Detroit

Lions

Since Dan Campbell took over playcalling from John Morton ahead of Week 10’s game against the Commanders, Williams has 33 receptions, 582 yards, and four touchdowns in six games. (This, despite a baffling bagel against the Giants in Week 12.) Morton was the one out in front of the Williams hype train in the offseason; Campbell is merely the man who knows how to steer the ball to him. Williams will remain as inconsistent as any receiver in the sport because of how up-and-down the deep ball runs with him — he left another 40-ish yards on the field in this one on a downfield drop — but it’s hard to say he’s not an easy WR2 with this current pace. The Steelers defense should be gettable in Week 16.

Perhaps you’re wondering which part of St. Brown’s game was most impactful for the Lions, and the answer was simply “all of it” because it’s hard to not have all of it when you nearly come up with half (18-of-41) of Jared Goff’s targets. St. Brown delivered two red zone scores, was the key read on most of the game’s third or fourth downs, and most importantly looked healthy the whole way through after Thanksgiving’s ankle scare. St. Brown will be a clear WR1 against the Steelers in Week 16.

He was actually shut out until the fourth quarter, as only three Lions even were targeted up until that point. Isaac TeSlaa (39 snaps) received a clear plurality of the third receiver cardio, but bageled on one target. The Lions have done a great job concentrating things on the main pieces and neither Raymond nor TeSlaa are must-starts if they can’t get anywhere close to “there” when the team scores 34 points.

A Wildcat carry down 14 and just outside of the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter saved Montgomery from the FLEX shadow realm. He remains a good back stuck in a bad role, but at least he delivered the touchdown in “touchdown-or-bust RB3 play” for the third week in a row. The Steelers can be run on, and Montgomery should be able to parlay his red zone role into good touchdown equity again in Week 16.

The Rams simply bullied the run game from Detroit all day, holding Gibbs to a long carry of just six yards. He was able to bounce a few plays outside, he broke plenty of tackles ... but PFF’s early charting has Gibbs with just 0.4 yards before contact per attempt. Gibbs will remain a high-end RB1 against the Steelers last week, hopefully we’ll look back on this one as a small blip.

There wasn’t really much Goff did wrong in this one — he only took one sack and managed two red zone strikes to Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Lions converted their two fourth-down gos. The running game was bad and put Goff in big spots that he usually delivered on, and the game turned when Detroit fell apart in the third quarter, as between the sack and a couple rough plays they punted three straight times. Goff corrected course, but couldn’t keep pace with the Rams, who averaged 7.5 yards per play to Detroit’s 6.4. A Week 16 date with the Steelers should keep Goff on the QB1 line.

Raymond will cut in to Isaac TeSlaa’s fantasy upside. TE Shane Zylstra (knee), RB Sione Vaki (thumb), and OL Taylor Decker (shoulder) are all playing off the questionable line as well. G Kayode Awosika (foot) is out off the questionable line. Also inactive for the Lions are: S Thomas Harper, S Kerby Joseph, DL Tyler Lacy, WR Dominic Lovett, CB Nick Whiteside and DL Mekhi Wingo.

He got in three limited practices this week. Raymond carries almost zero stand-alone fantasy value, but his return could put a crimp in Isaac TeSlaa’s contributions against the Rams. Even with touchdown catches in his last two weeks, TeSlaa would be a low-floor start against a good Rams pass defense.

As usual. Decker has played through this injury for most of the season, so we’d expect him to be out there on Sunday despite a lack of practice time.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said earlier today that Joseph “had a setback.” He also admitted that an injured reserve stint is possible for Joseph, though that would knock him out for the remainder of the regular season at this point. Joseph is managing a long-term knee injury and may not be able to make it back this season.