he needs to get respect for that he really but it's like a higher level than no look cuz it's not like he deliberately did it to 41 it was just I got to get rid of out and I know where this guy is went perfectly to where it was supposed to go he's he's extremely gifted I mean one of the greatest throwers we've ever seen in the history of the NFL his hand eye and ability to flick the ball and do stuff like that is up there with all the alltime grades that we've ever seen so yeah they had to ride him and that that was the problem with the football game that they had to ride him too much last night that that is not going to be sustainable either I think to your point and Lamar Jackson and all that if they have to drop back and throw the ball 50 times a game they threw at 49 last night with with Matthew Stafford a quarterback yeah this is not going to be a recipe for success that's where they need to get that offensive line healthy and got one of the best backs in football and K Kiren Williams and lean on that a little bit and then of course that takes pressure off of Matthew Stafford and everything there but a lot of respect to them especially new D coordinator and hey the one thing I worried about and I know you worried about it too was the fact that I thought Detroit's o line might steamroll them like they did in overtime right I thought that might be the whole the whole night and I'll give uh schula the new defensive coordinator a lot of respect they look like they had a good game plan they play tough and physical always that's the one thing McVey and the Rams always do and maybe don't get enough credit but those young guys on the front seven showed up so respect to them but the lions are arguably the best roster in football they believe in themselves as much as any team in football maybe other than the Kansas City Chiefs and we saw that you know kind of come to a head there late in the football game and it's going to be tough to beat them in that building the Rams definitely miss Aaron Donald and he showed up at the USC game on Saturday night wearing a t-shirt that said at the top always ready and one of the things I was doing because we had segments to fill Thursday night and Friday night with some news in advance of just reacting to what happened on Sunday which we do every Sunday night on football night America I was poking around is there a chance Aaron Donald comes back and it came back with nothing it came back inconclusive but always wait a few week always ready well it depends on what the Rams do too sure but it's also that attitude of football season's here it's moving on without me I can still play right he didn't want to commit to the whole offse the crazy knives routine even though they weren't real knives like he was always working always busting his ass the question is how much does he retain if he didn't do all that can he still go and he looks like he can still go but that was one of the things I was chasing and when I saw that always ready on top of that t-shirt that he was wearing on Saturday night at the USC game I and they missed him especially on that overtime Drive Lions cred itat helped because Lions had driven down theing field goal at the end of the game win the toss there's still an issue with overtime I just think in the regular season you've got to get the game over with and if you score a touchdown on the first possession that's that right right but it still stins that Stafford didn't get the ball and get a flip of a coin determines a game yes that's the problem yep that's right but there's a lot of high paid players on that Rams defense and people there and they're profession professional and they got to they got to stop them from scoring a touchdown but I think ultimately I think all the things you talked about they're a little bit smaller up front it's not a huge front seven they got some young guys there's no Aaron Donald there right they traded away one of their middle linebackers a few weeks ago uh they got some new guys in the secondary and I think they just got finally a little bit worn down by the size and the physicality of this Lions football team let alone the Lions didn't play their starters or or anybody the whole preseason and I bet by the end of this game the offensive line finally started to get in some sync with how they were blocking the calls they're making at the line of scrimmage how the Rams are playing it and we all saw it come you know to light with David Montgomery and Gibbs and everybody on that last Drive remember that talk yeah in the late preseason right around training camp not even preseason but it was late offseason right alond ra St Brown was going to give jir Gibbs whatever he wanted if he had a thousand the sun rushing yards and a thousand receiving yards dude did you forget about David Montgomery like Montgomery had 17 carries for 91 yards last night Gibbs only had 40 yards rushing he added 34 receiving it's hard to get a thousand and a thousand if you're going have 74 yards from scrimmage week one but David Montgomery is said this isn't jir Gibbs is becoming Christian mcaffrey or Marshall Falcon his prime you've still got another guy there and look at what Montgomery did late in the game with the game on the line just pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding and to have that element where you have both guys that helps you have the kind of offense the Rams don't look at what the Rams didn't do running the ball what Blake km Blake K didn't have a rushing attack no well they got a stud there at running back and I think you know they I I Aver 2.8 last night though KY Williams 2.8 I know well they couldn't open up a hole it wasn't like there was something there and he couldn't make it happen or anything it it was interesting approach they took they didn't have their a lot of their starting offensive Lin instead of trying to run the ball against that front they just said we're going to give it to Stafford and we'll get the ball out quick early and they basically used the short passing game as a substitute to the Run game is what they did hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk