Terrion Arnold has been somewhat polarizing through the first few weeks of his Detroit Lions career. The first-round cornerback from Alabama has looked decent in man coverage, but his play has been pockmarked with penalties and the occasional blown assignment when not playing man.
Against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7, Arnold performed pretty darn well against an explosive offense. Playing on the road against the unbeaten Vikings, Arnold’s work at outside CB effectively reflected the entire Lions team for the day. Arnold is the subject of this week’s Detroit film breakdown.
As always, I grade the individual player for every snap. Arnold gets a plus for a positive play and a minus for a poor one. Not every play earns a plus or minus.
He started off slowly but then turned it up more than a notch to outshine the competition.
Arnold’s day certainly started out rough. After the first play, a screen to the other side, Arnold was victimized by overzealousness on Minnesota’s second offensive play.
That is, of course, the Aaron Jones 34-yard touchdown. Arnold is responsible for the outside containment on the left-end run, but he overreacts to WR Jordan Addison (No. 3) motioning inside. Because safety Brian Brian is on a designed run blitz to the inside gap, there’s nobody behind Arnold.
Rookie mistake, and it cost the Lions a touchdown. Big minus for No. 0 on this one:
Aaron Jones has the Vikings up early!
📺: #DETvsMIN on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/nadSyDNR5B— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
Arnold earned his first plus on the next drive, and he did so being in zone coverage. On 3rd-and-short, Arnold correctly identified that the TE (Johnny Mundt) would chip and release and ran to the spot where Mundt was heading. Perfectly executed option elimination. The play wound up being a first down conversion to Justin Jefferson just over a step-too-shallow Brian Branch, perhaps No. 32’s only real mistake of the game.
Arnold’s improved read-and-react in zone here is a very welcome development. He struggled to trust his eyes in the Week 3 win over Arizona, and this is a tangible improvement that reflects hard work and good coaching.
Plays that are negated by penalty don’t technically exist, or get factored into grades for outlets like PFF. But I’m giving Arnold a plus for his man coverage on Addison on the play where Carlton Davis was (correctly) called for defensive holding. Addison was San Darnold’s first read and…
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