Lions, Week 2 — What Repeats: All Four Sacks Charted on Goff

The Recap counted four sacks of Jared Goff in Buffalo. The charting puts all four on him. Every one was marked a quarterback-fault sack, which is the charter's judgment that the sack was the quarterback's to avoid rather than the protection's to prevent. Across all of last season Goff had 12 of those on 619 dropbacks, about two percent. On Thursday he had four on 44, nine percent. Last week against the Saints he had none. And it came inside a passing night the Recap rated far above Week 1. Two other lines sit next to those four sacks. Goff threw the ball away zero times, after 30 throwaways across last season. And counting two scrambles, he was outside the pocket on six of his 44 dropbacks, 14 percent, against 65 of 619 last season, just over 10 percent.

One figure that has now done the same thing twice is contested throws, a receiver and a defender arriving at the ball together. Six of Goff's 38 throws were contested, 16 percent, the eleventh-highest share of the 32 offenses this week. Last week it was six of 39. Across 2025 it was seven percent. Two games, both at more than double last season's rate, and both with one interception-worthy ball, a throw a defender should have caught, and no interceptions. What did not hold is accuracy. 26 of the 38 were charted catchable, 68 percent, twentieth in the league and under the league median of 73, after 79 and a half percent and sixth last week, and 73 across last season. One drop on the 26 catchable balls, and two catches charted as created by the receiver.

Play-action is another repeat, and a stranger one. Detroit faked on 13 of 44 dropbacks, 30 percent, eleventh of the 32 offenses against a league median of 24 and a half. Last week it was 34 percent; across last season, 25 and a half. So two games, both above last year. Goff's 12 play-action throws went eight for 85 yards. His other 26 went 18 for 242. For the second game running, the fake produced fewer yards per throw than the straight dropback. Last week it was 48 yards on 14 play-action throws. Last season it ran the other way: a hundred 47 play-action throws for 1388 yards, more per throw than the rest of his passing. Two other habits moved. One screen on 44 dropbacks, the third-lowest rate in the league this week, after two of 41 last week and 10 percent across last season. And motion fell to 30 of 84 charted plays, 36 percent, 20-sixth of 32, after 45 percent last week and 47 across last season.

Now the run game, where the charting cuts against the obvious read. Buffalo showed six or fewer defenders in the box on 13 of Detroit's 18 designed runs, 72 percent, the third-highest light-box share any offense saw this week. Last week it was 47 percent; across last season, 61. The average box was 6.2. Those 18 designed runs went for 59 yards, 3.3 a run, 20-third of 32. Last week, against more crowded boxes, 32 designed runs went for a hundred 63, 5.1 a run, sixth in the league. Last season it was 4.7. The game with the lightest boxes of the three produced the fewest yards per run of the three, and the 13 light-box runs on Thursday went for 35 yards.

On defense, Detroit sent five or more pass rushers on 21 of Buffalo's 38 dropbacks, 55 percent, the second-highest rate of the 32 defenses this week, behind only Minnesota. Last week it was 35 percent, tenth. Across last season, 27. That is the clearest repeat on this side of the ball, and it grew: 4.8 rushers per dropback, against 4.3 last season. Buffalo's quarterback was outside the pocket on 15 of 38 dropbacks, 39 percent, the highest share of any offense this week, all of them Josh Allen's. One of the two sacks the Recap counted was charted as Allen's fault. But the throws that came out were clean. 23 of 31 catchable, 74 percent, tied with Houston, Jacksonville and Kansas City for the eleventh-highest rate allowed, against 69 percent allowed last season. Four contested, 13 percent, against 17 allowed last season. Not one interception-worthy throw, which put Detroit among 12 defenses that drew none, after drawing two last week. Four throwaways. And 16 of the 38 dropbacks were play-action, 42 percent, the third-highest share any defense faced.

The run defense is where the Recap found the game, and the charting says the box was not light. Detroit showed six or fewer on eight of Buffalo's 28 designed runs, 29 percent, tied with New England for 20-third, a little lighter than its 24 percent last season. The average box was 6.9, against seven last season. Seven or more on 20 of the 28. Those runs went for a hundred 57 yards, 5.6 a run, the second-most any defense allowed this week, after 4.4 across last season and 3.8 last week. The crowd was there. The runs got through it.

The stat lines have settled, so here they are, scored half-PPR. Amon-Ra St. Brown led Detroit with 30.7: nine catches on 13 targets for a hundred 42 two touchdowns. Goff, 29.8, 26 of 38 for 327, four touchdowns, no interceptions. Jahmyr Gibbs, 20.3, 16 carries for 52 six catches on eight targets for 61 and a touchdown. Sam LaPorta, six catches on seven targets for 52 and a score, 14.2. For Buffalo, Allen scored 40.8, the most of anyone in the game: 20 of 31 for 248 three touchdowns, +14 carries for 69 two more. James Cook, 21 carries for a hundred 35 and a touchdown, 20.4. Dalton Kincaid, seven catches on eight targets for 95 and a score, 19.

A word on the yardstick, because it has not changed yet. Every comparison to last season in this episode sets Thursday beside the 2025 Lions, a group with different pieces in places and a year older everywhere. Through Week 3 that is the only comparison on offer, and it is good at one thing: spotting what was unusual. It is not good at telling you what is true of this team now. Week 1 is one more game, last week, not a rate for this season. The version that measures Detroit against its own recent weeks begins around Week 4.

For anyone joining now: Detroit went nine and eight last season, beat the Saints by a point in Week 1 and lost by 10 in Buffalo on Thursday. After two games, four things have moved the same way both weeks, away from last season. Play-action is up, and the fake is gaining less per throw than the straight dropback. Screens are down. Goff's contested throws are more than double. And the defense is sending five or more rushers more often, 27 percent last season, 35 last week, 55 on Thursday. Three things reversed: Goff's catchable rate, his quarterback-fault sacks, and a run game whose better game came against the heavier looks. Two games settle none of it. On Sunday, count the rushers Detroit sends, and watch what the fake produces.

That's your Lions — every game, by the numbers. This is Muffed: we do the same deep dive for all 32 teams. Follow the Lions show wherever you're listening, so next week's recap lands the moment it's out. No theater. Just the football.

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_Data via nflverse. Charting: FTN Data via nflverse._