The Detroit Lions offense was no match for the Houston Texans for most of the evening. But if we’ve learned anything about this Lions team, it’s that they don’t need everything fully operational to win. They are deep enough across the board to win games in multiple ways.

That’s exactly what happened in their excellent 26-23 win on Sunday night. Let’s highlight those achievements in our Week 10 report and numbers.

Quarterback: D+

It was a tough night for Jared Goff, who threw a career-high five interceptions. While a few of those were the result of bad luck (two tipped interceptions and a meaningless Hail Mary), Goff shot in the red zone on Sam LaPorta, costing the Lions points, and his deep ball to Jameson Williams felt like an unnecessary risk (although there apparently some fault was on Jamo’s part (more on that later).

That said, let’s not bury his whole night. On Sunday night, he connected on two beautiful deep passes, both to LaPorta. The first, a touchdown pass, was a perfect touch while running, and the other was a 37-yard strike across his body.

And when the team needed a game-winning pass, he delivered to Amon-Ra St. Brown late in the fourth quarter. Jared Goff was even 6-of-8 for 79 yards and a touchdown (145.3 passer rating) in the final quarter of the game.

Running backs: B-

It just wasn’t David Montgomery’s night, and while I don’t think that’s entirely on him, he missed at least one opportunity to find the end zone on what I thought was a well-blocked two-point conversion, just missing the hole. Gibbs was also fairly ineffective in the first half, but he was essential to Detroit’s comeback victory. After tallying just 19 yards on nine touches in the first half, Gibbs’ speed was on display as he exploded for 89 yards in the second half on 12 touches.

Wide Receivers: B-

Amon-Ra St. Brown was quiet in the middle of this game, but his 38 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter were vital to Detroit’s win.

Which brings us to Jameson Williams. As the Texans tried to jump on Detroit’s short routes, Williams played an integral part of Detroit’s offense that eventually broke through. On his three catches, two converted key third downs, and a few they had a very high degree of difficulty.

However, coach Dan Campbell more or less blamed him for the interception thrown in his general direction.

“Jamo should have a little bit of a higher angle,” Campbell said, referring to Williams’ route drifting a little too far toward the sideline when Goff threw it more vertically.

The fact that Goff and Williams are not on the same page is something that has plagued their chemistry for a few years now, but these incidents are becoming less and less common.

Oddly enough, Tim Patrick, Kalif Raymond, and Allen Robinson all failed to get a single target thrown their way.

Tight Ends: B-

Sam LaPorta led the team with 66 receiving yards, plus one of Goff’s two passing touchdowns. It was a solid day for him before he went down with an injury.

However, I’m limiting the grade to just a B- because I thought there were some serious blocking mistakes that led to Texans defenders shutting down the run game in the first half.

Offensive line: D

The start of this game couldn’t have been much worse for the offensive line. Detroit managed just 23 yards on 13 carries in the first half, while two of Goff’s sacks were the direct result of immediate pressure given up by Detroit’s offensive line. It looked like it was going to be an absolute horror of a day for the offensive line.

But give them some credit: they rebounded in a big way in the second half. Detroit rushed for 82 yards on 19 carries (4.3 YPC) in the second half. Goff only relied on a single quarterback hit in the final two quarters. And that directly led to them scoring 19 unanswered points for the win.

Defensive line: A-

The quarterback pressure wasn’t exactly consistent, but six different defensive linemen recorded a quarterback hit on Sunday night (Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alim McNeill, James Houston, Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike, Pat O’Connor). Three of those ended up being sacks.

But perhaps most impactfully, the Lions absolutely shut down the Texans’ running game. Heading into Sunday night, Texans running back Joe Mixon was on a four-game 100-yard rushing streak. Against the Lions, he managed just 46 rushing yards on 25 carries (1.8 YPC). The Lions absolutely clogged the middle of the field and it forced the Texans into extremely difficult third downs.

Early success led to his being forced off the field. The Texans probably converted more than you’d like in those situations (6 of 15), but you get nine failed third-down conversions.

Linebackers: A-

Nothing special from this group, but they clearly had a strong hand in Detroit’s dominant defense against Houston. Jack Campbell remains a tackling machine, and he also scored a pass break on a deep shot while in man coverage. Alex Anzalone also had a pass breakup on Houston’s final pass of the night – which turned out to be a huge play in the game.

The Lions continue to survive with a limited crew at linebacker (no Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez or Jalen Reeves-Maybin), but it would be hard to even tell.

Defensive back: B+

First of all, let’s give Carlton Davis some well-deserved credit. Not only did he notch two all-important interceptions in the game, but I thought he was a very, terribly good running defender. When Mixon tried to find space on the edges, it was often Davis who led him into the interior.

Brian Branch was also phenomenal on Sunday. He led the team with 10 tackles (one for loss), and he also recorded a pair of pass deflections. I’ve never felt more comfortable when a Lions defender is targeted, because Branch is seemingly always right on top of it.

Things weren’t great for the rest of the crew, though. With a short receiving corps, the Texans found early success targeting both Amik Robertson and Terrion Arnold. And even though it was relatively minimal contact, I still have to call Arnold out for a 41-yard pass interference penalty. Once again he was in great position, but couldn’t find the ball and played through the receiver.

Special teams: A-

Jake Bates lifts this entire unit that struggled most of the night. Kalif Raymond only managed 15 yards on three returns, Ennis Rakestraw had a critical penalty that put Detroit on its own 10-yard line, and Jack Fox had an oddly bad game.

But Bates hitting a 58-yard field goal and the 52-yard run at the end of the game was all it took. Just an absolute monster performance from the Lions kicker who hasn’t missed a field goal yet. Now he also has two game winners to his name.

Coaching: C+

To get the bad stuff out of the way, I didn’t think the Lions approached the end of either half particularly well. In the first half, the Lions seemed more concerned about bleeding the clock than scoring during their two-minute drill, and that immediately backfired. Not only did Detroit go three-and-out, but they gave Houston enough time to score a touchdown and extend their lead to 23-6. Then, at the end of the game, setting Bates up for a 52-yard field goal might have worked, but I certainly would have liked to see them make it a little easier on their kicker, and they had plenty of time to do that doing. So. I also didn’t like going for two so early in the second half.

That said, as questionable as the offensive game plan was against the Texans, the defense performed beautifully. They focused on taking Mixon away, and it worked. They made the Texans one-dimensional, resulting in four sacks, two takeaways, a 50% stop rate in the red zone, and a complete shutout in the second half.

Coaching also deserves some credit for keeping the Lions calm, cool and collected during their 16-point deficit. Many teams would spiral at that point, but the Lions have now come back from an early 10-0 deficit twice this season, and that shows strong leadership.