Lions' 'outstanding' defense lifts offense, fuels bounce-back victory over Raiders

Detroit — The Detroit Lions didn't make it easy on themselves Monday night against the Las Vegas Raiders. But despite multiple, self-inflicted wounds by the team's offense, including a trio of turnovers, the defense rebounded from its dismantling in Baltimore a week earlier to propel the team to victory at Ford Field, 26-14.

After giving up more than 500 yards to the Ravens their last game, the Lions (6-2) held the Raiders offense to 157 yards and seven points, with the other half of the opposition's scoring coming via a second-half pick-six.

BOX SCORE: Lions 26, Raiders 14

"It wasn’t perfect, but ultimately we got what I wanted to get out of it and you come away with a win," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "I thought our defense played outstanding. Outstanding. When you play defense like that, you can beat anybody."

It should have been a blowout, far bigger than the double-digit final margin, but Detroit's offense couldn't get out of its own way. And it wasn't that the Lions struggled moving the ball; it was getting into the end zone that proved problematic much of the evening.

After the teams exchanged turnovers, including safety Kerby Joseph's first interception of the season, the Raiders (3-5) coughed it up on downs near midfield. From there, the Lions were able to extend their lead to six, then nine, on two more Riley Patterson field goals. The Lions got into the red zone both possessions, but struggled with negative plays inside the 20-yard line.

Allowed to hang around, the sluggish Raiders offense finally found life in the second quarter, leaning heavily on running back Josh Jacobs, the NFL's leading rusher a year ago. Carrying the ball seven times for 37 yards, he capped the response to Patterson's third field goal with a 3-yard touchdown run, slicing the deficit to two, 9-7.

But the Lions were able to counter before the half, finally finding paydirt with under a minute remaining in the second quarter. Quarterback Jared Goff completed all six of his passes during the series, culminating with an 18-yard scoring strike to tight end Sam LaPorta that put the Lions up 16-7 at the break.

Goff was excellent in the first half, completing 20 of his 26 passes for 225 yards and the touchdown. He finished 26-of-37 for 272 yards.

But turnovers continued to plague the Lions coming out of the locker room. Under duress from pressure up the middle, Goff unleased a back-foot throw toward Amon-Ra St. Brown along the right sideline, but Raiders cornerback Marcus Peters stepped in front of the pass to snag an interception. Avoiding Goff's tackle attempt at midfield, Peters returned the pick 75 yards for a touchdown.

And when it appeared the Lions were poised to retort, driving inside the Raiders' 5-yard line behind the running of Gibbs and Craig Reynolds, the latter lost a fumble that the visitors recovered.

"Yeah, it was good minus the turnovers," Goff said. "Again, that’s the critical thing. Yeah, we overcame them and our defense was a big part of the reason why. We scored 26, whatever we ended up scoring, but felt like it should’ve been about 40 or so."

Detroit's defense answered the bell over and over, including after Reynolds' fumble, forcing a quick three-and-out. With new life, good field position, and benefiting from an 18-yard pass interference play, the Lions needed just two snaps to return to the end zone.

Gibbs took a handoff around the right edge of his line and raced 27 yards for his second touchdown in as many weeks, pushing their lead back to two scores, 23-14. Gibbs said he knew he would score as soon as he saw he had the angle on the defense.

“O-line did a great job," Gibbs said. "I trusted them. I always have trust in them. You’re hitting that spot in practice all week. We knew that spot was going to be open and you know, just got to jump through and make a play."

That carry pushed Gibbs over the 100-yard mark. He ended with 152 rushing yards on 26 carries, leading a ground game that finished with a season-high 222 yards.

Detroit's defense, meanwhile, kept Las Vegas quiet, forcing a third consecutive punt to open the half. That led to another Patterson field goal, this time for 52 yards out. The kick was converted despite the Raiders tipping the ball at the line of scrimmage.

"I told the team the most important thing about this game was us getting our identity back," Campbell said. "That was what all the work that we put in this week was about, the whole focus was about getting back to what we do, and that was the most important thing and that really showed through today."

The Lions had a chance to push the lead to 15 late in the fourth quarter, but Patterson missed a chip shot field goal.

The Lions will enter their bye week with firm control of the NFC North division. They'll return to play the Los Angeles Chargers on the road, Sunday, Nov. 12.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers