10 quick takeaways from the Lions overtime win over the Giants

The Detroit Lions won a game on Sunday. It could be difficult to ascertain that fact amongst the discourse about Detroit's overtime win over the Giants, a game in which the host Lions didn't lead for a single second in regulation. The now-eliminated Giants were the better team for much of the game, and that's not something that sits well with the Lions, fans or media. Nor should it.

Even so, the Lions improved to 7-4 and are still firmly in the NFC playoff picture. Thursday's game against the rival Packers in Ford Field will go a long way toward determining the validity of those postseason chances. But until then, here are a few takeaways from the win over the Giants.

Jahmyr Gibbs is the Lions MVP

It goes far beyond Gibbs' 69-yard game winner on the first play of overtime, though that incredible display is a good starting point.

More: Jahmyr Gibbs highlight reel from Detroit's Week 12 overtime win

Gibbs cranked out three runs of at least 49 yards in the game. For a Lions offense that isn't hitting big plays in the passing game frequently enough, Gibbs is hitting those home runs with his legs. The swing passes that didn't gain a lot still served a purpose, too; the backside screen to Jameson Williams was directly related to the Giants defense focusing on Gibbs. If not for a (legit) penalty on Graham Glasgow, that's a big play from the passing game created by Gibbs.

For several weeks now, I've been presenting the case that Penei Sewell deserves some MVP buzz. While Penei is still critical to the Lions success, and Gibbs' success too, it's No. 1 who is the Lions' legit MVP right now.

St. Brown looks hurt

The Lions All-Pro wideout posted 9 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown in the win, including Detroit's first score. Yet he also let two well-delivered passes from Jared Goff slide through both of his hands. The first of those was caught by Giants safety Jevon Holland for a costly interception. Known for his impeccable hands, St. Brown now has more drops in Detroit's last three games (5) than he had in all of 2024 (4).

It could be an issue with No. 14's wrist, something he injured way back in the Week 4 win over Cleveland. That would explain the balls going through St. Brown's hands without him being able to secure the catch. It would also explain his run blocking, which has dropped from all-world to merely pretty good of late.

Dan Campbell remembered Jack Fox

One of the biggest critiques of Dan Campbell's offensive play-calling was his refusal to play the field position game in the 16-9 loss to the Eagles in Week 11. With his defense playing lights out, Campbell kept All-Pro punter Jack Fox on the sidelines and instead went 0-for-5 on fourth downs in the loss. Campbell took a lot of criticism, and deservedly so.

Even though his defense wasn't nearly as stout on Sunday, Campbell smartly used Fox as a weapon against the Giants. Fox pinned New York inside its own 20 on all five of his punts, with the Giants starting at their own 8, 10, 12, 7 and 8 yard lines after his punts, with zero return yards allowed on four fair catches and one return attempt.

The pass rush, aside from Aidan Hutchinson, is very far from "we're good..."

The Lions bagged one sack and registered seven total hits on Jameis Winston on Sunday, according to the official NFL stats. All but one of those hits came from Aidan Hutchinson, with the other coming from Brian Branch on a blitz.

That means a whole lot of nothing by the rest of Detroit's defensive front on Winston's 39 dropbacks (one sack, two scrambles--one of which stemmed from an unregistered QB hit by Alim McNeill). Al-Quadin Muhammad has gone a month without touching the opposing quarterback. Tyleik Williams and D.J. Reader aren't pass rushers, but they haven't either. McNeill, playing as a heavy end, isn't providing much either. Only Roy Lopez is consistently getting any sort of surge into the backfield or making plays with batted balls.

Maybe the imminent return of Marcus Davenport and Josh Paschal will make the desired impact. Maybe McNeill will get more comfortable playing DE. Maybe Muhammad breaks out of his slump, where his hand usage is too easily countered. Maybe the LBs find better blitzing lanes, or use more than one lane for two guys. Maybe. Just maybe, the Lions have a bigger problem--one that won't work well in January win-or-go-home games.

The gadget play pendulum swings both ways

New York got onto the scoreboard first with a gadget play straight out of the schoolyard. Winston threw the ball to RB Devin Singletary behind the line, quickly returned by Singletary with a pass back to Winston, who found WanDale Robinson alone behind the defense for a 39-yard scoring strike. Okay. Nice play from a team with nothing to lose to set a tone, send a wakeup call to the Lions defense.

The Giants weren't done, however. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. More to the point, shame on Derrick Barnes for not being able to tackle Winston after his gadget play reception, allowing the vintage QB to get into the end zone for his first career receiving TD. Barnes wasn't even supposed to be covering Winston, so it's hard to put too much blame on him. The Giants saw something in the Lions' aggressiveness that they could exploit, and interim coach Mike Kafka and Winston took advantage. That means a defense that isn't getting home with the pass rush also isn't ready for whatever an offense might throw at it. Kelvin Sheppard is an outstanding young DC, but he had a bad day against the team he played two seasons for before joining Detroit.

More to the point, the Lions have been the beneficiary of so many successful gadget plays under Dan Campbell. Of all teams, they should be more alert to the possibility of tasting their own medicine.

Offensive line perked up

After a slow start to the game, the Lions offensive line progressed into being a very effective unit. Two early sacks on Jared Goff came from simple blown blocks, notably a putrid one from left guard Kayode Awosika in which he was cleanly beaten by Giants rookie DT Darius Alexander on a move that wasn't even all that good. Center Graham Glasgow had a rough first half, too.

The line looked much more cohesive and effective as the game drove on. Glasgow had a couple of outstanding blocks on inside runs. Rookie RG Tate Ratledge consistently won his individual matchups. Left tackle Taylor Decker fared very well against 13-sack Brian Burns and No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter. Right tackle Penei Sewell pitched a shutout in pass protection, too. It's been an inconsistent group, especially inside, but the Lions line deserves credit for a very strong finish to the win.

Brian Branch is not learning

I think Brian Branch is making the decision to re-sign him a very difficult one. Or maybe, an easier one to let the volatile safety leave as a free agent. Branch appeared to be running at significantly less than full speed in a couple of coverage reps in the first half. He was lost in the zone coverage on another TD pass, too shallow in his responsibility. But the troublesome one is yet another helmet-to-helmet personal foul penalty. This one, like a few others on his ledger, was an obvious infraction. He will be fined once again and could be facing another suspension.

The Lions can overlook the propensity for bad penalties if Branch is producing as a versatile defensive weapon. Being out of position and outhustled--even if he's dealing with an injury--is probably not going to help his case to stay in Detroit. He now has seven 15-yard penalties (personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct) and just five plays on the ball for the season.

Giants were complicit in Detroit's comeback

Injured Giants WR Malik Nabers deleted the social media post, but his sentiments were spot-on.

Kafka made some critical time and game management errors down the stretch. The failed fourth-down attempt absolutely should have been a field goal to prevent the Lions from tying the game with Jake Bates' 59-yarder. When the Giants should have been burning the clock, they did the opposite. That's how a team loses a third straight game it led with under five minutes to play. These are mistakes good teams capitalize upon, and Dan Campbell--who battled similar issues early in his coaching career--and the Lions did just that.

Special teams returns paid dividends

In his very first play of the 2025 season, Lions linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez did something the team sorely needed. He beat his block on a kick return and dumped Giants return man Gunner Olszewski on his butt at the 30. While he didn't factor in on the tackle directly, cornerback Khalil Dorsey also scored a clean win against his blocker in his first rep in two months. On a Jacob Saylors kick return, Dorsey executed an outstanding block of his own.

The Lions special teams have not been sharp lately. Getting Rodriguez and Dorsey back in the lineup paid off right away. Hopefully they can provide some stability to Dave Fipp's units.

Margin for error is gone

More than anything else, this win over the Giants reaffirmed two things:

• The Lions can still play like a very good football team, with a loaded roster and a winning culture

• The Lions can't compete with better teams until they start playing like a very good football team more consistently

It's true of pretty much every team (see: the Eagles blowing a 21-0 lead vs the Cowboys), but the point seems more pronounced with these Lions. Talent alone isn't going to get it done. Execution, complementary football and attention to detail will be critical in the stretch run.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: 10 quick takeaways from the Lions overtime win over the Giants