NG Maake Kemoeatu. His best game by far. I’ve been critical of him, but more so from the standpoint that I wasn’t sure what he had left. His leg strength just didn’t look good in the summer or early in the season. He was too easy to drive out. The Lions tried to block him one-on-one and he did a good job of holding his ground and, because Adam Carriker and Lorenzo Alexander played the run well also, Kemoeatu was able to slide down the line and make a few tackles (he had two; both came when he shed blocks to make plays). Kemoeatu will never make a lot of plays; he just can’t get moved back as much as he was early in the year.

KR/ PR Brandon Banks. Love the little man. He’s so good you even forget about the near fumbles, though I have a feeling in some game that we’ll all remember one of his drops. But, Sunday, he was electrifying and he runs with a lot of confidence. What I liked on his 35-yard punt return was his patience; he caught the ball, paused, scanned and broke. Because he accelerates so fast, he can afford to be a bit more patient. And that allows holes to open. His kick return for a touchdown was set up well by his blockers, but he gets to the outside so quick that Detroit erred by having six covermen between the far right hash and the sideline. Mistake. The Lions then started kicking away from him; others will follow.

WR Anthony Armstrong. Well, he did average 30.7 yards on three catches. He did a good job fooling the safety with a little half-step to the right, selling the post, then cutting back to the corner. He had to wait on a couple of the passes or he might have gained more yards. He did miss a block, but, like I said, he averaged 30.7 yards per catch.

Duds

QB Donovan McNabb. For all the controversy at game’s end, it’s necessary to remember that he was playing poorly. And I get the part about not having a lot left with his legs. When he was throwing the ball in the fourth quarter, it seemed half the time he did so with all arm. That led to an errant throw on his first two-point conversion to Fred Davis and it was a factor on the interception. Of course, so was the decision to throw into such a tight spot. But if he’d had any zip on the ball maybe it gets completed. McNabb’s legs looked fine on his scramble, but he was not always planting and delivering bullets the way he has in the past.
    
Mike Shanahan. He mishandled the McNabb situation from the start. All he had to do after the game was to say that they had talked to Donovan during the week and determined that if he was struggling, they would take him out because of his injury. Instead, Shanahan created more issues by initially blaming it on his inability to grasp the two-minute offense. As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “That’s a pretty big matzoh ball” hanging out there. It was a mistake you’d expect a younger coach to make.

LT Trent Williams. OK, he wasn’t completely awful, not like some others. But he’s also the fourth pick in the draft and he hasn’t been playing that way. Maybe it was seeing Ndamukong Suh dominate the way he did; he’s a rookie, too. Anyway, Williams was adequate at best. He failed to see Kyle Vanden Bosch coming on a blitz around him; he was occupied with a double team on Suh. He allowed Suh to get inside of him on a tackle for a loss and then again on a sack. Williams was caught reaching too much for Vanden Bosch another time leading to pressure. Some of what ails Williams is the knock that he had at Oklahoma; you can blitz through him. There’s a reason teams seem to be stunting more vs. this side of the line; it’s not just him as an experienced and savvy guard would have been a major help to him. He also was called for holding vs. Vanden Bosch.

C Casey Rabach. A couple blocks were unbelievably difficult for him to execute. For example, if the play is going to his right and the linemen he’s supposed to block is lined up over his right shoulder, he’s automatically at a disadvantage. In that situation, his job is to try and keep his man sliding along the line. But he was unable to do that. And Rabach was knocked back enough off the snap to cause McNabb to stumble and fall. He had a holding penalty and struggled against Corey Williams’ power. He did have some decent combo blocks with Artis Hicks in the fourth quarter and got to the linebacker a

LG Kory Lichtensteiger. Believe it or not, he does have some good plays in games. On Keiland Williams’ touchdown run, the ‘Steiger helped on a block and then sealed a linebacker inside. Did the same a couple plays before that, too. Just need to be fair because he’s been singled out as the biggest issue on the line and I don’t think he is; right tackle is a bigger problem. And, yes, I know Derrick Dockery is here; clearly they want a guard with good feet and not good size. But guard is a problem, so let’s move on… Lichtensteiger always will have issues facing any linemen with strength (which is most of them). It’s hard because when teams stunt, you want the guard to have some punch to get them off stride. Lichtensteiger can’t do that; his jabs aren’t packed with power. Williams shoved him back a couple times. There were also some failed stunt pickups, though, in fairness it’s hard to know who was at fault. It appeared at times that ‘Steiger and Williams were in different protections, one being in man and the other in zone. At least I hope that’s the case because that can be solved through experience. Regardless, a lot of issues once again.

RT Stephon Heyer. I’ll cut him a little slack on the fourth-down sack by Cliff Avril late in the game because it was clear that Ndamukong Suh was holding him. But, cripes, had he gotten off faster maybe the officials would have seen his jersey being tugged. Heyer, though, couldn’t do that. He allowed Avril to get past him another time and his footwork at times was really off. Avril beat him for heavy pressure on Rex Grossman’s first play, getting into Heyer’s chest and moving him back and then collapsing on Grossman. Got caught with his head down on another rush, but was bailed out by Artis Hicks.

Reed Doughty. Again, sometimes it only takes one play to land on this list – especially if it’s a bad one. And that’s what happened with Doughty. His block in the back negated a kickoff return for a touchdown by Brandon Banks. Doughty did have a good block on the one that was returned for a score. But this mistake was a doozy.

WR Joey Galloway. My fellow Buckeye just doesn’t seem to run his routes with much urgency these days. Makes it hard for a quarterback to trust. Galloway used to be an excellent receiver; those days ended a few years ago. I’m still waiting to see what he and Roydell Williams add.

Suds (half-stud, half-dud)

RB Keiland Williams. Listen, he shouldn’t be in this situation. Williams is an undrafted free agent who tries hard and needs time to develop. But he is in the game so that means he must produce. I like that he’s a willing pass protector, but the Lions took advantage of his inexperience. And I’m sure Williams is finding that there’s a major difference between protecting in college and in the NFL. When he does meet guys in the backfield, he often slows but does not stop them. That’s how one Detroit safety got a pressure on a blitz. Another time, Williams went to help on Suh and didn’t see the blitz. Not sure if that was his job on the play, but eventually he’ll learn to adjust and in the future would go at the blitzer. The seven sacks were not all the result of the line. I did like how Williams ran; got the yards that were available and he scored a touchdown so good for him.

CB DeAngelo Hall.  Really, he’s on here for one play because I didn’t think he had a great game. Wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. But he made a wonderful play on the interception, using his body well vs. Calvin Johnson. Matthew Stafford failed to throw a high pass and Hall picked it off in the end zone. Johnson, though, was a stud most of the game.

DL Albert Haynesworth. I thought he was pretty good at times and non-existent at others. Haynesworth did have a sack, two tackles for a loss and a quarterback hurry. But he also stood up as a rusher way too much. In fact, one time he was caught around 3-4 yards off the ball when it was snapped and then bumped into LB Rocky McIntosh. Another time on a stunt he slowed Vonnie Holliday because it appeared he took a bad angle. Details, man. When he stands up he gets very little explosion. It’s a bit of a waste.

NOTE
DE Phillip Daniels is not on the duds list for a simple reason. I thought he got hosed on the call where he jumped offsides on the field goal. The long snapper flinched and others jumped, too.

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