Detroit Lions: Week 2 game balls for win over Giants
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Lions beat the New York Giants 24-10 on Monday Night Football. Here are the players in all three phases of the game that deserve to be noted.
On Special Teams, the game ball goes to Jamal Agnew. With an early injury to Dwayne Washington, Agnew handled all of the Lions return duties this week. When the offense stagnated in the second half, the team needed a someone to make a play and ice the game.
The Detroit Lions‘ fifth round pick out of San Diego stepped up and took a punt back 88 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown. It was not a case of simply having a wide open lane to run through for Agnew, he bounced off multiple tackles, keeping his balance before getting clear of the coverage. Once he does that Agnew is gone.
Offensive Game Ball
After week one there was a lot of talk that the Lions were going to have yet another season without a functional running game. The Giants front seven is strong in all the ways that the Lions have struggled with. They are fast off the edge, and have an elite defensive tackle.
Ameer Abdullah found room to work. It was not a consistent 3-6 yards on every carry, but Abdullah made the Giants pay often enough that they had to respect him. The Lions needed someone to step up and take some pressure off of Matthew Stafford, and Abdullah did that tonight. The Lions had more rushing yards than passing yards. Abdullah had 86 of them on 17 carries.
Defensive Game Ball
Ziggy Ansah had three sacks on the night. He was not facing the best left tackle in the NFL, but great players should expose the weaknesses of their opponent. Ziggy Ansah did just that, running around Eric Flowers as though he was not even there. Ansah also led the team in tackles and had a forced fumble. He was the best player on the field, on a night where a lot of Lions players looked very good.
Darius Slay Earns honorable mention for shadowing Odell Beckham Jr, and limiting him to 36 yards, but OBJ’s injury gave Ansah the nod. Matthew Stafford may not have put passing yards on the board, but his game management, through audibles and evading pressure, was phenomenal.
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New punter Jeff Locke pinned the Giants inside the 20 yard line on three of his five punts as well. There were no shortage of options for game balls after this big win.