The offensive skill position players and the defensive line shone bright in the Detroit Lions’ last-second win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7. The top Pro Football Focus grades on each side of the ball are clearly clustered around those two groups.
On offense, the pitch-and-catch package of QB Matthew Stafford, WR Kenny Golladay, WR Marvin Jones and TE T.J. Hockenson filled four of the top five grades for players who saw at least 15 reps in the game. Stafford and Golladay tied with a 90.3 rating, good enough to qualify for elite level play in Week 7. Hockenson was next at 74.2, buoyed by his game-winning TD reception on the final play. Center Frank Ragnow followed with a 72.8 and Jones earned a 69.6 for his effort.
Defenisvely, the top four scores belonged to the linemen:
- Romeo Okwara, 89.6
- Da’Shawn Hand, 82.2
- Danny Shelton, 77.4
- Trey Flowers, 75.7
Safety Tracy Walker continued his upsurge in play with a 70.6 score to round out the top five.
At the other end of the spectrum, the offensive guards had a rough day in the grading process. Halapoulivaati Vaitai had the lowest on offense at 42.3 and Jonah Jackson was next at 51.1. That’s the starting guard tandem and the Lions did not rotate guards in this game.
Cornerbacks Darryl Roberts (36.7) and Amani Oruwariye (44.4) had the bottom grades on defense. Oruwariye’s low score is primarily a function of missing three tackles, while Roberts allowed nine completions on nine targets thrown his way.
