Week 8 Film Review: Lions' Offense Roars Again A closer look at some Week 8 matchups, with the benefit of film review: Lions O vs. Seahawks D Once again, we saw Detroit come alive in the fourth quarter. Matthew Stafford was tremendous, seeing the entire field, using his entire array of weapons and playing with the right blend of patience and urgency. He had only one truly bad decision on the afternoon (the interception when looking for Tony Scheffler against double coverage). Every other play, he was sound. Several times, including on the game-winning touchdown strike to Titus Young, Stafford's raw arm strength was the difference. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman boasted about the job he and mate Brandon Browner did against Calvin Johnson. Both were solid, but Johnson also had three drops. There were also a handful of instances when the attention Johnson drew allowed other guys to easily work open (the Ryan Broyles touchdown being one). A final note: praise must be given to Detroit's offensive line. Its five men were athletically overmatched across the board, but they held up down the stretch spectacularly well in pass protection. Seahawks O vs. Lions D The Seahawks were able to sustain offense despite not getting much from their ground game. Aside from his 77-yard touchdown (which came on a sweep right against defensive backs Chris Houston and Ricardo Silva, who were not on the same page or ready at the snap), Marshawn Lynch didn't get much going. Detroit brought an eighth man into the box for most of the first half and saw their defensive tackles outplay Seattle's guards for much of the second half. A lot of the game was put in Russell Wilson's hands. The Seahawks simplified Wilson's reads a bit with a lot of three-step drops (this also helped neutralize the pass-rushing advantage that Detroit's defensive line had over Seattle's front five). As the game progressed, the Seahawks opened things up for Wilson, with Sidney Rice being the fulcrum of most passing designs. Wilson was unsuccessful on his two deep attempts to Rice (neither of which were read or executed particularly well), but on other plays he did a good job of buying time and allowing his mid-level targets to work open. He also identified the mismatches against Detroit's man coverage on a handful of third downs. Unfortunately for Seattle, their solid 24 points weren't enough to earn a road victory. Packers O vs. Jaguars D The Packers looked every bit like a team that was without its starting running back, fullback and top two receivers. They had trouble manufacturing offense against Jacksonville's variety of Cover-2 looks (many of which were subtly disguised before the snap and altered after the snap). Most of Green Bay's offense involved inverted wishbone formations or crowded backfields, with H-backs/tight ends D.J. Williams, Tom Crabtree and Ryan Taylor seeing significant snaps. This was primarily to add dimension in the ground game and to aid struggling offensive tackles Marshall Newhouse and Bryan Bulaga (both of whom were up and down in this one). Aaron Rodgers did not look completely comfortable some of the time, though he was able to rely on his outstanding pocket mobility and outside scrambling to make a few plays. Too many of Green Bay's routes were isolation patterns, though. Jacksonville's secondary, which was composed mostly of second stringers, did a great job with its discipline and spacing. The Jags also got a strong performance from their defensive line, which Green Bay's fairly meek front five was unable to move on the ground. All in all, the Packers avoided turnovers (save for one sack-fumble) and manage 17 points. That, plus the early blocked punt TD, proved to be enough this time. Most weeks, a performance like this would earn a loss. Jaguars O vs. Packers D Blaine Gabbert made a few spectacular downfield throws, but too often he struggled with accuracy when throwing to targets between the numbers. Despite Green Bay's willingness to blitz their inside linebackers and safety Morgan Burnett, and despite Clay Matthews being his dominant self going one-on-one against left tackle Eugene Monroe, Gabbert got pretty good protection all afternoon. His receivers also got better separation than we've seen them get in past weeks (this isn't to say Green Bay's secondary didn't play well). Justin Blackmon had by far his best game of the season, while Cecil Shorts made a few downfield plays against quarters coverage. However, Gabbert was too sporadic for the passing game to sustain, and with Jacksonville's line being unable to move defensive tackles B.J. Raji and Ryan Pickett, there wasn't much of a running game to fall back on. Bears O vs. Panthers D A few Panthers players complained about how Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Sean McDermott kept them in the same predictable coverage play after play on Chicago's game-winning field-goal drive. Their complaints were valid. The coverage the Panthers were in was a conservative form of quarters (four defensive backs each taking a fourth of the field, with three underneath defenders buzzing the second level). The Bears easily picked it apart with little dig routes to Brandon Marshall on the left side. It was strange to see the same play work again and again with no one changing anything up. What makes Carolina's late defensive coaching worse was that for most of the game, the Panthers had had success playing their usual Cover 3. They got conservative under pressure. Too bad - they wasted a good run-defending performance and a six-sack effort. The first few sacks were a product of sloppy pocket mechanics by Jay Cutler and choppy timing in the receivers' routes. The last few were cases of offensive tackles J'Marcus Webb and Gabe Carimi being beaten. Those guys shored things up down the stretch, though, as did Cutler, who once again showed fantastic arm strength and accuracy in some big moments. Panthers O vs. Bears D The Panthers played well enough to win, but so did the Bears. The game-changing pick-six by Tim Jennings was somewhat of a freak play, as Steve Smith slipped on the route, making Newton's slightly inaccurate pass a wildly inaccurate pass. The Jennings-Smith matchup was a great one all afternoon. Jennings did a solid job against the All-Pro, receiving no special help most of the time. Smith still made an impact, but half the balls thrown his way fell incomplete (including a potential game-winning touchdown bomb that he dropped). This outside matchup was not the deciding factor of the contest, though; Chicago's run defense was. Unafraid of Carolina's receiving weapons and committed to keeping Cam Newton's scrambles in check, the Bears played an eight-man box in front of single high zone coverage throughout most of the game. The Panthers tried unsuccessfully again and again to run on that crowded box. Brian Urlacher was tremendous in filling his gaps and taking on lead blocks. Little-known defensive tackle Nate Collins stood out, as well as rising star Henry Melton (a one-gap shooter who has played at an All-Pro level this season). Follow @Andy_Benoit e-mail andy.benoit@nfltouchdown.com