DETROIT -- Lions linebacker Josh Woods has been a special teams staple since landing in Detroit but had drawn only four defensive snaps leading into week 13.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin missed the team’s 29-27 win against the Vikings due to a shoulder injury. Reeves-Maybin and rookie Derrick Barnes had split most of the work behind Alex Anzalone to this point, so it was interesting to see Woods jump ahead of the fourth-round rookie. Woods saw 43 defensive plays in the team’s first win of the season, a new career high, outpacing linebacker Barnes and the rookie’s 35 reps in the process. He added eight tackles, another career high, while playing a hand in limiting Minnesota’s rushing attack.
Pro Football Focus docked Woods for his work against the pass while ranking him 12th among linebackers on the ground. Barnes ranked 20th overall and seventh against the run, adding two tackles from his rotational role. The rookie showed up on one of Minnesota’s three failed two-point conversion attempts and had a tackle for loss in the red zone.
Anzalone remained in his every snap role, tipping away a pass in the red zone for K.J. Osborn, making a stop on one of those two-point attempts too. He finished with five tackles and two pass deflections.
“It was -- (Lions defensive coordinator) AG had a good beat on what they were going to do over there,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “And it’s just -- we were prepared. Our guys did a good job. You can’t prepare them for every look you’re going to get. You just have to play the odds by personnel and looks that you get and hope that they play their roles. And they did a good job today. We did and it made a difference.”
See below for more observations from the snap counts before digging into a full rundown:
-- Levi Onwuzurike played a career-high 48 defensive snaps in the loss, with John Penisini inactive and Nick Williams nursing an injury. The second-round rookie notched a pressure from the middle, adding three tackles and one for loss in Week 13. PFF had Onwuzurike’s pass-rush grade ranked eighth among interior defenders coming out of the weekend.
-- Alim McNeill was right there with his fellow rookie on the defensive line, drawing a career-high 43 snaps. McNeill added two tackles but didn’t make much of an impact moving the line around. The analytics site had McNeill ranked among the 10 worst interior defenders in Week 13.
-- Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josh Reynolds dominated the snaps out wide, both seeing more than 60 snaps in the win. Kalif Raymond’s role was down to 35 reps, with Tom Kennedy seeing 16 and KhaDarel Hodge drawing seven plays. St. Brown enjoyed the best outing of his career, catching 10 of 12 targets for 86 yards and the game-winning touchdown at the buzzer. Those 10 catchers tie a franchise rookie record. Reynolds secured four of seven looks for 69 yards, while Raymond had two catches for 33 yards. Hodge caught his lone target for 9 yards on the final drive.
-- Jamaal Williams handled the bulk of the work as expected with D’Andre Swift out with his shoulder injury. Godwin Igwebuike was behind him in the rotation for 28 snaps, with Jermar Jefferson working his way on for eight plays. Williams ran 17 times for 71 yards. Jefferson ran five times for 18 yards, while Igwebuike ran twice for 8 yards.
OFFENSE
QB Jared Goff 72 (100%)
OL Evan Brown 72 (100%)
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai 72 (100%)
OL Jonah Jackson 72 (100%)
OL Penei Sewell 72 (100%)
OL Taylor Decker 72 (100%)
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown 69 (96%)
TE T.J. Hockenson 61 (85%)
WR Josh Reynolds 60 (83%)
WR Kalif Raymond 35 (49%)
RB Jamaal Williams 34 (47%)
TE Brock Wright 29 (40%)
RB Godwin Igwebuike 28 (39%)
WR Tom Kennedy 16 (22%)
FB Jason Cabinda 13 (18%)
RB Jermar Jefferson 8 (11%)
WR KhaDarel Hodge 7 (10%)
DEFENSE
S Tracy Walker 76 (100%)
LB Alex Anzalone 76 (100%)
S Dean Marlowe 71 (93%)
CB Jerry Jacobs 66 (87%)
S Will Harris 58 (76%)
EDGE Austin Bryant 54 (71%)
EDGE Charles Harris 53 (70%)
DL Levi Onwuzurike 48 (63%)
LB Josh Woods 43 (57%)
DL Alim McNeill 43 (57%)
LB Derrick Barnes 35 (46%)
DL Michael Brockers 30 (39%)
EDGE Julian Okwara 28 (37%)
DL Nick Williams 21 (28%)
DL Bruce Hector 21 (28%)
CB Ifeatu Melifonwu 10 (13%)
DL Jessie Lemonier 10 (13%)
EDGE Rashod Berry 10 (13%)
S C.J. Moore 9 (12%)
CB Mark Gilbert 1 (1%)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Jason Cabinda 24 (89%)
Anthony Pittman 22 (81%)
Jalen Elliott 19 (70%)
C.J. Moore 19 (70%)
Godwin Igwebuike 19 (70%)
Tavante Beckett 16 (59%)
Brock Wright 15 (56%)
Josh Woods 15 (56%)
P Jack Fox 14 (52%)
Julian Okwara 13 (48%)
KhaDarel Hodge 10 (37%)
Ifeatu Melifonwu 9 (33%)
Tracy Walker 9 (33%)
LS Scott Daly 8 (30%)
Will Harris 8 (30%)
Amon-Ra St. Brown 7 (26%)
Dean Marlowe 6 (22%)
Jerry Jacobs 5 (19%)
K Riley Patterson 5 (19%)
Evan Brown 5 (19%)
Jonah Jackson 5 (19%)
Halapoulivaati Vaitai 5 (19%)
Will Holden 5 (19%)
Ryan McCollum 5 (19%)
Tommy Kraemer 5 (19%)
Alex Anzalone 3 (11%)
Levi Onwuzurike 3 (11%)
Tom Kennedy 3 (11%)
Charles Harris 3 (11%)
Nick Williams 3 (11%)
Jessie Lemonier 3 (11%)
Kalif Raymond 3 (11%)
Mark Gilbert 2 (7%)
Derrick Barnes 1 (4%)
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