Monday Morning Coffee: It wasn’t pretty but Lions beat Giants in OT

It wasn’t pretty but somehow, someway, the Detroit Lions found a way to beat the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon. Sure, they needed overtime but it only took one run from Jahmyr Gibbs and the defense holding their ground long enough to close it out with an Aidan Hutchinson sack to get the win.

For much of this season, I’ve been putting these postgame articles together and I’m starting to feel like a broken record. Whether it’s win or lose, the theme continues to stay the same. That theme is the Lions offense needs to execute and they’ve got to stop getting in their own way. Let’s pour a cup of coffee on this Monday morning and talk about the Lions win over the Giants!

Inconsistencies on offense continue

Look, I get it. This team put up 494 total yards on offense and scored 34 points, so I should just go argue with a wall. However, that’s the standard and expectation with this Lions offense and team. They have the playmakers to score in the snap of a finger and with their aggressive nature, there’s not a down or distance off limits.

Unfortunately, their lack of execution continues and it really limits the potential of this team. Despite how good some of the numbers look, the Lions offense went 5-for-12 on 3rd down and punted five total times. Recently, we’ve seen WR Amon-Ra St. Brown go through phases in the game with some untimely drops and in this game, one of them bounced off his hands and into the hands of Giants DB Jevon Holland for an interception.

It’s inexcusable.

Especially against a Giants defense that allows 375.1 yards and 27.3 points per game. Both are the 4th worst marks on defense in the NFL this season. This was a game where it felt like the Lions could potentially get things corrected and allow us to feel better for the schedule that remains. But the sense of doubt still lingers.

Aside from the execution piece on offense, there appears to be a disconnect with being able to spread the football around. Remember in the past, it was all hands on deck. From utilizing running backs, tight ends and just about every receiver on the depth chart. That feels like a thing in the past now.

We saw Jared Goff finish 28-of-42 for 279 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He had 20 completions between two players against the Giants. It was Amon-Ra with 9 receptions and Jahmyr Gibbs with 11 receptions. No doubt, we all want to see those guys with touches but forcing it to them starts to make this offense feel too predictable and just like any other team.

The same thing happened last week against the Eagles. Jared Goff dropped back to throw 37 times and 27 of his passes were thrown to Jameson Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown or Jahmyr Gibbs. It just feels so predictable.

Last week after that Eagles game, we heard Dan Campbell mention that he’d like to «see more of David» in the offense. Regardless of the script, there were only 8 touches for David Montgomery against the Giants. He finished with 5 carries for 18 yards and 3 receptions for 19 yards. Additionally, there were only 4 targets between Jameson Williams and Isaac TeSlaa. Neither player ended up with a reception.

Say what you want but that’s not going to cut it. For the offense, it needs to be all hands on deck moving forward. If it’s not, then this will be a team that will run out of time against the good football teams in the NFL. Let’s hope they can figure it out on a short week or we may see a similar showing to what we saw in the first game of the season against the Packers.

The defense takes a step back

One week removed from a strong defensive showing for the Lions, they looked like a completely different unit out there against the Giants. In total, the Lions allowed 517 total yards and 395 of those yards came through the air. Meanwhile, the Giants went 8-for-16 on 3rd down against the Lions.

Some of the Giants success came on trick plays, but there were plenty of plays left on the field from the Lions defense. There were multiple 3rd-and-long situations where the Giants converted and Giants QB Jameis Winston had all day to throw back there. In the first half, Winston was hit one time, never sacked and averaged 3.13 seconds per throw.

Much of that continued for the game and I have about 180 million reasons to why that’s not acceptable. Sure, the last play of the game was a game-winning sack from Aidan Hutchinson, but there’s too many instances where he’s not getting home. Seeing Hutch finish with 6 QB hits and a sack is great but at some point, those have to result into something. But not just from him but from other players on the defense.

The Lions finished with 7 QB hits and Hutch had six of them. For a defense that sends all three of their linebackers and defensive backs such as Brian Branch, something has to give. There’s got to be more production. Easier said than done, I know, but one of my suggestions is to stop with all of the line stunts. These T-E stunts with Hutch looping inside are just taking too long to develop. With him constantly being chipped by tight ends, running backs and even receivers, it creates a much easier pickup on the stunt for either tackle or guard.

I’ll elaborate with some film during the week, but Brian Branch has played better football in his career. Unfortunately, that time is not right now. One specific play that stands out was a completion to Giants WR Wan’Dale Robinson and it felt like Branch just stopped running. Late in the 4th quarter, Branch got called for defensive pass interference on 3rd and 6 and it extended the drive that led to a touchdown for the Giants. He also had an unnecessary roughness penalty that resulted in the Giants getting 1st-and-goal from the Lions 8-yard line.

Sure, these can feel like «ticky-tack» fouls on Branch but the rules are the rules. These are the same fouls that cause negative reactions from the fanbase on Terrion Arnold so it should be no different for Branch. He’s simply got to play better. In this game, he had costly penalties and a handful of missed tackles. Furthermore, his ball skills are not the same from what we’ve seen during his first two seasons with the Lions. He had 29 pass deflections coming into 2025 but he’s only up to 6 pass deflections for this season.

Fortunately, there’s still plenty of football left. One player that is really starting to contribute to the Lions defense is defensive tackle Roy Lopez. He’s been consistent for the last 3 games and probably played his best game of the season against the Giants. He recorded 6 total tackles and had a key pass breakup at the line-of-scrimmage. His emergence in the middle of the defense is why we’re starting to see Alim McNeill play more off the edge. The Lions are doing their best to try and get their interior defenders all on the field.

In a game that went differently than anyone expected, I’m way less worried about the defense than the offense. We’re seeing the defense get players back and for the most part, this unit has been consistent all season long. We saw the returns of Khalil Dorsey, Malcolm Rodriguez and D.J. Reed. If the Lions can get back Josh Paschal, Terrion Arnold, Marcus Davenport and/or Kerby Joseph, it should do wonders for the defense and the players we expect to produce at a high level every week.

Short week incoming for the Lions

It’s a short week for the Lions and Packers but there’s a lot that hangs in the balance of this game. The Lions gets to right a wrong from their opening season loss against the Packers. With a win, the Lions can hand Green Bay their first loss in the division but they also keep themselves within reach of the top spot of the NFC North. Essentially, they’d stay right on their path for their final game against the Bears to be for the division title.

With the short week, I highly doubt the Lions will be able to iron out all the wrongs within the offense. Fortunately, this may present them the opportunity to get back to the basics. Specifically how and when they decide to run the football. For example, there was a drive against the Giants where the Lions offense had 1st and goal on the one-yard line.

In the past, they would have ran it four straight times with David Montgomery, if needed. On this drive, they gave Montgomery one carry and then ended up throwing the ball on back-to-back plays. One of the pass plays resulted with Goff getting called for intentional grounding and it moved the Lions back 10-yards. Fortunately, they scored on a designed screen to Amon-Ra on 3rd and goal but again, that’s not going to happen against better teams in the NFL.

Overall, we’ll take the win from the Lions. Last week, I said that whatever needs to happen, make it happen and just find a way. That’s exactly what the Lions did against the Giants and they’re going to have to do it this week against the Packers. I’m not sure if this Lions team will meet the standard they’ve set as a football team every week.

Part of me feels like they won’t but at the same time, we’ve seen plenty of championship caliber teams get right closer to the end of the season than in the middle of it. Not everything will be pretty on Sundays and we know that. Fortunately, if the Lions can get back to some of the basics of who they are, they could become far more dangerous when it matters most.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Monday Morning Coffee: It wasn’t pretty but Lions beat Giants in OT