Detroit Lions Stock Watch: Golladay, Zettel Trending Upward
By Matt Bosko
The Detroit Lions’ 35-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday featured the good, the bad and the ugly. Let’s take a closer look at which stars shined, and which ones dimmed in this week’s stock report.
Stock Up
If the jury was still out on Golladay before Sunday’s two-touchdown performance, the verdict is in: he is a legitimate threat in this offense. His day was not perfect – in fact he struggled mightily to make an impact in the first half – but his strong finish is exactly what the Lions expected to see when they drafted him in the third round.
Though Jim Bob Cooter hinted that the rookie may split time with T.J. Jones as the third receiver, Golladay was on the field for 25 more plays than Jones, and he certainly made the most of those opportunities. Consistency is the big question for all rookie wide receivers in the NFL, but Golladay is off to a terrific start.
It appears that Anthony Zettel has redirected his passion for tackling trees to tackling football players. That is great news for the Lions, who have been looking for someone other than Ezekiel Ansah to be a factor up front. With Kerry Hyder lost for the season with an Achilles injury and Armonty Bryant suspended, the opportunity is ripe for another player to stand out.
Zettel did just that on Sunday against the Cardinals. He registered the lone sack against Carson Palmer, accounted for three tackles for loss, and was enough of a nuisance to draw double teams on several plays in the second half. Though he did not exactly light up the box score, his effort was certainly something the Lions can build on going forward.
K/P Matt Prater
There are several other choices for this final spot, but Prater deserves some attention for his all-around performance on an otherwise suspect special teams performance by the Lions. In his eleventh season, Prater attempted the first punts of his professional career on Sunday, and handled himself quite well in relief of the injured Kasey Redfern. He booted four punts for 139 yards without shanking a single attempt or fumbling a snap.
Also pressed into handling kickoff duties, four of his five attempts were taken as touchbacks. Oh, and for good measure, he nailed a clutch 58-yard field goal at the end of the first half. Lions fans may only witness it for one week, but they were introduced to Matt Prater, Renaissance Man.
Stock Down
P Kasey Redfern
If we were making superlatives in a high school yearbook, then Kasey Redfern would be nominated for Most Likely to Disappear After Week One. The rookie punter, who showed promise in filling in for Sam Martin, suffered a season-ending knee injury on Sunday at the end of a botched punt attempt.
From his own end zone in the first quarter, Redfern mishandled the snap, panicked, ran for his life, and was lit up along the sidelines for his trouble. His absence forced the Lions to turn to Matt Prater for kickoff and punting duties and Jake Rudock as placeholder. Certainly not the NFL debut he expected.
Sunday afternoon was a special teams nightmare for the Lions, starring Dwayne Washington and his penchant for giving fans heart palpitations. Despite a vote of confidence from his head coach, the arrow is not pointing up for Washington’s handle on kick returning duties.
The kid is certainly talented and has big-play ability, but he displayed both indecision and bad decision-making – two traits that an NFL kick returner absolutely cannot possess. The second-year player returned two kicks, making it no further than the Lions 15 yard line on either attempt. Washington was eventually lifted from the role following a horrid attempt to return a kick that had bounced twice (and high) into his own end zone. He did handle his offensive touches respectably (6 carries for 22 yards), but was a major liability in blitz pickup.
The Running Game
The Lions inability to run the football with any kind of efficiency has plagued them for quite some time, a pattern that continued against the Arizona Cardinals. To the coaching staff’s credit, they did not abandon their game plan and stayed committed to trying to establish the run.
Next: Mixed reviews for Lions offensive line in week 1
Unfortunately, the longest running play of the game came on the legs of Matthew Stafford. General manager Bob Quinn invested heavily in fortifying the right side of the offensive line, and although the unit as a whole had a respectable showing, I’m sure that Quinn does not want his franchise quarterback as his most explosive running threat.