Playing the matchup game is fun in advance of any NFL contest. It’s particularly enjoyable when the numbers and the chess pieces pull you in opposite directions.
That’s very much the case in Sunday’s upcoming Steelers-Lions game.
For this Friday’s “Football Footnotes,” we examine glaring X-and-O red flags and some interesting yin-and-yang statistics that paint a multi-layered picture for Sunday’s showdown at Ford Field.
Contradictory dynamics
There are some interesting contradictory dynamics at play in the pass game, especially when the Steelers have the ball.
To the tune of much celebration from their fan base, the Steelers magically rediscovered the middle of the field during the Dolphins game. Hopefully, they don’t completely abandon it against Detroit.
“Miami played a lot of shell and rolled up their corners. They played two high safeties a bunch,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “Detroit does a significant amount less than that. So, we’ll do what we need to do to be successful and move the ball this week. It may dictate that we do things differently.”
Advancing Tomlin’s quote, consider some of these stats from my Fox Sports Pittsburgh 970 co-host Matt Williamson.
The Lions give up a league high 129.6 yards per game to receivers aligned out wide, and over the past six weeks, they gave up a league high 203.3 yards per game to the wide receiver position.
So, even though the Steelers may have gained some confidence throwing the ball to the middle of the field last week, using that as a changeup this week may be wise. Using DK Metcalf and — dare I say it — some of the other wide receivers outside the numbers against a banged-up Detroit secondary may be the way to go in this game.
Down the field attack
Here’s another push-pull situation at play when it comes to the Steelers throwing the ball.
As Williamson also points out, Pittsburgh’s passing game has the NFL’s lowest average depth of target at six yards per attempt.
However, most NFL offenses like to attack Detroit down the field. Detroit’s defense faces an average depth of target of 10.5 yards downfield. That’s the highest in the NFL.
Maybe the Steelers need to get out of their comfort zone and push the ball down the field against Detroit to exploit that. The Lions allowed 7.5 yards per pass attempt, 27th in the NFL.
Running with it
It’s easy to say the Lions are good at running the football and the Steelers aren’t good at stopping the run. But that’s not entirely true.
Yes, Detroit is fifth on the ground at 131.1 yards per game. But the Steelers are closer to the middle (19th in the league, 120.9) than they are to the bottom of the NFL when it comes to stopping opposing ground attacks.
Where the Steelers struggle stopping the run is when they have multiple weapons to be concerned about.
Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry (and Keaton Mitchell) in Baltimore? Josh Allen or James Cook from Buffalo? Breece Hall or Justin Fields in New York? Justin Herbert or Kimani Vidal in Los Angeles? Those are the teams that really gashed the Steelers on the ground.
When the Steelers could load up against the likes of Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Taylor or De’Von Achane, they did OK.
The Lions have a dangerous duo in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
“It’s a two-headed monster. Both guys are capable of a lot of damage,” defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said. “Jahmyr Gibbs, when he gets going, it’s lightning in a bottle. And with David Montgomery, he runs downhill. Big play ability. It’s never just one guy that gets him down. They break a lot of tackles. They finish their runs.”
Gibbs has been somewhat quiet of late. In four of his past five games, Gibbs has been held under 70 yards rushing. The one game when that wasn’t the case, though, was a 219-yard effort with 45 additional receiving yards against New York.
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Pass vulnerability
Another stress for the Steelers’ defense is that they sometimes leave themselves vulnerable to the pass when they focus so much on the opposing back.
Green Bay’s Jordan Love had 360 passing yards when the Steelers keyed on Jacobs. Caleb Wliams had three TDs for the Bears when the team threw the kitchen sink at the Chicago run game. Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco went off once the Steelers got spooked by a few big Chase Brown runs early in the first Cincinnati game.
That can’t happen this week. The Steelers have to honor both the ground and air assaults from the Lions. A big part of that is figuring out where top receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (94 catches, 1,140 yards, 11 touchdowns) is going to line up, and how to slow him down.
“What they do is move him around. He’s able to run a lot of different routes. He doesn’t just have one route in the route tree,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said of St. Brown. “You’ll see him in the flat. You’ll see him run option routes. You’ll see him run digs. He runs it all, and he knows how to set up people.”
St. Brown has been targeted 135 times, fifth in the NFL.
Get to know Jack
The pass-rush/pass-blocking dynamic is going to be interesting in this game, especially if T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig are out.
That likely means we’ll see a ton of rookie Jack Sawyer rushing over the right tackle. In this case, that’ll be Detroit All-Pro Penei Sewell.
“He is a great player. He is one of the best right tackles in this league. He is athletic. He has great hands. He is strong and physical,” Sawyer said. “When you are playing a good player like that, sometimes those guys don’t need a whole lot of help.”
Underscoring Sawyer’s point, unless he can prove worthy of extra help against one of the best in the business on Detroit’s right side, conceivably, that means the Lions can help Taylor Decker as much as they want on the left side as he attempts to neutralize Alex Highsmith.
Time to Cook
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Steelers are likely to give offensive tackle Dylan Cook his first road start. He played well when pressed into service mid-game in Baltimore and received national praise for his performance versus the Dolphins as well.
.@MiamiDolphins@steelers LT; Dylan Cook, made his NFL starting debut…Absolute flawless virtuoso performance…66 score. No penalties…never on the ground unless it was a designed cut block…Can't wait to watch Sunday in @Lions#HereWeGo#BaldysBreakdownspic.twitter.com/mgLZvL8ZeN
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 16, 2025
Sunday, though, he is going to have to face one of the best in the business in Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson.
“He is elite. He’s a game wrecker. He’s a top-quality rusher and very aware in terms of ball searching,” Tomlin said. “His ability to produce fumbles and hunt the ball as he hunts the quarterback speaks for itself. He has got very good hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills for a big man.”
The Steelers may have to throw some help Cook’s way whenever Hutchinson lines up over the Steelers’ left side, especially if Isaac Seumalo is out or playing compromised as well with his triceps injury.
“I always try to protect those guys up front. They’ve done a hell of a job this year,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “You never want to leave those guys out to dry and say, ‘Here you go, buddy, you’re on your own.’ I don’t care who you are. Dylan did a fantastic job, as all those guys have done all year.”
Hutchinson is fifth among NFC pass rushers with 9.5 sacks.