The Lions left Minnesota with a 19-15 win, a three-game winning streak, and a division start that now sits at 2-0. They also walked away having gashed the Vikings for 230 rushing yards against what the source describes as the NFL’s premier defensive unit.
That production came with a wrinkle at center. Cade Mays made his second start of the season after missing time with a fractured wrist in training camp, but his afternoon ended early after the first offensive possession of the second quarter. He played 22 snaps before Juice Scruggs stepped in again and kept the offense rolling.
The split in the ground game was stark. With Mays on the field, Detroit managed 31 rushing yards.
With Scruggs, the Lions piled up the other 199 over just under three quarters. Still, the film tells a different story than the raw totals.
After going back through all 22 of Mays’ snaps, the conclusion was that he did not lose a single one-on-one rep in either the run game or pass protection. The looks changed, the pre-snap movement changed, and the Vikings mixed in simulated pressure, but Mays handled it all cleanly.
One of the best examples came on an outside zone run to the left. Mays had the gap to his left, and the defender nearest him was a 3-technique aligned just outside Christian Mahogany.
At the snap, that tackle slanted inside and into Mays’ area. Mays got to him, held outside leverage by keeping his feet alive through contact, and kept driving until the whistle.
That work helped move the line and opened space for Jahmyr Gibbs to get a positive gain.
Another snap showed what Mays can do in pass protection. He took on a strong bull rush, anchored, and held his ground until Jared Goff stepped up.
When the defender tried to work out of the initial rush, Mays reset and finished the block with authority. The play was described as one that could have ended with Gibbs scoring if Goff had held the ball a beat longer.
The last clip was about processing pressure. Mays initially recognized a linebacker lined up as the 0-technique directly over him, then adjusted when the blitz never came. He picked up the linebacker who stunted into the A-gap, moved his feet and hips, and kept the pocket from collapsing long enough for Goff to hit Jameson Williams on a 46-yard deep shot in stride.
None of that was meant to knock Scruggs, who also played well. Dan Campbell was asked on 97.1 about Scruggs and whether his play has created a center competition, and he had plenty of praise for him:
”… to get thrust back in there against that defense with everything that they were doing, to have that production, I mean, that was impressive. He was locked in.
He was so ready to go. He was.
I told you this before, we love Juice. He just fits us.
He’s all about business, he’s a great teammate, he’s high-energy, he tries to finish plays, runs off the football. So he did a heck of a job.
As of right now, he’s our guy, because I don’t see Cade practicing Wednesday and he might not Thursday. So we’re going to get Juice ready to go here.”
The bigger picture is simple enough: the Lions have two centers who look capable of starting in the NFL. That says a lot about Brad Holmes’ work on the offensive line this offseason. But based on the film, the offense’s highest ceiling still comes with Mays at the point of attack.
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