By the Numbers: Detroit Lions
The Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions have been playing professional football since 1930, and in their 94 seasons they have won four NFL championships – 1935 (26-7 over New York Giants), 1952 (17-7 over Cleveland), 1953 (17-16 over Cleveland) and 1957 (59-14 over Cleveland). But, in the Super Bowl era, the Lions are just one of four franchises – Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans, yet to play in the big game. The Lions are now 590-706-34 in the regular season and 7-13 in the playoffs, while currently having their best season in the last 30 years. Here is a look at the Lions by the numbers before Saturday night’s game against Dallas at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
17 – It is clear who Detroit quarterback Jared Goff is looking for when the Lions are in the red zone – wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown or tight end Sam LaPorta. The duo has combined for 17 touchdown catches this season, the most for any pair of teammates in the NFL this season. LaPorta leads the Lions with nine touchdown grabs, which is good enough to be tied for fourth in the league with Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb and Minnesota’s Jordan Addison, behind only Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans (13), Miami’s Tyreek Hill (12) and Denver’s Courtland Sutton (100). St. Brown is second on the Lions, and tied for seventh in the NFL, with eight touchdown catches. He is tied with Buffalo’s Stefan Diggs, Seattle’s DK Metcalf and Green Bay’s Romeo Doubs to round out the NFL’s top 10 in touchdown receptions. The Lions are the only team with two players inside the top 10 of that list, just ahead of Philadelphia’s duo of A.J. Brown (7) and DaVonta Smith (7).
27.5 – When it comes to rushing the quarterback, Detroit defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is already one of the best in the NFL. In just his second season, Hutchinson has a pass rush win rate percentage – the percentage of ‘wins’ against blocking on non-penalty pass rush snaps, of 27.5, which is seventh best in the league this season among defensive players with at least 300 pass rush snaps. Hutchinson is behind only Cleveland’s Myles Garrett (33.8%), Jacksonville’s Josh Allen (33.3%), Dallas’ Micah Parsons (31.4%), San Francisco’s Nick Bosa (30.9%), the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald (30.7%) and the New York Giants’ Dexter Lawrence (30.0%). Hutchinson backs it up with solid numbers across the board, with 42 total tackles, seven tackles for loss and 87 quarterback pressures – 63 quarterback hurries, 18 quarterback hits and six sacks. In 862 total snaps – 293 in a run defense role and 541 in pass rushing role, this season, Hutchinson is the 19th ranked defensive player by Pro Football Focus with an overall grade of 90.0 – run defense 68.0, tackling 41.7, pass rush 90.0 and defensive coverage against receivers 84.6. It is a tight top 20, with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett at the top with an overall grade of 93.7.
53 – In just 12 games this season, Detroit running back David Montgomery has carried the ball 195 time for 910 yards, which is good enough for seventh in the NFL. However, of those nearly 200 carries, 53 of them or just over 27-percent have earned the Lions offense a first down. That is the sixth most in the NFL this season, behind only San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey (78), Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts (65), Miami’s Raheem Mostert (59), the Los Angeles Rams’ Kyren Williams (56) and Tennessee’s Derrick Henry (55). Now in his fourth season, but first in Detroit, Montgomery is the most productive he has been since entering the NFL in 2019 with Chicago. He currently has career highs in yards per carry at 4.7 and rushing touchdowns with 11, and is in range of career highs in first downs, where he needs just seven more to pass the 59 he gained in 2020, and rushing yards, where he needs just 161 yards over the final two weeks to surpass the 1,070 he gained in 2020 for the Bears.
86 – The Detroit Lions are built to last. This 2023 version of the 94-year-old franchise is young. In fact, outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin is the longest tenured Lion, who will be playing in his 86th game with the franchise on Saturday night in Dallas. Of the players on the 53-man roster, there are only two players that have been in the NFL longer than eight seasons – backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (10) and long snapper Jake McQuaide (13), and both of those players are in the first season in the Motor City. Going into the 2023 season, the average Detroit Lion player had just three seasons of NFL experience, and that includes 10 rookies that made the 53-man roster – safety Brian Branch (Alabama), linebacker Jack Campbell (Iowa), running back Jahmyr Gibbs (Alabama), cornerback Steven Gilmore (Marshall), wide receiver Antoine Green (North Carolina), quarterback Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), tight end Sam LaPorta (Iowa), defensive tackle Brodric Martin (Western Kentucky), linebacker Trevor Nowaske (Saginaw Valley State) and offensive lineman Colby Sorsdal (William & Mary).
106 – Already tied with himself (2022) and Herman Moore (1996) for the fourth most receptions in a single season in Lions history with 106, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is just a couple monster games in the final two weeks from being at the top of that list. With just three catches, Brown will move to third on the list, passing Brett Perriman (108 catches in 1995). If he can haul in nine catches against Dallas and Minnesota each in the final two weeks of the season, he will pass Calvin Johnson (122 catches in 2012) and Moore (123 catches in 1995) as the franchise leader for receptions in a season. He has five games this season where he had at least nine catches – nine in a Week 3 win over Atlanta, 12 in a Week 6 win over Tampa Bay, 13 in a Week 7 loss to Baltimore, nine in a Week 12 loss to Green Bay and 12 in a Week 16 win over Minnesota.
3,984 – Detroit quarterback Jared Goff is having the best of his three seasons with the Lions, throwing for nearly 4,000 yards in just 15 games. He is third in the NFL in passing yards with 3,984, just behind Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (4,214) and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (4.050). If Goff, who is averaging 265.6 yards per game this season, hits his average in the final two games, he will end up with just over 4,515 yards which would be the third best season of his 8-year career. It would also be the fourth best season in Detroit franchise history, behind just Matthew Stafford – 5,038 yards in 2011, 4,967 yards in 2012 and 4,650 yards in 2013, and just ahead of Stafford’s 2017 season of 4,446 yards. It would knock Goff’s 2022 season of 4,438 yards to sixth all-time. Goff, with 11,667 yards in 2-plus seasons, is much further behind Stafford, who is first with 45,109 yards, on the Lions career passing yards list, despite being sixth already, behind only Stafford, Bobby Layne (15,710), Scott Mitchell (12,647), Greg Landry (12,451) and Gary Danielson (11,885).