DETROIT -- A look at Detroit Lions players who were “up” and those who were “down” in Sunday’s 28-19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
UP:
Matthew Stafford: The quarterback had another good performance -- his second straight following his benching against Arizona. He had a perfect first quarter, in which he threw two touchdown passes. He also completed 18 of 26 passes for 256 yards and didn’t turn the ball over. Even more impressive: He’s still standing. Stafford was crushed Sunday, sacked seven times and hit a total of 13 times by the Vikings.
Eric Ebron: The tight end returned and had one of the better games of his career. He caught all five of his targets for 89 yards and a touchdown. He picked up right where he left off before his injury against Seattle, by turning into a reliable option for Stafford in both the short and intermediate passing game.
Matt Prater: All he does is make field goals. The former Denver kicker is perfect this season -- he made all seven of his attempts -- and he added a 52-yarder Sunday against the Vikings. In a year in which kickers have struggled, Prater continues to be one of the most consistent options out there.
DOWN:
The Lions offensive line: Can’t pick just one of them at this point; the whole unit struggled again. The Lions allowed Stafford to be sacked seven times and hit 13 times, and many of those looks were completely, totally clean as well. Frankly, the Lions should deem this unacceptable, especially after the appearance of progress the past few weeks.
Ameer Abdullah: He actually ran the ball all right, but once again he was pulled from kick return duty after he didn’t have the best ball security -- it wasn’t actually ruled a fumble, but he lost the ball. That’s four times in the past three weeks that there have been ball security questions for the rookie.
Joe Lombardi/Jim Caldwell: Again, coaching questions come into play. The Lions had some questionable offensive personnel and play call decisions late in the game, including giving the ball to two little-used rushers on the goal-line in the fourth quarter and choosing to run the ball from third-and-13 earlier in the final period while trailing by two scores. Going essentially a half (the second and third quarters) with seven offensive yards is a failure as well.