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The Detroit Lions didn’t have a great performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, especially in the first half. However, there were a handful of players who managed to put in good individual performances despite poor team performance. While we’ve highlighted some of these players through our Strengths, Inventory Report, Rookie Summary, and Position Ratings, let’s take a closer look at which players have done well through PFF’s scoring system.
Note: We will only include ratings made public by PFF. We do not own the rights to publish the notes that are behind their paywall.
Top 5 offensive players against the Steelers
1. RB Craig Reynolds – 77.1
2. WR Quintez Cephus – 72.8
3. RB Dedrick Mills – 68.6
4.QB David Blough – 67.9
5. WR Tom Kennedy – 67.8
For the second week in a row, Lions reserve running back Craig Reynolds was the Lions’ top-ranked offensive player. Last week he got a 90.7 against the Bills, and he proved the performance was no fluke by placing very well against Pittsburgh. At this point, the Lions should seriously consider keeping him on the squad, especially as seventh-round pick Jermar Jefferson continues to disappoint. At the very least, Reynolds deserves a chance next week to get some playing time earlier in the game to prove he can do it against better competition.
Elsewhere, it was a solid but unspectacular day for David Blough, who led the Lions to touchdowns on all three records. Quintez Cephus also made a good impression despite only playing 21 snaps.
Other Notes:
Penei Sewell fought against the Steelers. He was the lowest ranked player in the Lions offense. Here’s what PFF had to say about his performance:
Penei Sewell looks uncomfortable on the right tackle. His sets don’t come close to the precision or confidence we’ve seen from him on the Oregon left side in 2019.
The depth of his sets was an issue, as it would almost comfortably allow defenders to reach the quarterback’s drop point. He finally allowed three taps on just 13 pass blocking snaps in the game’s first review.
The five best defensive players against the Steelers
1. CB AJ Parker – 90.8
2. DT Levi Onwuzurike – 90.5
3. DT Miles Brown – 83.3
4. LB Robert McCray – 77.2
5. DT Kevin Strong – 75.2
AJ Parker’s performance was impressive for a multitude of reasons. Considering he’s still fairly new in the nickelback position, getting a 90.8 rating would have been pretty impressive. But he did so with the first-team defense as well, meaning he faced multiple Steelers starters on Saturday. Plus, he had more snaps than any Lions cornerback on Saturday, so his high performance wasn’t the result of low sample size. Parker has not only made his way into the roster bubble, but has now sparked a serious conversation about his potential to start in the slot machine, even as an undrafted rookie.
Speaking of rookies, Levi Onwuzurike didn’t disappoint on his NFL debut. According to the PFF recap, Onwuzurike put pressure on just two of just 10 precipitation snaps and also added a run stoppage.
Detroit continued to flex their defensive tackle depth as Kevin Strong had another impressive outing – he finished third on this list last week – and nose tackle Miles Brown made noise as well. The Lions will have some dark cuts in that position going forward, and there’s a good chance someone who isn’t on that team will find a contributing role elsewhere.
Other Notes:
Despite being at least partially responsible for Diontae Johnson’s deep shot, cornerback Jeff Okudah got a solid 72.0 PFF score.
Even though he was making plays everywhere, rookie linebacker Derrick Barnes was only rated 66.9 PFF as he was heavily criticized for his run defense in this game. Still, Barnes got a shout out in PFF’s play recap.
“Barnes, on the other hand, racked up four saves from just 25 shots and showed that cutting edge pedigree with a sack,” wrote PFF’s Michael Renner.
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