(Getty Images)
● What: Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams
● When: Sunday, Dec. 14, 4:25 p.m.
● Where: Sofi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.
● How to watch: FOX (Burkhardt/Brady/Andrews/Rinaldi)
● How to listen: 97.1-FM The Ticket in Metro Detroit or any number of network affiliates around the state.
● Line: Rams -6
● Injury report: The Lions ruled out safety Kerby Joseph for an eighth straight week after a setback with his unrelenting knee injury. On Saturday, the team also downgraded guard Christian Mahogany (leg) and safety Thomas Harper from questionable to out.
● Officiating assignment: Alan Eck’s crew. Promoted to head referee ahead of the 2023 season, this will be the third Lions’ game he’s worked, and first since last year’s Thanksgiving matchup with the Chicago Bears.
● Last meeting: The Lions needed overtime to top the Rams in last year’s season opener, 26-20. Led by David Montgomery’s 91 rushing yards and game-winning touchdown, the Lions averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Through the air, Jameson Williams had a breakout game, delivering five catches for 121 yards and a score.
● It’s going to be fascinating to see what type of offensive approach Detroit game plans for the Rams, given the opponent’s defensive strengths.
Los Angeles is formidable against the run, allowing 3.9 yards per carry. More than that, they’ve hardly surrendered any explosives, with just three gains going for 20 or more yards with a league-low long of 29.
Additionally, they’ve allowed the fewest rushing touchdowns in the NFL, giving up just four scores on the ground. Talking to some of Detroit’s offensive linemen this week, they credited the Rams’ young, high-effort front for the success, particularly praising the group’s burst off the snap and block-shedding abilities.
Against Dallas a week ago, the Lions countered a strong run defense by leaning hard on its passing attack. You can make a good case for going back to that well this week, trusting quarterback Jared Goff to lead the way against the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016.
Of course, the Rams have a better pass rush than the Cowboys, particularly from the edges, where Jared Verse and Byron Young have combined for 17.0 sacks and 111 total pressures.
● As noted above, Joseph and Harper are out. So is Brian Branch after he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury last week. That’s left the Lions to turn to backup safeties against quarterback Matthew Stafford, viewed by many as the best in the league at using his eyes to manipulate secondaries.
We can comfortably expect veteran Avonte Maddox to be part of the solution. Our best guess is Erick Hallett will complete the pairing. He got the temporary bump up from the practice squad for this one and would be making his second start this season after a strong showing against Tampa Bay in Week 7.
It’s hardly ideal, but navigating injury situations is a requirement in the NFL. The key for the makeshift group will be sticking to their landmarks within the play calls and not getting fixated on Stafford’s eyes or shoulders, because they’ll lie about where he intends to go with the ball.
● The turnover battle is big every week, but you’re looking at a matchup of two of the more ball-secure teams this season. Detroit’s eight giveaways are the fewest in the league, while the Rams are close behind with 11.
Looking more closely at the Rams’ three losses, they were -2 or worse in turnover margin in two of them. In the third, they had just one giveaway, but also had two field goals blocked, including a potential game-winner as time expired. That’s not a turnover, by definition, but they had a similarly adverse impact in the defeat.
Detroit’s defense, which came out of the gate hot with getting takeaways, cooled considerably after the team’s bye. They netted only two through the first five games after the break. They temporarily got back on track against Dallas last week, intercepting the Cowboys twice and recovering one of the three fumbles they forced.
There are few better paths to victory this week than replicating that performance.