DURON HARMON

Byron Murphy Jr. scooped up Hunter Renfrow’s fumble and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown with 3:51 left in overtime and the Arizona Cardinals rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second half before running away with a 29-23 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Devin Singletary scored two touchdowns rushing in the second half to make up for Josh Allen’s sloppiness and the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills rallied to clinch their third consecutive playoff berth with a 29-15 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

The Detroit Lions have released Don Muhlbach, ending his 17-season career with the franchise.

Jacoby Brissett has experienced everything in the NFL from starting to playing behind Tom Brady, Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers.

ALLEN PARK -- The Los Angeles Rams traded three draft picks for Matthew Stafford because they believed Stafford was a level up from Jared Goff. While a little awkard, it seems there is no bad blood between Brockers and Goff whatsoever. Brockers quickly texted Goff to explain why he said what he said and apologized, then later apologized again. I didn’t mean what I said. The Rams gave up Jared Goff and three draft picks, including two first-rounders, for Matthew Stafford because Matthew Stafford is a level up from Jared Goff.

This is the seventh of an eight-part series previewing the Detroit Lions’ positional needs heading into free agency. Williams (Saints), CB Troy Hill (Rams), S Rayshawn Jenkins (Rams), S D.J. The Lions’ free agency plan is beginning to emerge after the early signings of guys like receiver Tyrell Jackson and tight end Josh Hill. He’s played both the strong and free safety positions, as well as in the slot. “Putting him at free safety, he made it hard for our second-round draft pick to get on the football field,” Anthony Lynn said.

ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions have released safety Jayron Kearse heading into Week 17, the team announced Tuesday. Walker returned to a near every-down role without Kearse in the lineup last week. Duron Harmon, another pending free agent, has remained in a near every-down role since the season started. Kearse missed last week’s game with a hip injury despite missing only one defensive snap in the team’s Week 15 loss in Tennessee. Kearse will be available to claim via waivers to the rest of the league once his release is official.

DETROIT -- Jayron Kearse missed Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, and it was safety Tracy Walker to rise in the rotation. Walker, a former starter and standout in the secondary, has been in a rotational role for the team’s previous six games. Pro Football Focus credited Walker for allowing three catches on three targets for 47 yards and two touchdowns on his 77 snaps. Moore even came on for four snaps to finish the game, his first defensive snaps of the season. The third-round rookie registered his career’s first statistics, making two tackles including one for loss on a career-high 20 snaps.

ALLEN PARK -- Duron Harmon can remember the first time crossing paths with Tom Brady in New England, still surprised the iconic quarterback knew some third-round rookie’s name. “First time seeing him, I’m like, ‘Man, that’s Tom Brady.’ He just, ‘Hey, how you doing? He appeared in 23 games between 1998-1999, throwing 30 touchdowns and leading Michigan to an Orange Bowl win over Alabama his senior year. I mean, you see him; he’s throwing the ball down the field. “It’s incredible what he’s been able to do -- still moving around great, throwing it great, playing at a really high level.

ALLEN PARK -- Evan Rothstein has never led a position group. He held an offensive assistant/research and analysis role from 2015-17 before moving into his current role -- head coach assistant/research and analysis -- upon Matt Patricia’s arrival in 2018. “I’m really, really excited for Evan,” defensive end Romeo Okwara said. So all those coaches will miss the game, forcing the Lions to turn to receivers coach Robert Prince as their interim interim head coach. Bevell said he made that choice because Rothstein knows the defense so well and already has experience with game strategy.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill #17 of the Tennessee Titans dives into the end zone for a touchdown over strong safety Duron Harmon #26 of the Detroit Lions during the second quarter of the game at Nissan Stadium on December 20, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. (2020 Getty Images)

Everson Griffen landed on the COVID reserve list, meaning he tested positive or came into close contact with a known infected person. The energy that he brings, the effort that he plays with, I mean obviously he’s a great player,” Lions safety Duron Harmon said of losing Griffen. Bryant was the lone Lions defender credited with a hit on Rodgers, with the defense generating only pressures in Week 14. Okwara led the way with three, Jamie Collins added two, and Hand, Bryant and Jones each turned one in. He played 10 snaps on Sunday, allowing a catch on the lone target he saw for 15 yards.

DETROIT -- Will Harris hadn’t seen more than 40% of the defensive snaps since Week 2, despite drawing two consecutive starts. Harris was on for 23 plays, seeing 41% of the work in Detroit’s 41-25 loss to the Houston Texans on Thanksgiving. Harris even drew the start in the team’s three-safety package next to Jayron Kearse and Duron Harmon. Walker saw some work at corner, and it didn’t go too well, which opened the door for Harris to see additional run at safety. PFF credited him with only one permitted pressure on those 82 snaps.

As poorly as the Detroit Lions have played this season, this might have been a new low. The Lions were shut out 20-0 Sunday by a Carolina team that was missing its quarterback and star running back. The Lions managed only 10 first downs and 185 total yards, utterly failing to take advantage of a weakened opponent. “Our focus right now is on Houston,” Patricia said, referring to Detroit’s Thanksgiving opponent later this week. KEY NUMBER2 — The number of punts Carolina forced in its previous four games before forcing six against the Lions.

It seems Matt Patricia has not met ownership’s expectations in this pivotal third season, and that has him sitting on one of the league’s hottest seats. “What is said in the locker room (stays in the locker room), that’s a sacred place,” safety Duron Harmon said on Monday. Column: Enough is enough for Matt Patricia in DetroitPatricia held one of the toughest, most-demanding training camps you’ll see in the modern era that year. And Matt Patricia has spent the last two-plus years trying to recover the locker room. We got to get to winning.”What should the world know about what Matt Patricia is doing right in Detroit?

DETROIT -- Tracy Walker has struggled of late while working through some ailments, clearing the way for Detroit Lions safety Jayron Kearse to see increased run. Kearse played a near every-down role for the second straight week, logging 80 of Detroit’s 88 defensive snaps in Sunday’s last-second win against Washington. Duron Harmon never stepped off the field when the defense was out there, leaving 36 snaps for Walker and four for Will Harris. Kearse was third on the team with eight tackles, adding another on special teams against the Football Team. -- Marvin Jones and Marvin Hall led the way at receiver, with the Lions mixing in Danny Amendola and Quintez Cephus.

ALLEN PARK -- Think you’re frustrated watching the Detroit Lions? “Oh, I’m frustrated," safety Duron Harmon said. At the end of the day, the last performance we put out there defensively was not a winning performance.”No kidding. Harmon, voted a captain of the defense, says he’s going to be stepping up personally to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But I have to be better, the team has to be better, and in the end, we will be better.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Of course the Detroit Lions would like to rush opposing quarterbacks. “I think we just did a good job of having a good rush and good coverage,” Harmon said. "I think we did a pretty good job in coverage the whole day, whether we were in zone or whether we were in man. I think we did a good job of mixing it up.”Indeed. “They did a good job mixing their blitzes and mixing their coverage.

The Packers (4-0) and Detroit Lions (1-3) don’t play this week and therefore are the first NFL teams to get a taste of how different off weeks will be amid a pandemic. “We have new protocols in place that are meant to keep everybody safe and healthy,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. The NFL sent out a reminder Friday that the league’s agreement with the NFL Players Association in August means players who miss tests can be punished with a $50,000 fine. “You’ve got to look no further than Tennessee.”The protocols are impacting some players more than others. While the protocols have changed those plans, it has created opportunities for those players who already have their family members with them.

The break will give the players an opportunity to recover while coach Matt Patricia and his staff try to figure out how to possibly turn around the season. Under Patricia, the Lions have become the league’s first team to lose six straight games — dating to last season — in which they led by double digits. Patricia said he meets with team owner Sheila Ford Hamp each week, but declined to share much about their conversations. The Lions are giving up 170 yards per game, 5.2 yards a carry, and nearly 10 first downs per game on the ground. The defensive end landed three hits on New Orleans’ Drew Brees and had a sack for the second straight week.

DETROIT – The Detroit Lions picked up their first win thanks to their best defensive performance of the year. Here are the three different ways the Lions picked off Kyler Murray. Mixing Up CoveragesJamie Collins comes up with INT #⃣2⃣ on the day for the #Lions D#DETvsAZ | 📺 FOX | #OnePride pic.twitter.com/zz6Y4Sctcw — Detroit Lions (@Lions) September 27, 2020The Lions second interception comes in the 2nd quarter. The Lions defense has sorely needed plays like these from Okudah, Collins and Harmon. If the Lions defense can keep creating turnovers, it’ll most certainly help this defense, even if it struggles containing opposing offenses.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The deck was stacked against Jeff Okudah in his NFL debut against Green Bay, and he struggled with the assignment. So you’ll have to excuse him for taking a victory lap after picking off Kyler Murray in the 26-23 win on Sunday in Arizona. “I was tired of being disrespected by everyone,” Okudah said by Zoom after the win here at State Farm Stadium. Okudah moved to right cornerback for the game, after playing almost exclusively on the left side in his debut. Okudah also left the game twice, and drew the ire of Matt Patricia for pulling himself after a third-quarter run.

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Matt Prater made a 39-yard field goal as time expired, Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes and the Detroit Lions snapped an 11-game losing streak dating to last season by beating the Arizona Cardinals 26-23 on Sunday. Stafford calmly led the Lions downfield, Prater connected on his fourth field goal of the afternoon and the Lions finally got to celebrate a victory. Arizona's Kyler Murray threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score, but he also had three interceptions. Six plays later, the Lions took a 10-7 lead when Stafford hit Jesse James for a 5-yard score. The 35-year-old Peterson, who is in his 14th NFL season, played six games for the Cardinals in 2017.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Detroit Lions to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field Sunday. Aaron Jones rushed for a career-high 168 yards and scored three touchdowns, including a 75-yard breakaway, as the Green Bay Packers rallied from an early 11-point deficit to beat the Detroit Lions 42-21 on Sunday. Green Bay took the lead for good 17-14 on Rodgers' 11-yard pass to Tonyan with 14 seconds left in the second quarter. That gave Stafford 35 career touchdown passes against the Packers, the most by any Green Bay opponent. Stafford has thrown for 5,430 career yards against the Packers to lead all Green Bay foes.

Dane is a producer and media enthusiast. He previously worked freelance video production and writing jobs in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts. Dane graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

DETROIT After another long offseason that included doubts about the season being played because of the coronavirus were now less than two weeks away from NFL season kicking off and another year of Detroit Lions football. That said - Here are the headlines going into the 2020 season for the Lions. Matthew Stafford returnsQB Matthew Stafford is back after missing the final 8 games of last season. New facesThere are a ton of new faces with many of them on the Lions defense. Improvements on defenseBy any number the Lions defense was one of the worst in the league last year.

Detroit Lions safety Duron Harmon addresses the media with his teammates outside the Lions NFL football camp practice facility, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Allen Park, Mich. The players were reacting to the recent shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)ALLEN PARK, Mich. The Detroit Lions decided not to practice on Tuesday, protesting after a Black man was shot by police in Wisconsin. Lions coach Matt Patricia opened the team's morning meeting by allowing players to share their thoughts on the shooting of Jacob Blake, who is paralyzed from the waist down. Lions players and Patricia later filed out of the team's practice facility, pushing a dry-erase board on wheels along the sidewalk to address the media.