Lions-Colts Recap: Who’s in the penthouse, doghouse?
The Lions got walloped by the Indianapolis Colts, 41-21, Sunday, leading to discussion that Matt Patricia & Co. are once again playoff pretenders.
Matthew Stafford failed to play clean football when the game was on the line, and the defense reverted to its old ways, failing to get enough consistent pressure on Indianapolis veteran passer Philip Rivers and being unable to stop Colts running back Jordan Wilkins.
But, still, there were a couple of players deserving of being in the highly- coveted penthouse after their Week 8 performances.
Without further ado, here are my penthouse and doghouse selections for the week that was.
Penthouse
The fourth-year receiver had himself a day on Sunday.
Kenny Golladay exited the contest prematurely with a hip ailment, and Hall stepped in and delivered a career-best performance.
He recorded a career-high four receptions for 113 yards, and was the recipient of a 73-yard bomb from Matthew Stafford in the fourth quarter.
Sure, the catch came in garbage time, and you can also make the argument that veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. belongs in the Penthouse for hauling in two touchdown catches.
However, the 27-year- old Hall has never had the opportunity to live it up in the penthouse before.
So, let’s allow him to have some fun this week and just hope that he doesn’t party too hard.
LB JAMIE COLLINS
Collins was one of the lone bright spots on defense Sunday, and once again was by far Detroit’s most productive linebacker.
He was about the only defender that kept Colts running back Jordan Wilkins in check (20 rushes for 89 yards and a TD), and he ended up accumulating 10 total tackles, including two tackles for loss, on the day.
And before Wilkins took over No. 1 running back duties for the
afternoon, Collins played a big role in stymieing Indianapolis rookie back Jonathan Taylor (11 rushes for 22 yards).
He’s more than deserving of access to the penthouse for this week.
Doghouse
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
Stafford was the source of two costly turnovers on Sunday against the Colts.
With the Lions’ defense playing as poorly as it was, Stafford had to play a clean game of football, and
failed to do so.
His first of two errors came late in the third quarter when Indianapolis linebacker Darius Leonard strip-sacked him, resulting in an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive for the Colts that made it a two-score game, 28-14.
If the game wasn’t already over at that point, it definitely was after Stafford’s next turnover.
On Detroit’s subsequent offensive possession, Stafford threw a completely inexcusable pick-six. There were no Detroit receivers in the area where he threw the football, and the interception ultimately put the game out of reach.
It was a disappointing performance for Stafford, who failed to build off the clutch, fourth-quarter comeback he orchestrated in Week 7 against the Atlanta Falcons.
Shelton might have logged five total tackles, including a tackle for loss, two quarterback hits and a sack in the Lions’ Week 8 contest.
However, his sack of the Colts’ Philip Rivers in the second quarter was all but negated as the result of committing a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on the play.
If he hadn’t committed the penalty, the sack would’ve resulted in fourth down for Indianapolis.
But, instead, the Colts got a first down out of it, and scored three plays later on a Rivers touchdown pass to tight end Jack Doyle.
It was an unfortunate mistake by Shelton that proved to be costly, and it earned him a spot in the doghouse for this week.