A Thursday night chock full of touchdowns, nice if you had the right players on your side. Not so nice if you were facing them, or if you had the guys unfortunately left out of the 74 total points. Let's break it down.

QUARTERBACKS

I started Jared Goff, facing Jahmyr Gibbs. It would have been nice if one of the latter's touchdowns had been a little toss from the quarterback, but that was not to be. Yards were there for Goff who ran the offense well, as expected against a Dallas defense that's definitely better against the run right now. But with a lot of pass plays ending near the goal line, just 1 touchdown. Can't really feel bad, starting him was the right move.

Dak Prescott, similarly, threw for big yards (47 attempts), but was light on touchdowns. This was not because the running game was punching them in but because Detroit came to play defensively, bringing heavy pressure, particularly around the goal line. There was one play where Dak had CeeDee Lamb open for a long touchdown but threw an errant pass out of bounds, and another where George Pickens had beat his man and was interfered with near the goal line to save a touchdown (a play that was wiped out by offsetting penalties anyway). Another near-miss to Lamb that ended up with a concussion for his star. As with Goff, things could have been a little better, easily, but that's fantasy football.

RUNNING BACKS

Lions should really give more work to David Montgomery, averaging 10.0 yards per attempt last night, than that stiff Jahmyr Gibbs, at just 3.6, amiright? But seriously, Montgomery did have a nice breakaway run, shaking tackle at the line during a long touchdown run, but this was the Gibbs show, getting bottled up on a lot of his carries but not on his 3 TD runs, the last two from 10-13 yards. Early on he had a couple of longer plays in the pass game, including a 26-yard reception where he threw off a couple of tackles. He's great, he was a top-3 pick everywhere this year and might be the No. 1 overall pick next year. Nice to have on your side.

Javonte Williams had a Javonte Williams game. Totaled 19 touches for 67 yards and a score, with no big runs and 2 receptions near the line that went nowhere. I like Javonte and have him in several leagues; he's had a very good year for Dallas. But it's fair to wonder if simple availability and a three-down role in a strong offense are all he has going for him, and if Dallas will move on in the offseason in the same way they did with Rico Dowdle. Probably not, but I don't think they'll be giving him a big money deal. But fair play to him, showing up every week at the running back position in today's NFL is an accomplishment in itself.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Gonna talk about CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens first, because they were beating their defenders like a drum all night long. Problem was the Lions were getting a lot of pressure on Prescott, leading to several missed connections. Lamb in particular looked as good as he has all year, spinning past would-be tacklers and turning short throws into long gains. He might have had a 200-yard game but for his head hitting the ground hard after a missed end-zone connection (early in the third quarter), resulting in the dreaded fencing position and concussion that seem likely to cost him some time (even with a few extra days). Unfortunate obviously. Pickens wasn't as good, a little unlucky on one long play where he was interfered with and then contributing to an interception on a ball where the defender got a hand in there. Ryan Flournoy was the beneficiary of Lamb's absence (2 for 5 in the first half, 7 for 110 with a touchdown in the second half) and would also benefit next week.

Amon-Ra St. Brown didn't practice all week. Seemed to be a foregone conclusion he'd miss the game, and I proceeded as such (painfully with a flawed bet on Tom Kennedy, who played 5 snaps and wasn't targeted). Finished 6 for 92 on 9 targets, so I guess he's OK. Announcers felt his playing helped inspire the team, certainly something did. With St. Brown playing, not only was Kennedy useless but Isaac TeSlaa saw just 3 targets, but 1 was a touchdown and the lone missed connection was a near-touchdown. So at least if you started him you didn't get nothing. And a good game for Jameson Williams, which could have been great had he not stepped on the sideline short of the pylon on a jet sweep early on (to the delight of those who were starting Gibbs).

TIGHT ENDS

Rough night for Jake Ferguson. He caught 5 for 58, so fine if you used him in a PPR league, but two first-half miscues were pretty critical to the outcome, arguably an 11- or 14-point swing. With the game 10-6 and Dallas driving near midfield, Ferguson caught a short pass but lost a fumble fighting for extra yards; the Lions scored a handful of plays later. Next possession was a Prescott-Pickens incompletion near the goal line where the wideout was interfered with, but that penalty was wiped out by Ferugson trying to twist a defender's head off with his bare hands. After those plays, Dallas was in 10-point hole most of the rest of the way.

Lions tight ends, nothing to see here. Even in TE-premium with multiple flex spots there's no need to roster Ross Dwelley or Anthony Firkser.

MISCELLANEOUS

If you feel bad about facing Jahmyr Gibbs, you feel even worse about facing Brandon Aubrey, who in leagues that give credit for field goal length scored -- seriously -- 24.7 points last night. He hit three from 55 yards or longer. It can maybe be debated why Dallas attempted a couple of those rather than going for it on fourth down (Dan Campbell would have), but whatever. Aubrey is the only argument you need to make for selecting a kicker early; he had a stretch of quieter games but has now had two big ones in a row.

Looking at the NFL playoff picture, that was a season-saving win for Detroit and possibly a crushing one for Dallas. At 6-6-1, their wild-card hopes are pretty much toast in an NFC where four teams have nine wins and three have eight, and those don't include whoever wins the NFC South. Dallas needs to win out (possible; home against the Chargers is their toughest one) and have the Eagles lose three times. Possible (Chargers and Bills in two games, but requires either the Raiders or Commanders getting a win, which is remotely possible but unlikely. Stranger things have happened, but...