Detroit Lions vs Miami Recap Week 7 2018
DETROIT LIONS AT MIAMI DOLPHINS RECAP
The following is from the Detroit Lions’ 32-21 win against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018.
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
Michael Roberts with 9:12 remaining in the quarter. K Matt Prater converted the extra point to give the Lions a 7-0 lead.Second Quarter: K Matt Prater connected on a 29-yard field goal with 12:34 remaining in the quarter to give the Lions a 10-0 lead.Second Quarter: RB LeGarrette Blount scored on a two-yard touchdown rush with 1:02 left in the half. K Matt Prater added the extra point to extend the lead to 17-7.Third Quarter: K Matt Prater made a 28-yard field goal to extend Detroit’s lead to 20-7 with 8:32 remaining in the quarter.Third Quarter: QB Matthew Stafford threw a four-yard touchdown to TE Michael Roberts with 3:16 left in the third quarter to make the score 26-14. The two-point attempt was no good. Fourth Quarter: K Matt Prater connected on a 35-yard field goal with 10:04 to push the lead to 29-14.Fourth Quarter: K Matt Prater finished the scoring with a 50-yard field goal with 1:55 left to make the score 32-21. TEAM NOTESThe Lions…Started the game with temperatures of 89 degrees, tied for the hottest game at the time of kickoff in Lions’ history.Scored a touchdown on their first possession for the first time this season while snapping Miami’s streak of 13 consecutive games without allowing an opening drive touchdown.Scored 17 points in their 15th-straight game, the longest streak in franchise history and longest active streak in the NFL. The Lions have scored 24-plus points in five consecutive games, the longest active streak by an NFC team. This is the first time the Lions have scored at least 24 points in five straight games since the doing so in the 2011-12 seasons.Recorded at least two sacks in 10 consecutive games dating back to last season, the longest active streak in the NFLHad a fifth player (DT Ricky Jean Francois) produce a multi-sack game this season, the most in the NFL.Recorded 248 rushing yards as a team, the most since logging 249 rushing yards vs. Indianapolis on Nov. 23, 1997.Finished the game with a 7.1 rushing average on 35 carries. The last time the Lions averaged at least 7.0 yards per carry on at least 35 attempts was on Nov. 24, 1991.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
RB KERRYON JOHNSON
Finished the day in career highs with 19 attempts for 158 yards (8.3 avg.). Added two receptions for 21 yards to finish with a career-most 179 yards from scrimmage.Recorded 100 rushing yards in the first half, becoming the first Lions player to do so since Reggie Bush on Sept. 29, 2013. Johnson joined Isaiah Crowell as the only running backs to rush for 100 yards in the first half of a game this season. Johnson became only the fifth rookie running back to have multiple 100-yard games in Lions history.Notched a 71-yard rush in the second quarter. The rush was the longest by a Lions player since Jahvid Best had an 88-yarder in 2011. The rush is the second-longest by an NFL player this season and the longest by a rookie.Became only the fourth player in team history to rush for at least 155 yards on less than 20 carries. The last Lions player to do so was Jahvid Best on Oct. 10, 2011.His 179 yards from scrimmage were the most by a Lions rookie since Jahvid Best produced 232 yards vs. Philadelphia on Sept. 19, 2010.
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
Finished the day 18-of-22 passing for 217 yards and two touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 138.1.Stafford has now logged a passer rating of 100.0-or-higher in five straight games. This mark is the longest streak in team history and longest active streak in the NFL.Threw two touchdowns to reach 228 in his career, passing Aaron Rodgers (226) for the seventh-most touchdown passes a player has thrown in his first 10 seasons. He also reached 3,149 career completions, passing Drew Brees (3,145) for the fourth-most completions by a player in his first 10 seasons.Completed his fourth career game with multiple touchdowns and a completion percentage of 80.0-or-higher while attempting at least 20 passes.
DT RICKY JEAN FRANCOIS
Finished with four tackles (three solo) and 2.0 sacks.Notched his first sack with the Lions on Miami’s first drop-back of the game.Tied a career-high with 2.0 sacks, matching the career-high he set on Nov. 24, 2013.
TE MICHAEL ROBERTS
Finished with career highs in receptions (three), receiving yards (48) and touchdowns (two).Caught a 15-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Dating back to Week 2, Roberts caught touchdowns on two consecutive passes (inactive Weeks 3-5). This marks the first touchdown streak of Roberts’ career. He later added a four-yard score in the third quarter.Became the first Lions tight end to record 45-plus receiving yards and two touchdowns in a game since Ulysses Norris did so on Sept. 11, 1983.
RB LeGARRETTE BLOUNT
Recorded 10 carries for 50 yards (5.0 avg.) and one touchdown. His 50 rushing yards are the most he’s had as a Lion.Recorded a touchdown rush in the second consecutive game. His teams are 34-7 all-time when Blount rushes for a touchdown.
DE ROMEO OKWARA
Finished with a season-best six tackles (five solo) and 1.0 sack.Extended his career-best sack streak to three games.
WR GOLDEN TATE
Finished with a team-leading four receptions for 36 yards and one rush for 30 yards. His 30-yard rush was the longest of his career.Caught three passes in a game for the 34th-straight game.Became the third wide receiver in team history to record at least 30 rushing and receiving yards in the same game and the first since Calvin Johnson did so on Dec. 27, 2009.
K MATT PRATER
Finished 4-of-4 on field goals and converted two extra points to finish with 14 points. This marks his second game with 14 points this season.His four converted field goals tie for the second-most he’s ever made in a game, the 11th time he’s made at least four field goals in a game.
LB JARRAD DAVIS
Finished with a team-high seven tackles (six solo) and one sack. Davis now has 3.0 sacks this season, a career high.
HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA
Q. Obviously, when you can run the football like that, it just sets the tone for the entire game from start to finish. That was a big part of this game. Talk about how proud you are of that aspect.
MATT PATRICIA: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a really good defensive front. They’re coached really well. They’re a very attacking style defense and very talented defense. We knew it was going to be a big challenge for us up front. Really happy for our guys and the offensive side of the ball being able to do a good job in the run game, especially up front. I thought they did a good job trying to execute their assignments. There’s definitely those some hidden blocks in there, I think. They o-line did a great job. The wide receivers, the tight ends, those guys have some of those outside blocks that are pretty difficult to make and they’re trying to go in and get some moving parts. I think the running backs did a good job. All in all, you like to see that kind of effort and success.
Q. You’ve got some athletic guys up there and the ability. Frank Ragnow one time I think on the 71-yard run was able to pull around, get a really key block there. How important is the athleticism part of those guys like you mentioned getting outside, getting to the second level and creating some of those blocks for those guys?
MATT PATRICIA: Definitely those guys do that and make those difficult blocks or get out into space and operate at that level. Obviously, it’s good for us in those situations. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into that. Jeff Davidson is doing a great job with that group and T. J. Lang leads the charge there with those guys. They come to work every single day. They try to do everything they can to get better and really learning the techniques. I know I’ve talked about that for a while, but an example, like you said, some of those outside pulls, like there’s a specific technique that’s involved with those and it takes time to kind of learn. So we got a lot of work left to do there. Obviously, it’s not a finished product, but just happy those guys did a good job with the execution of it today.
Q. Obviously, you have a great running back in Kerryon Johnson, dual running backs, good up front, the trio that you have at receiver. When you get the production from the tight end position that you did with Michael Roberts and some of the other guys today, just how dangerous of an offense are you when you’ve got all that working together?
MATT PATRICIA: Look, when you go out and you can execute and do it the right way, it looks really good. We’ve seen it when it doesn’t look so good the other way. We’re just going to keep working to improve. That’s our biggest thing is every week is to try to build and get better and we certainly have. I think we have four good running backs, good fullback, good tight ends and wide receivers. So, I think they’re just all trying to work as hard as they can to get better and that’s the biggest thing.
Q. How did you prepare for the heat? You seemed like you handled it pretty well.
MATT PATRICIA: For our guys, we’ve been working really hard with our conditioning since the spring and knowing that there’s going to be a point where in the season it’s hard to work on the conditioning part of it, so you have to go into the season in as good of shape as possible. I think we did that during training camp, too. We’re going to try to maintain it. It was hot, but look, in the end, we’re playing the Dolphins, we’re not playing the weather. And it was important for us to just focus on the opponent. That’s the biggest challenge.
Q. What about Ameer Abdullah being able to step in? We saw him last week in a limited role, but you’ve always preached next guy up and guys being ready and for him to be able to step in and make plays.
MATT PATRICIA: Ameer, this guy works so hard at practice every single day, and he’s trying to make us better on both sides of the ball and really just does a great job of coming to work every single day and being a professional and attacking it the right way and knowing that whatever the opportunity is or whatever the role – could be offense, special teams, whatever it is – we know he’s going to go in there and do and give us everything he’s got. I fully trust him to get it done, so it’s great to see that.
Q. Big decision there for the extra point and the two-point conversion. What went behind that decision?
MATT PATRICIA: Standard operation there with the points. That’s what it is. That’s what you should do in that situation.
Q. I apologize if you were asked this. When you have that kind of running game, what does it do for the rest of the offense and Matthew Stafford?
MATT PATRICIA: We’re always going to try to be balanced the best we can. We want to be able to run it if we have to and throw it when we have to do that. It was good to see the run game be productive today. I kind of mentioned a little before, it’s a really good front. They’re very talented, very well coached. They do a great job up there. Defensively they load the box, so it’s hard to run against those guys. Just proud of our guys for executing, going out and doing a good job with their assignments and getting a hat on a hat and just trying to block them. So give our guys credit. I think they did a good job.
Q. A lot about the offense, but what did you think of your defense? Special teams as well. Matt Prater hit four. How key is that to have a guy like that, that you trust?
MATT PATRICIA: No doubt. Look, all three phrases working together, that’s what you always want to see. It’s hard. That’s a really good team, really good on special teams and very explosive and outstanding on offense. Coach Gase does a great job with them, and we know how dangerous they are. Obviously you could see it. You have one mistake or one bad play or just even one angle that’s not necessarily the best, and it’s a touchdown; it’s points. So when you’re playing a team like that, you have to be extremely careful about your assignments and what you’re doing. Just proud of the whole team working hard this week. It’s tough to come off a bye week and get back in the swing of things. I thought that I was glad to see us come out and start fast and get going.
Q. The heat didn’t seem to bother you at all, but a lot of the guys said you do laps around, try and get your body heat up before going through drills and before doing stuff. Was that part of the plan?
MATT PATRICIA: Yeah, we were just trying to do a good job in practice and make sure we’re ready to go. Yeah, there might have been some of that in there.
Q. Specifically about Matt Prater, too, and having a guy like that and how much confidence you have in him. Maybe that changes up your coaching decisions too?
MATT PATRICIA: Absolutely. He’s obviously outstanding at what he does, and he’s one of the best in the league and fully trust him to tell me where he’s at and what he feels he can execute. We’re just going to go out and take that and go from there. Obviously huge plays for us in the game with him, and at the end there, obviously, that’s a big one and helps us out. Proud of him for being able to go out and execute that.
MATTHEW STAFFORD
Q. It seemed like you handled the heat pretty well today. How did you prepare for that and your offense was able to move the ball.
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, we just tried to push ourselves this week in practice. We can’t turn 40 back at home to 87 out here, so we just tried to push ourselves and make sure that we were ready for it. Everybody hydrated, did a good job, and we were playing another football team, not playing the weather. So it was nice to come down here, play well and get out of here with a win.
Q. Did you see anything in prep during the week that indicated that you might be able to gash them the way you did on the ground today?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: No. I think we were just trying to put ourselves in good position. The run game is about angles and numbers and space. You go into every week feeling decent about your plan and feeling good about it. This week was no different. Our guys just went out there and executed really well.
Q. You guys have a great running back obviously; a number of great running backs, a very good trio of receivers as well. When you get that tight end position and TE Michael Roberts going, how dangerous is that when you’ve got that position working for you?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, we have a lot of different guys that have a lot of different talents, and (Offensive Coordinator) Jim Bob (Cooter) is doing a great job of scheming them up and getting them in some positions to make plays. I was just happy that we executed today. That’s what it comes down to. We can have a great plan, we can have great players; if we don’t go out there throw and catch, block and run, it’s going to be a long day, so it was nice to do all of that stuff well.
Q. This is a pretty jumbled up race right now in the NFC North. There’s still a lot of the season left, but what do you think ultimately is going to determine it, I guess?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: I’m not even thinking about that at all, to tell you the truth. It’s the last thing on my mind. I’m just trying to prepare each week to go out and play well, dive into what our plan is and go out and execute and lead this team. We’ll figure that out at a later date. At the moment, I’m just trying to play good football.
Q. This is a pretty big one for you guys, isn’t it?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah. This is a really good team that plays really well at home. They had a couple of guys back on defense that really gave them some juice and energy. Obviously (Cameron) Wake came back today and ‘28’ (Bobby McCain) as well, so it was good to go out there and execute and play at a high level against a really good group.
Q. A lot has been made of the heat during the game. What was your impression of it?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Oh, it was hot. (Laughter). That’s true; but we were able to overcome it. I thought our guys up front did a good job. Everybody was trying to hydrate as much as they could, get an I.V. if you need it, the whole deal. But I mean, we’ve got guys from all over the place. We play from Detroit, but we’ve got guys from Florida, Texas, all sorts of hot places that are used to it and know what it’s about. I thought our guys did a good job. Our training staff and coaching staff did a good job of prepping us.
Q. The problems in the running game throughout your career have been well documented. This is the best running performance since 1997 as a team. What are your thoughts on that?
MATTHEW STAFFORD: Yeah, it was awesome. I haven’t been a part of too many like that. We kind of did it every which way. We had some just efficient runs. We had some massive runs. We had some second down that got first down runs. We kind of did all of it. There’s still things we can clean up, things we can be better at. Situationally, I didn’t think we finished in the red zone as well as we could have today, but I was proud of the way our guys played.
RB KERRYON JOHNSON
Q. This is the most rushing yards for this team since 1997. What’s it like to be part of something like that? Obviously, you had to feel pretty good.
KERRYON JOHNSON: I think just as a team it makes it a lot better for everyone. I feel like Matt (Stafforf) feels like he doesn’t have as much pressure on him. Our o-line knows what they’re capable of doing. Our defense knows that we can go on sustained drives. I think as a team it just helps everybody mentally, and obviously it helps us win games, and we just got to keep going.
Q. You’ve broken out on a couple plays on your first carry of each of the last three games. Is that a coincidence or is there something schematically you guys are doing?
KERRYON JOHNSON: We want to start fast. We knew coming into this stadium this is a very good team at home. It showed through the whole season. They don’t lose at home. They play very well at home. They play very well for four quarters at home. So we knew when that fourth quarter comes what they’re about. So we got to get out fast and we got to finish strong. So we wanted to come out here and get the first quarter going fast, and we just took it upon ourselves to do that.
Q. Matthew Stafford said that guys are used to playing in the heat because they come from everywhere. How does this compare to when you played in it in college?
KERRYON JOHNSON: This is the same stuff I’ve been doing for years, since I was a little boy. Been out there in Detroit freezing my tail off, and finally got to feel the sun and heat and humidity. I was loving it. So I took advantage of every second I could just looking at the warmth, and now it’s back to Detroit.
Q. What does it feel like running 71 yards, though, in these kind of conditions, 110 degrees, I think? KERRYON JOHNSON: 71 yards – don’t know if this is just me – 71 yards is 71 yards in any condition in my opinion. So obviously you get your breath back. This is what we train for. This is what we went through fall camp for. This is what we condition for in practice. This is what we train for. This is what Coach Patricia wants us to be able to play in. You can’t control who you play, but you can control how you play them. So we want to play Miami; we don’t want to play Miami and the heat. We want to play just one of them, so we did that today.
Q. Did anyone give you a hard time about getting caught from behind?
KERRYON JOHNSON: Look, since high school I’ve been caught from behind enough times for me to know that’s how it happens in life. But I haven’t ran 71 yards in a long time, so I was proud of myself. I was proud of myself.
Q. When you break off that first run initially, does that give you a sense that you might be able to have a good day? What does that tell you?
KERRYON JOHNSON: Yeah, especially when you don’t get touched. I didn’t get touched until I got tackled. In my mind, that’s great. That means I know what those guys up front are doing, and I know our game plan is going to stay true to itself. It definitely gives me confidence. It gives them confidence and makes the crowd energy go up, our energy goes up. And then the key is to carry it through four quarters, which we did today.
TE MICHAEL ROBERTS
(What was the biggest key for you? You’ve got now four catches this season and three of them are touchdowns.) – “You said the biggest key? Really just taking every thing that I have learned and just picking back up where I left off before the injury. It’s really just stepping back into that thinking mentally and just performing when the ball is in the air and I have my opportunity.”
DE ROMEO OKWARA
(There was so much talk before this game just about the heat and how you guys would be able to rotate. Talk about the way that everybody, really, it seemed like a total defensive team win and there were a lot of guys going in and out.) – “Yeah, we did a lot of extra conditioning this week and that wasn’t really a factor. We came in with that mindset and just took care of that.”
G T.J. LANG
(You rotated in and out a bit, what was the reason for that?) – “Just the plan, kind of coming back. It’s been a few weeks now since I had the kind of game reps that I’m used to, especially coming off that injury, I think it was kind of a feel-it-back type thing. That was something that was planned going into the game, and Kenny (Wiggins) and I both were on the same page, knew about it, and I thought he did a nice job stepping up too.”
Detroit Lions Schedule
Ford Field Seating Chart
Ford Field Parking Lots