Detroit Lions: Game balls for week 12 loss to Minnesota Vikings

Here are the Detroit Lions game balls for the Thanksgiving day game. The result was not what Lions fans had hoped for but there were reasons for optimism.

The Detroit Lions did not have a great game yesterday. With that said the team they played were 8-2 going into Thanksgiving and the Lions were 6-4. There were some positives about the game, even if it did end in a ten point loss, and likely end any chance the team had of winning the NFC North.

The Lions have been a team all season that beats bad teams and loses to good teams. The Lions fandom’s collective memory is starting to get shorter, there were times where it was a whole lot worse than being a half game out of the wildcard race. Let’s give out a game ball or three, shall we?

The offensive game ball goes to Marvin Jones. The Lions offense yesterday had one skill position player show up in his big boy pants ready to do battle, and that was Marvin Jones. Jones had six catches, for 109 yards with two touchdowns.

The most impressive play on the night was a third and 14, 50:50 ball. The Vikings had 12 men on the field, and two of them shadowed Jones in an effort to stop him. Both defenders were ineffective. Jones was shadowed by a pro bowl corner in Xavier Rhodes all night and still came up huge.

The defensive game ball goes to A’Shawn Robinson. Robinson was third on the team in tackles, behind all of the Lions players that failed in coverage behind him. Robinson’s tackles were the kind that a player earns when he is having a good night.

They came at or near the line of scrimmage. When the Lions were able to contain the Vikings offense in the second half, it was most often Robinson doing the dirty work so that others had the opportunity to finish off a play.

Next: Missed opportunities doom the Lions

The special teams game ball goes to Matt Prater. Prater was 5/5 on the night with three field goals and two extra points. He is never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.  I know that Matt Prater’s 50-yard field goals are one of the things I gave thanks for this year.