PFF grades: Taylor Decker survives a disastrous game by the offensive line

The offensive line was horrible against the Rams, but Taylor Decker managed to play well.

Many like to criticize Pro Football Focus for being too subjective. Admittedly, there are times in which my eyes don’t match the grades from the analytics websites. However, the Detroit Lions’ Week 13 grades against the Los Angeles Rams are exactly as you’d expect after watching Sunday’s game. Here’s a look at the most notable performances, as graded by PFF.

Offense

Here's the highest graded offensive players for the @Lions in Week 12 (min 15 snaps):

1. TE Levine Toilolo - 91.2
2. T Taylor Decker (@__taylordecker) - 74.7
3. WR Kenny Golladay (@kgxix) - 66.9
4. WR Bruce Ellington (@BruceElling10) - 66.1
5. WR Andy Jones (@andybird_81) - 63.5

— PFF DET Lions (@PFF_Lions) December 4, 2018

It was not a good day for the Lions offense. Only two players reached the 70-point grade level, which PFF deems “above average.” That means everyone else was average or worse.

Left tackle Taylor Decker was the only offensive lineman that got out of the Rams game alive, and his score wasn’t bolstered by his first-career touchdown catch. Decker actually got a very favorable pass blocking grade against the Rams.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the rest of the offensive front. Frank Ragnow and Kenny Wiggins were absolutely overwhelmed on Sunday, and it resulted in some of the worst PFF grades of the year. Here’s PFF’s Brett Whitefield:

Of the 25 guards that have faced Aaron Donald and the Rams this season, Frank Ragnow’s 2.0 pass blocking grade is the lowest and Kenny Wiggins’ 24.0 is seventh-lowest in a single game.

That’s not a misprint. Frank Ragnow’s pass blocking grade was 2.0... out of 100.

The Lions offense was so bad that Kenny Golladay, Bruce Ellington and Andy Jones made the top five players, despite the fact that the three combined for just 10 catches and 85 yards. Andy Jones didn’t even see a target come his way.

That being said, props to tight end Levine Toilolo, who earned his highest grade of the season by far. Per Whitefield, Matthew Stafford now has a 114.3 passer rating when targeting Toilolo, which is far higher than his other tight end options Michael Roberts (75.0) and Luke Willson (38.6).

Defense

Here are the highest graded defensive players for the @Lions in Week 13 (min 15 snaps):

1. DI Damon Harrison Sr. (@snacks) - 92.3
2. DI A'Shawn Robinson (@AshawnRobinson) - 90.1
3. DI Da'Shawn Hand (@TheHand54) - 69.5
4. LB Christian Jones - 69.4
5. EDGE Romeo Okwara - 67.8

— PFF DET Lions (@PFF_Lions) December 4, 2018

Back to the same old gang from the Lions defense. The Detroit Lions’ interior defensive line remains not just good, but dominant. Damon Harrison Sr. and A’Shawn Robinson have developed into quite the dynamic duo of defensive tackles, and Da’Shawn Hand continued his pretty impressive rookie season.

And while Detroit got some good performances from other players on the defensive front, the secondary continued to struggle. There continues to be one standout in the secondary, however, and it’s undrafted rookie Mike Ford. Per Whitefield, Ford has been the team’s best cornerback over the past two weeks, leading the team in overall grade (63.5), run defense (76.1) and coverage (60.6). He’s also the only cornerback not to allow a touchdown over that span, despite leading the team with 12 targets.

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