Detroit Lions Week 4 PFF recap: 5 top performers on offense Miles Killebrew Jersey , defense vs. Cowboys The Detroit Lions were seconds away from victory in Week 4, but a last-minute defensive hold was just not in the cards against a Cowboys offense that did what they wanted for most of the afternoon. That being said, there were plenty of individual performances on Detroit’s side that were promising, and Pro Football Focus shared the top five on each side of the ball. Here are the Lions’ top graded players on offense and defense from Sunday.OffenseWe didn’t need PFF to give us a grade to let us know that Golden Tate was the most valuable offensive player on Sunday. The eight catches (on eight targets) for 132 yards and two touchdowns made that pretty darn clear. Tate earned PFF’s highest grade of all Week 4 receivers, landing him on their Team of the Week. It’s also not surprising to see Matthew Stafford with such a high number. He completed 80 percent of his passes for a whopping 10.2 yards per attempt. His 90.2 PFF grade was second among all NFL quarterbacks Sunday, trailing only... [CHICAGO BEARS QUARTERBACK NAME REDACTED FOR SANITY’S SAKE]. Kerryon Johnson apparently had a solid game, despite little production outside of two carries, adding fuel to the GIVE KERRYON MORE CARRIES fire. Rick Wagner continues to be quietly solid, and Kenny Golladay is definitely in the middle of a breakout season. DefenseIt took Dak Prescott a little time to realize that throwing to Darius Slay was a bad idea, but he finally learned. Slay was only targeted six times all game, forcing four incompletions and getting his hands on three passes Womens T.J. Jones Jersey , and the two completions Dallas managed went for just 20 yards total. More surprising is seeing two other defensive backs this high on the list. Glover Quin seems to have found his footing in the past two games, despite a really slow start to the year. And while Nevin Lawson always seems to get higher grades than he deserves, the maligned Lions cornerback did find himself in good positions to make plays against the Cowboys. He also nearly had his first-career interception thanks to a savvy play.I’ve already gushed a little about Da’Shawn Hand on Tuesday morning, but let’s do it a little more. You may remember that through three weeks, Hand was the highest graded rookie interior defender with an overall grade of 78.4. Though his Sunday grade was slightly lower than that average, his overall grade is actually even higher right now—sitting at 81.4, between PFF’s “elite” and “good” rating categories. Against the Cowboys, Hand produced two pressures, including what was almost a game-sealing strip sack. As a result, his 90.8 pass rush ranking was second highest among all interior defenders on Sunday. Caught from behind on a 71-yard run, Kerryon Johnson took some locker room ribbing Darius Slay Jersey White , the kind that comes after a victory on the road.Johnson rushed for 158 yards Sunday to help the Detroit Lions beat Miami 32-21. His teammates thought he should have had more, but safety Reshad Jones ran him down after the Lions' longest run in seven years."Look, since high school I've been caught from behind enough times for me to know that's how it happens in life," Johnson said. "But I haven't run 71 yards in a long time, so I was proud of myself."The Lions (3-3) had lots of reasons to feel good after climbing to .500, their high-water mark so far this season. The Dolphins (4-3), by contrast, fell out of their first-place tie with New England in the AFC East.Here are things to know about both teams:GROUND GAME: The Lions netted 248 yards on the ground, their highest total since the Barry Sanders era in 1997, and averaged 7.1 per rush. The same team rushed for 39 yards in a season-opening loss to the New York Jets."When you go out and you can execute and do it the right way, it looks really good Barry Sanders Jersey White ," coach Matt Patricia said. "We've seen it when it doesn't look so good."For the first time this season, the Lions had more rushes than pass plays. Quarterback Matt Stafford was fine with that, given the results."It's incredible," he said. "Our guys up front dominated. They played great. I thought our receivers in the back end blocked well, and then obviously our backs were awesome. It was a lot of fun to watch them do their thing."I haven't been a part of too many of those, and it was a whole lot of fun."STAFFORD'S STATSWhen he did throw, Stafford was a model of efficiency. He went 18 for 22 for 217 yards with two scores and no turnovers for a season-high rating of 138.1.Stafford had his fifth game in row with at least two touchdown passes and a 100 passer rating. He threw four interceptions in opener, but has only one since.FURTHER DEPLETEDThe injury-plagued Dolphins lost two more key players. Dynamic receiver Albert Wilson was sidelined in the first half, and receiver Kenny Stills limped to the locker room with a minute left.Wilson's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said his client suffered a hip injury that appeared significant."I would say the best-case scenario is that he would miss a few weeks Darius Slay Jersey ," Rosenhaus said during his weekly appearance on South Florida's WSVN-TV. "Worst-case scenario is he could possibly miss the rest of the season."There won't be much time for any Dolphins to mend — they play Thursday at the Houston Texans (4-3), who earned their fourth consecutive victory Sunday by winning at Jacksonville."We'll figure something out," coach Adam Gase said. "It's going to be a short week, but at the same time we'll have enough guys to be ready to go."RUSHING THE PASSERDetroit defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois had two sacks and two quarterback hurries. He said he was effective, in part, because the Lions' ball-control attack allowed him to stay fresh by spending a lot of time on the sideline."I love the offense," Francois said. "I love when they are running that ball, passing, and you just keep hearing 'first down, first down, first down.' I'm a big fan of our offense. Our offense did their job Sylvester Williams Jersey , ate the clock, ran the ball, controlled the game."MIAMI QBSBrock Osweiler played well in his second start filling in for the injured Ryan Tannehill. Osweiler went 22 for 31 for 239 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers.Tannehill is nursing a sore throwing shoulder, and Gase declined to shed any light on his status for the Texans."I don't know yet because we haven't gotten that far yet," Gase said. "I was worried about today."
