At 3-4 on the season, the Las Vegas Raiders’ season was teetering on the brink as they visited the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.
Vegas is coming off an ugly blowout loss to the Chicago Bears on the road last week. Meanwhile, the homestanding Lions were also blown out on the road by the score of 38-6 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Despite this, Detroit headed into Monday’s game at 5-2 on the season and in first place in the NFC North.
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Despite some ugly turnovers on their part, the Lions were able to come out on top by the score of 26-154. Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs put up a career-best performance in tallying 189 total yards. Jared Goff threw for north of 270 yards as Detroit moved to 6-2 on the season.
As for Jimmy Garoppolo and the Raiders, their offense was a complete embarrassment again. This unit put up 157 total yards with Garoppolo completing just four passes to wide receivers throughout the game.
Below, we look at the top highlights and analysis from this 12-point Detroit Lions win on Monday Night Football.
Monday Night Football highlights in Week 8
A good indication of just how much Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t have it came in the fourth quarter with the Raiders trailing by 12. Check out the embattled signal caller miss a wide open Davante Adams for what would have been a touchdown to pull this to within one score.
After that miss, Adams had caught 1-of-7 targets for 11 yards. The frustration has to be real for this All-Pro wide receiver.
With the Lions up 26-14 in the fourth quarter, their defense pretty much put this way by sacking Jimmy Garoppolo three times on a four-play sequence to force a turnover on downs.
With less than seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Raiders had put up 138 total yards on 40 plays. That doesn’t seem ideal.
As the Raiders put up 26 yards in the third quarter, Detroit was looking to stretch its lead out even more. The team drove down 55 yards on 12 plays spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth. The drive culminated in a career-long 52-yard field goal for Riley Patterson, his fourth of the game to give the Detroit Lions a 26-14 lead.
Vegas’ offense just can’t do anything. Even after Crosby forced a Lions turnover by himself, the Raiders went three-and-out.
Detroit took over around mid-field with it just a two-point game. That’s when Gibbs did his thing for Detroit, continuing his breakout game.
That’s a brilliant 27-yard touchdown run to give Detroit a 23-14 lead. By virtue of this run, Gibbs had tallied 149 total yards on 23 touches. It’s already the best performance of his rookie season for the Detroit Lions.
Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby is having himself a game. With Detroit boasting possession of the ball at the Vegas four-yard line and the road team down just two points, Crosby stripped running back Josh Reynolds of the ball and recovered it.
Officials went to review as a way to see if Reynolds was down. There was not enough evidence to overturn the call on the field, leading to a number of boos from fans inside Ford Field.
Lions rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs is having himself a breakout game Monday night. That included a 17-yard run down to the Raiders’ four-yard line as Detroit looked to rebound following a pick-six of Goff.
With the Raiders down 16-7 in the third quarter, they needed the defense to step up in a big way. Detroit had the ball at Vegas’ 26-yard line as the home team was looking to open up a big lead.
That’s when vintage Marcus Peters showed up with his 33rd career interception as the Las Vegas Raiders made this a game. Not only did Peters pick off Goff, he returned it 75 yards for a touchdown to make this a game.
It sure the heck looked like Goff was simply attempting to throw this one away. That’s when Peters stepped in front of the receiver with a game-changing play.
For the former All-Pro, this was absolutely massive. The free-agent signing entered Monday Night Football having yielded a 107.2 QB rating in coverage this season.
Just as the Raiders were looking to make it a game after scoring a touchdown, Detroit answered in a big way. The team drove down the field 79 yards on nine plays, culminating in a touchdown pass from Goff to rookie tight end Sam LaPorta.
A top NFL Rookie of the Year candidate, LaPorta finished the first half catching six passes for 44 yards with that touchdown. It led to a 16-7 Lions lead heading into the half.
Just like that, the Raiders have made this a game. After Detroit had to settle for three field goals to take a 9-0 lead, Vegas drove down the field 75 yards on 10 plays. It was all about reigning NFL rushing champion Josh Jacobs, who went for 38 yards on seven attempts. That included a three-yard run to make this one a 9-7 game.
That’s what happens when you have to settle for three field goals. Despite having dominated the time of possession and yardage battle in the first half, the Lions had a mere two-point lead to show for it near the end of the second quarter.
For a third consecutive time in the first half, a Lions drive was cut short on the Raiders’ end of the field. And for the third consecutive time, Riley Patterson connected on a field goal to give the home team a 9-0 lead.
Vegas’ defense has bent, but it is not breaking thus far in the game. The question now is whether the Raiders can do anything on offense.
Dealing with an illness heading into this game, Amon-Ra St. Brown isn’t showing any of that in the first half. With Detroit up 6-0 in the second quarter, St. Brown burnt Raiders cornerback Amik Robertson on a 44-yard catch from Goff.
A few plays later, and St. Brown would record a 24-yard catch to put Detroit in scoring position. He had already put up four receptions for 88 yards in less than 1.5 quarters of play. Yeah, the Raiders don’t have an answer for him.
After Vegas turned it over on downs, the Lions drove down the field for a 31-yard field goal from Riley Patterson to take a 6-0 lead. Fans in Detroit were begging Dan Campbell to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the eight. He opted against it, taking the three instead.
With the Lions up 3-0 in the first half, the two sides exhanged turnovers. Detroit running back Josh Reynolds fumbled after a completion from Jared Goff.
Then, on the Raiders’ very next offensive play, Jimmy Garoppolo threw a pick on a pass intended for Davante Adams.
Despite missing two games to injury, this represented Garoppolo’s league-leading ninth interception of the season. You simply can’t throw the ball up like that in double coverage. It will get picked off a good 90% of the time.
Detroit looked like it had this thing going early on Monday night with a nice combination of run and pass, including rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs touching the ball a combined eight times. That’s when Raiders star Maxx Crosby broke this drive up with a highlight-reel play.
Good God, that was absurd. By virtue of this play, Detroit had to settle for a 44-yard field goal from Riley Patterson to take a 3-0 lead after a drive that took up nearly half of the first quarter.
The Lions are slated to host that rare Monday night game, and the stars are out. That includes Jack Harlow and Lions legend Barry Sanders teaming up for a random photo op inside Ford Field.
The Raiders also paid their respects to Sanders, one of the best running backs of all-time.
Las Vegas Raiders inactives
- QB Brian Hoyer
WR Kristian Wilkerson
DT Nesta Jade Silvera
DT Byron Young
LB Divine Deablo
CB Tyler Hall
K James McCourt
Detroit Lions inactives
- RB David Montgomery
OG Jonah Jackson
C Frank Ragnow
DL Isaiah Buggs
DL Levi Onwuzurike
CB Steven Gilmore
Everything you need to know about Las Vegas Raiders at Detroit Lions
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