The Lions’ fourth-down gambles were ‘almost disrespectful,’ so Nakobe Dean and the Eagles blanked them on every one

Dan Campbell had his Lions team go for it on fourth down, and came up empty.

Then he made the call again…and again…and again…

In total Sunday night, Detroit rolled the dice on fourth down five times – four attempts with the offense left out there, and one on a fake punt where the Lions figured to have the element of surprise.

The Eagles' defense, which only seems to be getting meaner with each passing game since the trade deadline and bye week, never bit.

They blanked the Lions on all five tries, creating a hefty amount of turnovers on downs that heavily dictated the Eagles' 16-9 win at Lincoln Financial Field in a defensively dominant prime-time showing.

Now, Campbell and the Lions have become well-known for being a high-octane team that isn't afraid to take a risk.

But by a certain point, it was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and to the Eagles' defense, it was "almost disrespectful," linebacker Nakobe Dean said from his locker postgame.

"Even if it's not disrespectful for us [the defense], I feel like it's disrespectful to our offense, because think they're going to get OK field position," Dean continued. "I don't really take no offense to it. I know what type of team they are over there. We expected it to be a game like this, so we just had to nut up."

And be ready for whatever Campbell and the Lions would try to throw at them.

Vic Fangio's group was more than prepared for that challenge.

On a 4th-and-1 at midfield early into the second quarter, the Lions tried to run it up the gut with Jahymr Gibbs, but the running back only had a wall at the line to run into, as defensive tackle Moro Ojomo shed his block and wrapped up his legs for that first stop.

Bill Streicher/Imagn Images

Reed Blankenship and the Eagles' defense celebrate after stopping the Lions' short on a 4th and 1 try in the first half Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

The next Detroit possession stalled out at a 4th-and-2, again by midfield. The Lions sent out their punt team, yet the Eagles kept their regular defense out, seeming to know that a fake was coming. On cue, the ball was snapped to linebacker Grant Stuard instead of the punter. He tried to barrel his way forward, but had nowhere else to go than into a swarm of midnight green jerseys. That whole idea was dead in its tracks with the ball going back to the Eagles, who flipped that into a field goal for a 6-0 lead.

Then, coming back from the halftime, Campbell trusted his quarterback Jared Goff to throw the ball on a 4th-and-5, a 4th-and-goal, and a 4th-and-3, all at various spots in Philadelphia territory.

The problem was, Jaelan Phillips and the Eagles' pass rush were putting him under constant pressure all night and rushing him into decisions, while Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter took away his sight over the middle with a combined five batted passes at the line of scrimmage.

Goff went looking for Jameson Williams on the first gamble, then Amon-Ra St. Brown on the next two, with both standing as his most trusted receivers. But on all three, he had next-to-no time to take his reads and forced out bad throws as the Eagles caved in on him, while cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Adoree' Jackson – who stepped up big at CB2 – kept his intended targets blanketed.

It was fitting a square peg into a round hole for the Lions, against an Eagles defense that was dominating and only got more suffocating as the game went on.

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Jaelan Phillips and the Eagles' pass rush were a nightmare for Jared Goff on Sunday night.

Was it "almost disrespectful," as Dean put it after? In the sense that Detroit didn't seem to exactly fear Jalen Hurts and the Eagles' offense going down the field and scoring, probably, but that's a continuing issue on its own.

Against Dean, Ojomo, Davis, Carter, Phillips, and a Philadelphia defense that might be just hitting its stride, though, those fourth-down tries were all some big gambles on Detroit's part, and as it turned out, bad, pivotal ones that the Lions lost on all of.

"We just came out as a defense and we played our type of game," Dean said. "We wanted to play on our terms, impose our will physically, and I feel like we did that.

"They went for it on fourth down a lot. We knew they were a gutsy team like that, but we didn't know they were gonna go for it that many times, but shoutout to the defense, we handled our business."

While Dean got one of the night's last laughs.

MORE: How Jordan Davis, Eagles' defense exploited a Jared Goff tendency

As the minutes were ticking down in the fourth quarter, with the game rapidly falling out of the Lions' reach, Goff dropped back with running back David Montgomery shifting over to block on the QB's right.

Dean stormed around the edge and knocked Montgomery straight into Goff while he was scanning the field, which sent Goff down to the grass for a sack.

With a three-and-out quickly following, the Lions took a 54-yard field goal because it was all that was there for them, and at that point, with under two minutes left, it was too late for that to matter.

The Lions' luck had run out well before then. The Eagles' defense made sure of it.

MY GOODNESS NAKOBE DEAN: pic.twitter.com/wLjTdjnlQK

— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) November 17, 2025

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