Detroit Lions Week 2 Stock Report
For the first time in this young season, the Detroit Lions' weekly stock report includes three stock-down players as opposed to the regular two.
No, the sky isn't falling. And no, this team hasn't been eliminated from the playoff picture yet.
But the Lions need more than a few guys to rebound from poor performances and elevate their play against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2. Even Glover Quin, who was headed toward a stock-up designation at halftime, needs to eliminate the mistakes, like when he was left hugging air on a long third-down conversion.
That's where Detroit finds itself. There were a couple bright spots, and those players will get their due discourse, but the team's performance in the 33-28 loss to the San Diego Chargers was more negative than positive, which means the corresponding report has to be too.
Down: LB Stephen Tulloch
1 of 5
Stephen Tulloch must have been looking forward to this game from the moment his worst fears were confirmed last season. Unfortunately for him, it's not one he'll want to look back on.
Per Pro Football Focus, he gave up a quarterback rating just 11 points shy of 158.3 (the highest possible mark), because he looked slow to react. It's reasonable to question whether it was his mind or his speed that needed to shake off the rust, with fans hoping it was the former.
The first catch for Melvin Gordon was a perfect example. Tulloch didn't seem to notice that Gordon had slipped out on a flare, so by the time he started running toward the flats, Gordon already had the angle. The play went for nine yards.
There was also the delayed tracking of a receiver who motioned across. Stevie Johnson torched him the worst, turning him inside out with a slant when it seemed Tulloch was looking for an out or a hook. That play went for six points.
His tackling wasn't much better, as he missed three tackles on the day along with one particularly disheartening stiff arm from Ladarius Green. It wasn't a good day for the captain who is affectionately known as Tully. He must come better prepared next week when the Vikings look to finally unleash Adrian Peterson.
Up: RB Ameer Abdullah
2 of 5
Ameer Abdullah's debut game in Honolulu blue went much better than his linebacking counterpart. The Nebraska product did a little bit of everything, making the most of his carries with an eye-popping 7.1-yard average and one memorable touchdown.
The play call was an outside zone. Abdullah flowed right with his offensive line and then cut back sharply to the left to exploit a large seam in the defense. He picked up his first touchdown after 24 yards and one particularly nasty juke on the safety.
He also proved to be an asset in the passing game. Abdullah finished with 44 yards on four catches while displaying elusiveness in space.
Throw in that he made my in-game notes for pass protection a couple of times, and it's only fair to consider Abdullah's stock even higher than the preseason hype. Now if he can just pick up a few more touches.
Down: SS James Ihedigbo
3 of 5
The poor-play trend for the elder statesmen of the defense continues here. James Ihedgibo received Detroit's worst PFF grade of the day (minus-4.0), and the game tape backed up that evaluation.
Much like Tulloch, Ihedigbo didn't look comfortable against San Diego's quick passing attack. He struggled to make the right reads, failing to react quickly enough on one touchdown pass.
It didn't help that linebacker Josh Bynes swallowed the play-action fake and was reeled in like a prize bass.
But Ihedigbo has no one to blame but himself for his three missed tackles. On one particularly egregious display, he flew into a crossing Ladarius Green with no intention of wrapping him up. Green easily bounced off him and kept moving across the field.
Detroit won't face a quarterback with a lifetime career rating of 95.8 every week. The Lions will, however, take on Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, who all have the smarts and accuracy to follow Philip Rivers' path to success. The Lions will need their starting strong safety to put in a better effort to succeed against that murderers' row.
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Up: DT Tyrunn Walker
4 of 5
One guy who can help Ihedigbo and the rest of the secondary is Tyrunn Walker. Or at least he did so last week.
Walker was a penetrating animal against the Chargers, particularly on passing down. He picked up seven of the team's 19 quarterback hurries through the use of speed and power.
It's the latter tactic, however, that jumped out on the tape.
When Melvin Gordon had a touchdown rightfully called back, Walker blew up the next play by Scherffing D.J. Fluker, forcing the Chargers to attempt a field goal.
There was a bad encroachment penalty on 3rd-and-1 that directly preceded a Danny Woodhead touchdown run, along with three missed tackles. This isn't meant to downplay those mistakes, but the general disruption Walker caused far outweighed those mistakes.
Down: Coaching Adjustments
5 of 5
Do not forget that this game came down to inconsistent execution. There were too many missed opportunities in the form of tackles and blocks to throw all of the blame at the sideline.
Yet some of the failings on both sides of the ball that led to 30 straight San Diego points have to fall on the coaches.
Philip Rivers and the Chargers coaches figured out at some point in the second quarter that DeAndre Levy wasn't playing. They then proceeded to continuously matriculate the ball downfield via slants, flares and quick screens.
You can't expect Josh Bynes or Stephen Tulloch to sniff out screens like Levy. That's where the Detroit coaching staff either got arrogant or unreasonable, refusing to adopt a different tactic to stop the dink-and-dunk onslaught.
Another example from later in the game saw Rashean Mathis try to mirror Keenan Allen without a solid jam. Allen is good enough to make any cornerback struggle if you don't get your hands on him, so the lack of contact at the line of scrimmage was questionable at best.
Plus, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi failed to ditch the outside zone when his linemen—especially his guards—were doing a much better job of sealing on more vertical runs. Instead, Ameer Abdullah was forced to cut into the heart of the defense when Laken Tomlinson couldn't keep his guy from penetrating three yards into the backfield.
This team needed better execution on a few blocks or tackles, and the game could have gone differently. That's a testament to the game plan originally crafted. However, when San Diego zigged, Detroit didn't consider zagging, which meant the players weren't put in the best position to succeed. That's also an indictment of the coaching staff.
All advanced stats, grades and positional rankings are courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
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.
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