Sunday recap: Who’s in penthouse, doghouse?
On Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions dropped their first contest with Darrell Bevell as the interim head man.
It wasn’t because of the play of quarterback Matthew Stafford, though.
He delivered a strong performance, completing 70.6 percent of his passes and throwing for nearly 250 yards (244).
As a result, he’ll be eating and hanging out inside the “Penthouse” for a second consecutive week.
Find out which Lions player is joining him in the Penthouse for Week 14 and which two individuals have a spot reserved for themselves inside the “Doghouse” this week by reading below.
Penthouse
Stafford more than deserved inclusion in the Penthouse. He played a clean game of football, and threw for a touchdown, to go along with zero interceptions and a 100.6 passer rating.
The aforementioned stat line earned the 12thyear passer the highest Pro Football Focus grade among all Detroit offensive players for the week (89.6 overall).
Most importantly, he gave the Lions a chance to win late in the game, leading Detroit on a 13-play, 75yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter that cut the team’s deficit to one touchdown, 28-21, with 6:30 to play.
He didn’t come out for the following drive due to a rib injury, but did everything in his power before then to will the Lions to victory.
For that, he’s got a spot in Detroit’s Week 14 Penthouse.
CB DARRYL ROBERTS
He was the Lions’ highest-graded defensive player in Week 14, according to PFF, with a 74.8 overall mark.
He accounted for a teamleading seven total tackles and one pass break-up.
He also allowed three catches on five passes thrown his way by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Expect him to continue to have a significant role in Detroit’s secondary the remainder of the season, with both Jeff Okudah and Desmond Trufant on injured reserve.
Doghouse
OT MATT NELSON
He had an unsteady day in his first career NFL start.
He got beat by Rashan Gary for a second-quarter sack of Stafford, and was called for a holding penalty late in the fourth quarter that negated a Chase Daniel rushing TD.
To be fair, he did contribute a key block on D’Andre Swift’s second- quarter, goal-line score.
However, it wasn’t a good enough overall game from the 2019 undrafted rookie free agent, earning him a room in the Doghouse for this week.
LB JAHLANA TAVAI
The second-year linebacker has struggled in pass coverage all season long, and did so once again on Sunday.
He was late on getting over to defend tight end Robert Tonyan on Rodgers’ final touchdown pass of the contest, and was also slow to the draw in reacting to a third-and-12 pass to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling earlier in the game.
It was far from a pretty day for the 2019 secondround pick, and subsequently, he’s the recipient of a spot in the Lions’ Wk. 14 Doghouse.