Detroit played a big chunk of Sunday's 42-30 loss to Minnesota without two key playmakers on both sides of the football.
Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury and did not return. Slay's been battling a hamstring injury for a few weeks now, which kept him out of Detroit's Week 4 loss vs. Kansas City. It's unclear if this is the same hamstring issue that's been bothering him or something new that's developed.
In his absence, the Vikings, and particularly wide receiver Stefon Diggs, had a field day. Minnesota threw for 337 yards, and Diggs had 142 of those, including a 67-yarder late in the game that sealed the win for the Vikings.
Running back Kerryon Johnson left the game in the first half with a knee injury and he too did not return to the contest. He stayed in uniform on the sideline during the second half, but had a brace on his right knee. He rushed for just 29 yards on 10 carries before exiting. He's rushed for 308 yards in six games for a 3.3 average.
Lions head coach Matt Patricia said after the game they'll wait and see what the knee looks like Monday.
STAFFORD 40,000
Quarterback Matthew Stafford became the 21st member of the 40,000 passing yards club Sunday after a 36-yard completion to wide Danny Amendola late in the first quarter.
Stafford is the fastest player to 40,000 passing yards in NFL history, doing it in 147 games. It took Atlanta's Matt Ryan 151 games to reach the mark.
Stafford finished Sunday completing 30 of 45 passes for 364 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.
POOL REPORT
Below is the pool report interview with senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron on the play with 12:52 left in the second quarter in which defensive pass interference was called on Detroit cornerback Justin Coleman that negated an interception by Detroit safety Tracy Walker:
Question: Why was Justin Coleman's pass interference in the second quarter automatically reviewed if there was no turnover on the play because of defensive pass interference?
Riveron: We had a pass interference, which puts the Minnesota player out of bounds. He comes back in and reestablishes. The ruling on the field is an interception. We have to confirm the interception no matter. This is the new rule this year. Even though the interception was going to be negated by the pass interference, the new rule states that we have to verify the interception.
Q: So, the player was out of bounds?
Riveron: He was pushed out of bounds. The pass interference put him out of bounds.
Q: Does that impact the defensive pass interference?
Riveron: Pass interference puts him out of bounds.
Q: So, that's the reason it was OK for him to come back in?
Riveron: Yes. He has to reestablish in bounds to be the first to legally touch the ball.
142 VS. 142
In what turned out to be a poor performance by Detroit's defense Sunday, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook finished with 142 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs finished with an identical 142 receiving yards, though he did not score.
Rushing or receiving, Detroit had no answer for the Vikings Sunday at Ford Field.
GOING DEEP
Wide receiver Marvin Hall has played four games with the Lions, and is quickly becoming a huge down-field spark for their passing game.
Hall has just four catches in four games, but they've totaled 152 yards for a 38.0 average per reception. He has catches of 58, 47, 34 and 13 yards for the Lions.
"He's done a great job," Stafford said of Hall. "I mean that catch he made today was great. It looked really good from a long ways away. It was a great catch, contested, over the shoulder, way down the field."
Hall's done some nice things down the field in the passing game for the Lions since they've acquired him.
