Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys: Full Report Card Grades for Detroit

There aren't many precedents for what happened during the Detroit Lions' 24-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. And no, that wasn't a joke about Detroit's lack of recent playoff history, but The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre had one about the referees' performance:

"

Detroit got screwed, and it's going to be a story all week. What a joke.

— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) January 5, 2015"

There's plenty of football to discuss, but you won't find a fan willing to budge from the above issue. With the Lions up by three points and driving, a throw by Matthew Stafford to Brandon Pettigrew was broken up by a linebacker who never looked back and ran into the tight end. 

The play drew a flag. The penalty of defensive pass interference was announced and assessed. Then the referee announced there was no penalty. There aren't many people who can claim to have ever seen something like that before and now there are millions.

However, all the discussion about the officials, even if well-founded, skips over an inconvenient truth about the Lions, as pointed out by NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal:

"

The picked up flag will get a TON of attention. It should. But Cowboys O scored 17 on final 3 drives. Lions had 3 second half TOs, 3 points.

— gregg rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 5, 2015"

Despite roaring to an early 14-point lead and a six-point advantage in the fourth quarter, the defense couldn't hold on, and the offense wasn't able to come through in the clutch.

It's a tough loss to swallow. It also represents the last live Lions game until next August, so before we move on to free agency and the draft, let's break down each positional unit's performance one more time and hand out grades.

Quarterback

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Stafford probably had more words written about him this week than the entire season combined. Everyone agreed that Detroit would only go as far as the enigmatic and inconsistent quarterback would take them.

The signal-caller from Texas sent a message from the jump. He did an excellent job climbing the pocket to get away from pressure before unfurling a nice strike to Golden Tate, who took it for 76 yards and a score to start the game.

And there was no questioning his heart. He picked up a first down on the next drive by absorbing a hit from safety Barry Church before churning out the necessary yardage, as described by NFL.com's Marc Sessler :

"

Stafford's tackle-breaking scramble saved that gritty Lions drive. Detroit swinging a sword of fire, so far.

— Marc Sessler (@MarcSesslerNFL) January 4, 2015"

His downfall all season had been inconsistent accuracy and occasional bonehead decisions. In this game, there may have only been one, as pointed out by Grantland's Bill Barnwell, but he was lucky the Lions were able to kick a field goal directly before half:

"

Matthew Stafford trying to force the ball between four defenders with eight seconds left in field goal range

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 4, 2015"

Stafford will be forced to answer questions about his winless streak on the road against winning teams. He did have three turnovers on the afternoon (two fumbles and one deflected pick), but he also completed 28 of 42 passes for 323 yards and a touchdown. And he doesn't get knocked for the last fumble because he had to try to do something on fourth down.

There might have been a missed opportunity or two that only the tape will reveal. Regardless, this was a pretty solid performance that wasn't quite enough to push Detroit over the top.

Grade: B

Running Back

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has been consistent in his effort to establish balance on offense, and that yearlong trend continued against Dallas when he gave Joique Bell and Reggie Bush a combined 20 carries.

The results, for once, were actually pretty solid. For a while.

Bell continued his bulldozing ways by routinely picking up yards in the first half, an accomplishment WXYZ-TV Detroit's Brad Galli discussed:

"

Joique Bell's legal address is The Second Level. Nobody gets there more effectively and consistently.

— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) January 4, 2015"

But while he did a lot of damage to start, he finished with just a 3.6-yard average with 12 carries for 43 yards. He wasn't able to make the first guy miss as often after his hot start.

In addition, he did some damage through the air with four catches for 42 yards.

Bush had the best highlight of the day between the two, though. Bleacher Report's Nick Kostos was impressed by his performance:

"

Reggie Bush making the #Cowboys defense look like Fresno State

— Nick Kostos (@TheKostos) January 4, 2015"

Yet there wasn't enough production from Bush outside of that play. He finished with 37 yards on eight carries to pair with just three catches for 10 yards.

The day started very promising for Detroit's backfield. It just didn't end that way. You should brace yourself for a running theme.

Grade: C+

Wide Receiver and Tight End

Mike Stone/Getty Images

The usual mark of a good game for Stafford is an equal distribution among his receivers. He definitely had that on Sunday.

Golden Tate led the way with six catches for 89 yards and a score. It must have been particularly sweet for Tate that he posted his 51-yard score against the trash-talking Barry Church, who had vowed to get his revenge, per MLive.com's Justin Rogers:

"

"You can't hit what you can't catch," Golden Tate responding to Barry Church's vow for revenge earlier this week. Prophetic.

— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) January 4, 2015"

As one would assume, Calvin Johnson followed Tate closely on the stat sheet, grabbing five catches for 85 yards. It's hard to take Megatron to task. He didn't have any obvious drops, and the Dallas defense was determined to keep him under wraps, as pointed out by Chris Burke of Sports Illustrated: 

"

"You get a good look at what Matthew Stafford saw", which was the Cowboys' entire roster encircling Calvin Johnson.

— Chris Burke (@ChrisBurke_SI) January 4, 2015"

So you can't ask more from him, even if he is the star of the show. The old Lions used to force throws to Johnson, and those teams never had a chance to win a playoff game. This team did.

Lastly, Corey Fuller had two grabs for 26 yards, Eric Ebron added 21 yards on three catches and Brandon Pettigrew recorded his first catch since Thanksgiving.

Grade: B+

Offensive Line

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

If the engine that drives an offense is the quarterback, then the offensive line provides the fuel. That was the situation early in this game, a strategy outlined by Bleacher Report's Brandon Alisoglu:

"

The only way to keep picking up positive yardage as #Lions have is w/ solid OL play & varied play-calling. Detroit is getting both right now

— Brandon Alisoglu (@BrandonAlisoglu) January 4, 2015"

Save for Tate's opening touchdown, the Lions weren't moving the ball downfield in big chunks. Detroit used the take-what-the-defense-gives-you offense and was able to dink and dunk its way down the field.

That's fine when you have an offensive line that will give you enough time to get the ball off. Detroit's front unit did that job extremely well to start.

But things started to flip in the second half. The pressure started to get to Stafford, and there were constant Cowboys in the backfield regardless of the play type.

In all, Dallas notched three sacks and three hits along with at least three passes that were deflected at the line of scrimmage. The grade—for the first time all year—was trending toward the top tier in the beginning and then took a tumble into the okay-but-not-great spectrum.

Grade: B-

Defensive Line

Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

Ezekiel Ansah apparently couldn't wait to make his playoff debut. The young man from Ghana couldn't stay away from Tony Romo at the start, landing two quick hits and a sack on him, which B/R's Zach Kruse described as "feasting":

"

Might want to block Ziggy Ansah. He's feasting on Romo.

— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) January 4, 2015"

He would add two more quarterback hits along with two tackles. His impact came early, and on Romo's last touchdown throw, there's a good chance that an uncalled holding penalty kept him from keeping that trend going.

Nick Fairley was a late scratch for the season's final game, and Ndamukong Suh couldn't shake the constant double teams for a while. But when Detroit needed a play or two, Suh ripped off his suit and ripped down Romo, two plays John Niyo of The Detroit News pointed out:

"

Suh also got held on both those sacks. Then again, seems like he gets held every other play.

— John Niyo (@JohnNiyo) January 5, 2015"

Suh finished with three total tackles, including two for a loss and one quarterback hit.

Jason Jones added three tackles, while Darryl Tapp had a sack, two tackles and a quarterback hit.

Detroit was mostly able to limit the vaunted Dallas running game by controlling the line of scrimmage. However, with the game on the line, the front four couldn't get enough pressure on Romo, who was given five seconds to throw on his game-winning touchdown pass.

Grade: B

Linebacker

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

DeAndre Levy is always the leadoff for the linebackers since everything begins and ends with him. That's not a great sign for this week.

He had his lowest tackling output of the season, coming in with just four tackles when he averages a shade over nine per game. And there was one miss that will haunt him and the coaching staff throughout the offseason, and Pride Of Detroit described it:

"

DeAndre Levy couldn't take down Dez Bryant on third down. Instead of a punt, the #Cowboys have it first-and-goal.

— Pride Of Detroit (@PrideOfDetroit) January 4, 2015"

It's hard to fault Levy for not handling arguably the game's best receiver. He'd done so once or twice in the red zone with aplomb, even shoving the 220-pound receiver to the ground on one jam. Yet this particular play didn't go his way.

Tahir Whitehead picked up the slack in the tackling department, finishing with six. He also nabbed a sack and a quarterback hit. But there was the costly penalty on a Cole Beasley crossing route when Whitehead didn't get low enough and took out the 5'8" receiver's head, a play noted by Lynn G. Henning:

"

Levy, Vaughan miss get beat/miss tackles on two pass plays. Three other missed tackles.Now, Whitehead crushes Beasley. #howyoulosealead

— Lynn G. Henning (@Lynn_Henning) January 5, 2015"

It was a tough play, and the tide had already started turning by then. The penalty and missed tackle will be the enduring memories, but the linebackers deserve some of the shared credit for limiting DeMarco Murray to a 3.5-yard average.Grade: B-

Secondary

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

You'd be hard-pressed to find a way to put this loss on Darius Slay. The second-year corner was a huge reason why Dez Bryant only had two catches for five yards when you factor out his 43-yarder that came against DeAndre Levy. Rod Beard of The Detroit News provided Slay's comment:

"

#Lions Darius Slay: "Them boys out here can't see D-Slay." He absolutely would refer to himself in the third person.

— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) January 4, 2015"

Slay doesn't usually trail a player wherever he lines up, but he spent plenty of time locking up with Bryant. As far as most would be concerned, he can speak in the third person if he wants to. He's earned it.

As for the rest of the secondary, only James Ihedigbo really stood out, especially in the beginning, a performance Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press detailed:

"

James Ihedigbo making up for getting benched last week. Unblocked on the blitz there, been big in run support so far, too

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) January 4, 2015"

Ihedigbo led the team with nine tackles (one for a loss) as well as one sack and a quarterback hit. Unfortunately, he was also the one who got picked on with the game on the line, per Birkett:

"

Cowboys convert the fourth-and-6 play, 21-yard pass to Witten vs. Ihedigbo. Dallas in FG range down 20-17.

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) January 5, 2015"

At least Ihedigbo had a story in this game. Rashean Mathis played well, despite having to leave the game with an injury, notching three tackles and forcing an early Bryant fumble. Pro Bowl safety Glover Quin was practically invisible (two tackles) and Tony Romo routinely exploited the backup cornerbacks (Cassius Vaughn and Mohammed Seisay).

Grade: B-

Special Teams

Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

If Jeremy Ross has played his last game in a Detroit uniform, I'm guessing there won't a fan uprising. Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com commented on Ross' performance:

"

Don't ask me what Jeremy Ross was doing there because I don't have an answer for you. #DETvsDAL

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) January 5, 2015"

Twentyman is referring to Ross' head-scratching decision to bring the ball out of the end zone only to be tackled at Detroit's 5. The scary part was that wasn't even his worst play, a play Mike O'Hara of DetroitLions.com discussed:

"

Muffed punt by Jeremy Ross. He recovers, but does Tate take over from here on out?

— Mike O'Hara (@MikeOHaraNFL) January 4, 2015"

To make matters worse, the always reliable Sam Martin shanked a punt after the infamous defensive pass-interference non-call, giving Dallas the ball on its own 41 to set up the game-winning drive. 

At least the coverage units did their job, and Matt Prater knocked in both of his field goals.

Yeah, I agree. That's nowhere near enough to bring this one out of the D-range.

Grade: D

Coaching

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

There's an ugly story just beneath the pass-interference-that-wasn't, and head coach Jim Caldwell needs to check his qualifications before he figures out the answer to an uncomfortable question—why didn't you go for it on 4th-and-1? B/R's Ty Schalter outlined the teams' "contrasting fourth-down decisions:

"

Note results. RT @seankjensen: Contrasting 4th down decisions. #Lions go conservative on 4th & short, #Cowboys going aggressive on 4th & 6.

— Ty Schalter (@tyschalter) January 5, 2015"

Those are the types of calls that Caldwell has made this year that have led to big Detroit wins. For whatever reason, he clammed up with a chance to win the game with a simple conversion.

I suppose an answer may come in the postgame press conference. I can guarantee you it'll be noncommittal and leave you with more questions than answers, but that's how the whole second half of this game went for Detroit.

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi continued the theme heavy throughout these grades. His frequent use of play action on first down instead of a predictable run had Dallas on its heels throughout the two touchdown drives.

However, when the team was flustered and Dallas was making a comeback, Lombardi couldn't find the right calls. Even the screens were becoming so vanilla that defensive tackles were diagnosing them just after the snap.

And as for defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, his original game plan worked to perfection. The Lions racked up six sacks, and DeMarco Murray couldn't find any room to roam.

Inexplicably, he seemed to revert back to the Tampa 2 model of containment and just four pass-rushers later. The approach failed miserably as the Cowboys abused his backup nickelbacks.

Grade: C-

Final Grades

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

QB: B

RB: C+

WR/TE: B+

OL: B-

DL: B

LB: B-

Secondary: B-

ST: D

C: C-

Cumulative Grade: C+

This game was and will be unsatisfying for the fans and players for a long time to come. The Lions had a 13-point lead with a few minutes left in the third quarter and had moved the ball on a mediocre Dallas defense.

But alas, the Cowboys (with a little help) grabbed the game from Detroit's hands. The former looked like the older kid on the block who knows what he wants, while the latter had the look of a small dog holding an oversized bone with big dogs surrounding it. The result seemed inevitable.

Now we have to move on to offseason filled with speculation about Ndamukong Suh, who added some fuel to the he's-coming-back train with his postgame demeanor, as described by Birkett:

"

Ndamukong Suh looks pretty emotional on the podium. Voice is breaking, walks off podium in tears. Said he didn't expect to lose

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) January 5, 2015"

There's also worry about whether defensive coordinator Teryl Austin will be returning. But don't forget about the fountain of optimism that takes place in late spring because only a decent free-agent period and solid draft will cleanse the palate after this distasteful loss.

Brandon Alisoglu is a Detroit Lions Featured Columnist who has written about the Lions on multiple sites. He also co-hosts a Lions-centric podcast, Lions Central Radio. Yell at him on Twitter about how wrong he is @BrandonAlisoglu.