Home cooking: With Sunday's win over the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions have now won each of their first four home games of a season for the first time since 2007. They have now started a season 5-2 (or better) for the fourth-straight year for the first time in franchise history.
Scruggs steps up: The Lions lost center Cade Mays to an ankle injury early in Sunday's 19-15 win over Minnesota. Veteran Juice Scruggs stepped in seamlessly which was impressive, especially when facing an ultra-aggressive blitzing defense like the Vikings. He didn't allow a single pressure, per Pro Football Focus stats immediately available after the game.
Setting the tone: Detroit's go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter was impressive. It was a seven-play, 69-yard drive capped off by a Jameson Williams seven-yard touchdown. Five of those plays were Jahmyr Gibbs and Sione Vaki runs accounting for 57 yards. The drive took 4:09 off the clock and set the tone for the rest of the game. Detroit finished with 230 yards on the ground and a touchdown. It's the most rushing yards Minnesota's allowed in nearly three years.
Hustle plays: Lions quarterback Jared Goff was lobbying for a pancake block on Vikings safety Joshua Metellus following the game after Goff hustled downfield on a Gibbs run where he reversed field and got behind Goff running left for a nice gain. Goff's block will not be mistaken for a pancake, but he did get enough of Metellus to let Gibbs by. Goff said he and Metellus were laughing about it after the play. Earlier, Goff hustled down the field 30 yards to lay a block on Gibbs' third-quarter 30-yard touchdown run.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get real comfortable out there," Goff said of his blocking skills after the game. "Yeah, no, I got to keep it easy, but those were good."
Rookie contribution: It was good to see rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder take advantage of more opportunities on defense Sunday. Rolder's speed could be a difference maker in the second level the more comfortable he gets in Detroit's defense. He finished with five tackles, his first career sack and two tackles for loss before leaving early in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. Hopefully that injury isn't serious and he can build on Sunday's performance.
Trouble on the edges: It wasn't a strong performance from Detroit's tight ends blocking on the edges Sunday, especially early on. Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright and Tyler Conklin earned three of the four lowest grades from PFF following the contest. All three had issues in both pass pro and run blocking against the Vikings. LaPorta and Conklin were credited with allowing sacks. It's an area all three will look to improve next week in Miami.
All hands on deck: Before Detroit suffered a number of injuries defensively that forced them to shuffle in players and switch some things around, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was already utilizing all hands on deck defensively. Players like Rolder, Christian Izien and Eric O'Neill worked into the rotation early Sunday. In total, 24 players played at least one defensive snap. There were 16 players who got at least 20 reps.
Three in a row: Williams recorded a touchdown reception for the third-straight game, tying the longest streak of his career. His seven-yard catch in the back of the end zone proved to be the game winner Sunday. Williams caught four passes for 70 yards in the contest. He has five touchdowns over his last three games. He's on a roll.
Dominating the middle: Alim McNeill continues his dominant play in 2026. He notched another sack Sunday to go along with two tackles and a tackle for loss. He is Detroit's first interior defensive lineman to record at least 4.5 sacks through the first seven games of a season since Ndamukong Suh (6.5) in 2010.
