Post by D6 on Sept 12, 2022 0:22:48 GMT -5
Instant observations: Another Detroit Lions comeback comes up short in 38-35 loss to Eagles
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Thoughts in ****
Instant observations: Another Detroit Lions comeback comes up short in 38-35 loss to Eagles
Updated: Sep. 11, 2022, 6:26 p.m.|Published: Sep. 11, 2022, 4:31 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- They fell behind by double digits. They never stopped fighting like hell. They still lost.
Different year, same old playbook for Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions.
Quarterback Jared Goff threw two second-half touchdown passes and Jamaal Williams ran for another score to close within 38-35 with 3:56 to play, a commendable effort after facing a pair of 17-point deficits in the second half. But the defense could not get off the field on a third-and-2 run by tailback Miles Sanders and a fourth-and-1 run by quarterback Jalen Hurts -- story of their day -- and Detroit never touched the football again.
The Lions (0-1) have now dropped five straight season openers, going without a Week 1 win since Sept. 10, 2017. They’ll try to avoid another early-season losing streak when they welcome the Washington Commanders to Ford Field next week.
**** The Lions and Cardinals ended in a tie in the 2019 regular season opener.****
Detroit started fast, with running back D’Andre Swift ripping a 50-yard run on the game’s second play from scrimmage. Williams punched in the touchdown from the goal line, and the Lions punished Philadelphia for more than 11 yards per carry in the first quarter.
But the lead quickly melted under an avalanche of problems on both sides of the ball over the next two quarters. The defense simply couldn’t get off the field, allowing Philadelphia to move the chains on eight of its next 11 third downs. Hurts, the dynamic dual-threat quarterback, turned one of those stops into a fourth-down touchdown, and Philadelphia scored five times on six series overall to take a 31-14 lead in the third quarter.
Compounding Detroit’s issues was the slow start from the offense. That thing looked so good in camp, but also got just one series with Jared Goff in the preseason. Whether it was rust or something else, the offense fell out of sync through the middle quarters of the opener.
Goff misfired on six of seven passes at one point, two of which were heaved into double-coverage. He also wasn’t on the same page with T.J. Hockenson, who broke inside while Goff threw outside. New Eagles cornerback James Bradberry ran it back the other way for a pick-six, the exclamation point to a 21-0 run.
But the Lions just didn’t go away, due largely to the star turn by Swift. He ran for 144 yards on just 15 carries, an average of 9.6 yards per touch. He scored one touchdown, directly set up two others, added three catches for 31 yards and moved the chains seven times overall. He finished with 175 yards from scrimmage, a career high.
Goff started to heat up in the second half too, connecting with DJ Chark (22 yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (4 yards) for touchdowns. That helped make a game of it. But it just wasn’t enough to recover from too many mistakes, too many dropped passes, too many penalties, just too many times where Goff was throwing into double coverage or not on the same page with his wideout at all -- including on that pivotal pick-six that changed the complexion of the first half.
These guys don’t stop fighting, that’s for sure. But at some point fighting has to turn into winning.
It still hasn’t.
**** Losing should never be acceptable but I'm proud of the Lions effort in this game. The Lions Defense came close twice, on what became the game's final drive, in getting the ball back for the Lions. It looked like Derrick Barnes would have had a decent chance at tackling RB Miles Sanders in the backfield on the 3rd and 2 play in which he ran for 24 yards. Unfortunately, Aidan Hutchinson landed on Barnes' legs, when attempting to make a play in the backfield. This was a case in which friendly fire was very costly for the Lions. The 3rd and 1 stop on RB Boston by Malcolm Rodriquez led to the 4th and 1 decision by the Eagles to go for the 1st Down. It was definitely the right choice by the Eagles. Jalen Hurts ended up getting the 1st Down on 4th and 1 on a QB sneak. But Hurts certainly had to earn the 1st Down.
The Lions made way too many mistakes earlier in the game and had a critical 2nd Down drop by Josh Reynolds in the 4th QTR, when the score was 38-28. Then a low shotgun snap on 3rd and 4 led to Jared Goff being sacked. While the Lions Defense finally got a 3rd and out at the beginning of a drive on the Eagles next possession and the Lions scored a TD on a Reception by DJ Chark (against Darius Slay), the Lions never got the ball back again. The Lions couldn't overcome the missed opportunities on the drive that ended with the Reynolds drop and the low shotgun snap/ sack. ****
Let’s get to some more observations:
-- The run defense wasn’t very good last year, and awful in a 44-6 beatdown against Philadelphia. It was nearly as bad on Sunday, getting gashed for 216 yards. Maybe that should have been expected, considering they were starting a sixth-round pick at middle linebacker. But there were hopes Detroit had solved its issues by making schematic changes up front, including moving to more even-man looks. Alim McNeill was supposed to blossom into a top-level run-stuffer this year, and Aidan Hutchinson was chosen with the second overall pick because of his ability to rush the passer, yes, but also because he was supposed to be heavy against the run. But none of it worked in the opener. The Eagles averaged 5.1 yards per carry despite spending a lot of the fourth quarter trying to milk the clock between the tackles.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn gets a lot of rightful love, but criticism is warranted too for his continued struggles to find solutions against the run.
**** The Lions only playing Alim McNeill in the pre-season opener and not in the final 2 pre-season games was an understandable decision which I was comfortable with. The Lions can't afford to lose McNeill, especially when factoring the team's overall DT situation. McNeill looked rusty in this game. He played better later in the game but overall this might have been his worst regular season game since coming to the Lions as a rookie in 2021. Isaiah Buggs looked like the Lions best DT in this game. He deflected a pass in the Red Zone, leading the Eagles settling for a FG in the last few seconds of the 2nd QTR. Buggs was decent against the run, as his efforts against double teams and overall are commendable. But he's better suited as a rotation DT off the bench vs. the run, not someone who was essentially a starter in this game, based on the number of snaps. I think Buggs is ahead of Michael Brockers in the Lions pecking order. Being that Brockers had a minimal positive contribution, regarding his overall play. Unless Brockers is dealing with an injury that hasn't been disclosed, the only hope with Brockers is he was rusty after not playing in the pre-season games. Otherwise, he's near the end of the road. His primary value to the Lions is leadership and knowledge.
Now that Vested Veteran Salaries aren't guaranteed for the season, as game # 1 is complete, I hope the Lions can work out a contract with DT Malcom Brown, who was a salary cap casualty for the Jaguars. ****
-- Barry Sanders. That’s it. That was the list of Lions players who had run for 100 yards in a season opener in the last 50 years -- until Swift laced up his cleats on Sunday afternoon, that is. He ran for 144 yards and accounted for 175 yards from scrimmage overall, his best day as a pro. It was a nice statement from a guy who has been coached so hard this year.
The Lions love Swift. They also are frustrated by the running back giving up on plays too early, and taking too many days off with injuries he should be able to play through. Running backs coach Duce Staley has come at him in staff meetings, and even to Swift’s face. While watching Swift give up on a run too early in camp, Staley just kept bellowing for Swift to do something more.
“You got to do something Swift” he said. “They’re already scared of you getting out there. Finish it! C’mon, man. Finish it! Be hungry! Be greedy for every (expletive) yard. Go get it. That’s the mentality. ‘Every yard out there is mine.’ Don’t be satisfied with that (expletive), man.”
Swift has continued to say the right things about taking the coaching the right way, and his opening-day performance is yet more evidence he’s taken to the tough love. The upside is immense, and undeniable, and it was all over Ford Field on Sunday. He had the 50-yarder, yeah, but anyone could have run through that hole. His magic came later as he ran for 11 yards on second-and-20, as he ran for a 7-yard touchdown on fourth down, as he danced his way down the sideline for a 25-yard catch. All those plays led to scores, too.
He has the potential to be the most explosive skill player on this team. He’s shown it in pockets before. Now the trick is getting more consistent performances like this one.
**** D'Andre Swift's efforts in the off-season in adding bulk strength contributed greatly to the numerous missed tackled by the Eagles against Swift in this game. He was able to maintain his speed and quickness, which was a question mark until this game against an NFL Defense, in a regular season game setting.
While Swift did much more positive than negative in this game, he made one critical mistake that easily could have been the difference in this game. With the Eagles leading 14-7, on a 2nd and 6 run from the Lions 29 yard line, Swift cut back to the outside right, which led to a Holding Penalty on T.J. Hockenson. Though Hock shouldn't have committed the penalty, considering the ramifications if the penalty was called, Swift's bad decision based on the likelihood of a good outcome resulting, put Hock in a bad situation. On the next play, on 2nd and 16, Logan Stenberg was beat badly, resulting in Jared Goff under pressure on a passing play. The missed communication with Goff and Hock resulted in a deflection, with CB James Bradbury coming down with the ball, and scoring a Defensive TD on the Interception Return. Swift's mistake is something he needs to learn from. The Lions margin of error against a team as good as the Eagles, is on the low side. The Lions never overcame that sequence. ****
-- The Lions invested heavily in their receiver unit over the last 12 months, adding outside speedsters like DJ Chark and Josh Reynolds to complement what Amon-Ra St. Brown can do in the slot. Those guys were so good in camp too, but struggled to do just about anything right for three quarters against Philadelphia. Chark was a nonfactor while dropping one pass and running the wrong route on another. Reynolds dropped a pass too. So did Jamaal Williams. Even St. Brown put one on the turf. You know you’re having a bad day when Amon-Ra St. Brown -- who caught 92 footballs without ever putting one on the ground as a rookie -- drops a pass.
St. Brown did add a touchdown in the third quarter though, pulling Detroit within 31-21, and extended his streak of eight-catch games to seven. Chark added a 22-yard score on a vertical route down the right sideline, and finished with four catches for 52 yards in his Lions debut. That’s good. More of that would have been better.
****Amon-Ra. St. Brown had two drops in this game. Josh Reynolds' drop, which cost the Lions a sizable gain in the 4th QTR, was the most damaging drop in the game for the Lions, The Lions overcame DJ Chark's drop in the red zone on the opening drive of the game and two straight False Start Penalties by Logan Stenberg that followed, with Jaamal Williams completing the drive for his first of 2 rushing TDs in the game. Williams also had a drop later on the game. Though Goff's accuracy on some of these plays and other plays was a little off, all of at least 5 drops were catchable. ****
-- Aidan Hutchinson, the second overall pick in the draft, was highly disruptive early in his Lions debut. But Hurts was able to twice evade his rush while moving the chains on the ground. In the end, Hutchinson struggled to make much of a difference, finishing with just one tackle and no quarterback hits.
**** Aidan Hutchinson made at least one subtle play in which he kept an Offensive Lineman from getting to a 2nd level block, which was probably the difference in the run being a short gain. The combination of the Eagles having a high quality Offensive Line and Jalen Hurts' unique skills, contributed greatly to Hutch not having an overall differential performance or even close. It's a good learning experience for Hutch. He's practically the least of my concerns with the Lions moving forward. ****
-- Jeff Okudah earned the start in his return from the Achilles injury he suffered in last year’s season opener. He seemed to hold up well too, including breaking up a third-down pass for A.J. Brown, but also left the game in the second quarter because of cramps. Will Harris replaced him, and it didn’t take long for him to do Will Harris things, allowing a 54-yard catch by Brown that teed up a field goal. That stretched Philadelphia’s lead to 24-14 heading into halftime.
Harris is a former third-round pick who bombed as a safety. The Lions elected to move him to cornerback this year, and gave him a genuine opportunity to win that job. They went with Okudah instead, and it’s easy to see why. Okudah is finally starting to find his stride after a tough start to his pro career, while Harris continues to allow big plays by the handful. He might not have a long leash, either. Not with cornerback Jerry Jacobs due back in a month.
**** Will Harris did get beat on the play but not by that much. It was a great throw by Hurts and AJ Brown ran a great route, and his overall skills took over. Hurts was able to make the throw without any significant duress by the Lions Defense.
As for Jeff Okudah, except on a 3rd Down play, which he gave up too much cushion to AJ Brown, I thought he had a good to very good all-around game. Encouraging performance. ****
-- Logan Stenberg won the competition to replace Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Tommy Kraemer at right guard, although it didn’t take long for him to show why he’s played just four offensive snaps in his first two seasons. After the Lions drove into the red zone on their first possession, Stenberg was flagged for jumping early, then did it again on the very next play. That set up a second-and-20 from Philadelphia’s 25-yard line. Those are losing plays -- the sort of losing plays that made Detroit one of the worst red-zone teams in the league last year. So Dan Campbell made red-zone drills a priority all offseason. Then they rolled the football out there for the opener, Detroit immediately drove into the red zone -- and there’s Stenberg getting flagged twice.
**** Logan Stenberg struggled protecting Jared Goff on at least a few plays, including the one that resulted in the Interception for a TD. The Lions overcame the False Starts but not the interception/ TD. ****
-- Rookie sixth-round Malcolm Rodriguez started at middle linebacker, officially becoming the deepest Lions draft pick to win a job coming out of camp since 1987. Going from the 188th overall pick to a starting assignment in Week 1 says a lot about the guy, although mistakes were always inevitable too. And he made some against Philadelphia, including getting trapped inside when Jalen Hurts bounced a run outside on fourth-and-goal. Hurts scored without being touched. He had trouble getting off blocks as Philadelphia carved up Detroit on the ground. Rodriguez finished with six tackles, one of which was for loss.
**** It was a mixed bag game for Malcolm Rodriquez. At times, he seemed fooled by what the Eagles were doing. At other times, he looked like he had a 6th sense for what the Eagles were doing. Growing pains are inevitable. But Rodriquez, despite size limitations, should be in the NFL for a long time if he stays relatively healthy much more enough than not. ****
-- Head coach Dan Campbell needed exactly one season to set the record for most fouth-down attempts in NFL history. He’s an aggressive guy, although there was some intrigue over just how aggressive he’d remain once Detroit returned to competitiveness. That call will have to wait until another day. For now, facing a series of double-digit deficits with no answers on defense, Campbell turned the dial back up to 11 against Philadelphia. He went for it once on fourth down -- which Swift turned into a 7-yard touchdown -- and also dialed up an onside kick in the third quarter. That backfired, as Philadelphia recovered the football an used the short field to score an easy touchdown that buried Detroit in a 38-21 hole.
It’s smart to go for it on fourth down when the offense is so much better than the defense. No problems there. The onside kick is another story. Those plays were successful 18% of the time last year. Those odds might go up a bit when the kick isn’t expected, and this one surely wasn’t. Still, it’s a long-shot bet that usually doesn’t pay off. This one didn’t either, and Philadelphia scored another touchdown to stretch its lead back to 17 points.
**** I understand why Dan Campbell went for the Onside Kickoff in that spot. While I'm not going to criticize that decision, based on the struggles of the Lions Defense preventing scores on the previous 4 Eagles drives, the Eagles were probably prepared for the Onside Kickoff. Yet, once the schedule came out with the Lions being their opening day opponent, they probably spent more time looking back at Lions Game Tape from last season than they would have if the Lions were on the schedule at some other point in the 2022 season. Also, the game the Lions Onside Kicked the most last season when it wasn't desperation time, was the game at the LA Rams. The Eagles were the Lions opponent a week later and certainly saw the LA Rams game on tape when preparing for the Lions in the days that followed.
On the other hand, the Lions should have let the clock go down to the 2 minute mark in the 2nd QTR, instead of running a play on 3rd Down. While the Lions did score a TD on the D'Andre Swift 4th Down Run, which was the first play following the 2 minute warning, the Eagles had around 1:50 remaining in the half, when they got the ball.
The Lions calling a timeout on 2nd and 14 with 54 seconds remaining in the half, following a sack by Tracy Walker, with the ball on the Eagles 32 yard line, is a decision I strongly disagreed with because of the Lions inability to stop the Eagles from scoring a TD 2 of their 3 previous drives. The end result is the Eagles converted on 3rd Down, on the long pass to AJ Brown against Will Harris. The Lions kept them out of the end zone. But the 3 points the Eagles scored was the difference on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Who knows what would have happened if the Lions only trailed by 7, instead of 10, at halftime. The mistake by Dan Campbell is one he needs to learn from. The Lions time management was very costly in the loss to the Bears on Thanksgiving Day last season. It might have been again in this game.****
-- Punter Jack Fox, the original Punt God, entered the game averaging more gross yards (49.1) and net yards (43.4) per punt than any player through 124 attempts in NFL history. Now that he’s crossed the 125-punt threshold, he can officially take his place on the throne of NFL punting history. There’s never been anyone better to do it than that guy.
**** Jack Fox is a differential player.****
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions vs. Eagles preview: Game # 1 (2022)
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1448/lions-eagles-preview-game-2022
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Thoughts in ****
Instant observations: Another Detroit Lions comeback comes up short in 38-35 loss to Eagles
Updated: Sep. 11, 2022, 6:26 p.m.|Published: Sep. 11, 2022, 4:31 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- They fell behind by double digits. They never stopped fighting like hell. They still lost.
Different year, same old playbook for Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions.
Quarterback Jared Goff threw two second-half touchdown passes and Jamaal Williams ran for another score to close within 38-35 with 3:56 to play, a commendable effort after facing a pair of 17-point deficits in the second half. But the defense could not get off the field on a third-and-2 run by tailback Miles Sanders and a fourth-and-1 run by quarterback Jalen Hurts -- story of their day -- and Detroit never touched the football again.
The Lions (0-1) have now dropped five straight season openers, going without a Week 1 win since Sept. 10, 2017. They’ll try to avoid another early-season losing streak when they welcome the Washington Commanders to Ford Field next week.
**** The Lions and Cardinals ended in a tie in the 2019 regular season opener.****
Detroit started fast, with running back D’Andre Swift ripping a 50-yard run on the game’s second play from scrimmage. Williams punched in the touchdown from the goal line, and the Lions punished Philadelphia for more than 11 yards per carry in the first quarter.
But the lead quickly melted under an avalanche of problems on both sides of the ball over the next two quarters. The defense simply couldn’t get off the field, allowing Philadelphia to move the chains on eight of its next 11 third downs. Hurts, the dynamic dual-threat quarterback, turned one of those stops into a fourth-down touchdown, and Philadelphia scored five times on six series overall to take a 31-14 lead in the third quarter.
Compounding Detroit’s issues was the slow start from the offense. That thing looked so good in camp, but also got just one series with Jared Goff in the preseason. Whether it was rust or something else, the offense fell out of sync through the middle quarters of the opener.
Goff misfired on six of seven passes at one point, two of which were heaved into double-coverage. He also wasn’t on the same page with T.J. Hockenson, who broke inside while Goff threw outside. New Eagles cornerback James Bradberry ran it back the other way for a pick-six, the exclamation point to a 21-0 run.
But the Lions just didn’t go away, due largely to the star turn by Swift. He ran for 144 yards on just 15 carries, an average of 9.6 yards per touch. He scored one touchdown, directly set up two others, added three catches for 31 yards and moved the chains seven times overall. He finished with 175 yards from scrimmage, a career high.
Goff started to heat up in the second half too, connecting with DJ Chark (22 yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (4 yards) for touchdowns. That helped make a game of it. But it just wasn’t enough to recover from too many mistakes, too many dropped passes, too many penalties, just too many times where Goff was throwing into double coverage or not on the same page with his wideout at all -- including on that pivotal pick-six that changed the complexion of the first half.
These guys don’t stop fighting, that’s for sure. But at some point fighting has to turn into winning.
It still hasn’t.
**** Losing should never be acceptable but I'm proud of the Lions effort in this game. The Lions Defense came close twice, on what became the game's final drive, in getting the ball back for the Lions. It looked like Derrick Barnes would have had a decent chance at tackling RB Miles Sanders in the backfield on the 3rd and 2 play in which he ran for 24 yards. Unfortunately, Aidan Hutchinson landed on Barnes' legs, when attempting to make a play in the backfield. This was a case in which friendly fire was very costly for the Lions. The 3rd and 1 stop on RB Boston by Malcolm Rodriquez led to the 4th and 1 decision by the Eagles to go for the 1st Down. It was definitely the right choice by the Eagles. Jalen Hurts ended up getting the 1st Down on 4th and 1 on a QB sneak. But Hurts certainly had to earn the 1st Down.
The Lions made way too many mistakes earlier in the game and had a critical 2nd Down drop by Josh Reynolds in the 4th QTR, when the score was 38-28. Then a low shotgun snap on 3rd and 4 led to Jared Goff being sacked. While the Lions Defense finally got a 3rd and out at the beginning of a drive on the Eagles next possession and the Lions scored a TD on a Reception by DJ Chark (against Darius Slay), the Lions never got the ball back again. The Lions couldn't overcome the missed opportunities on the drive that ended with the Reynolds drop and the low shotgun snap/ sack. ****
Let’s get to some more observations:
-- The run defense wasn’t very good last year, and awful in a 44-6 beatdown against Philadelphia. It was nearly as bad on Sunday, getting gashed for 216 yards. Maybe that should have been expected, considering they were starting a sixth-round pick at middle linebacker. But there were hopes Detroit had solved its issues by making schematic changes up front, including moving to more even-man looks. Alim McNeill was supposed to blossom into a top-level run-stuffer this year, and Aidan Hutchinson was chosen with the second overall pick because of his ability to rush the passer, yes, but also because he was supposed to be heavy against the run. But none of it worked in the opener. The Eagles averaged 5.1 yards per carry despite spending a lot of the fourth quarter trying to milk the clock between the tackles.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn gets a lot of rightful love, but criticism is warranted too for his continued struggles to find solutions against the run.
**** The Lions only playing Alim McNeill in the pre-season opener and not in the final 2 pre-season games was an understandable decision which I was comfortable with. The Lions can't afford to lose McNeill, especially when factoring the team's overall DT situation. McNeill looked rusty in this game. He played better later in the game but overall this might have been his worst regular season game since coming to the Lions as a rookie in 2021. Isaiah Buggs looked like the Lions best DT in this game. He deflected a pass in the Red Zone, leading the Eagles settling for a FG in the last few seconds of the 2nd QTR. Buggs was decent against the run, as his efforts against double teams and overall are commendable. But he's better suited as a rotation DT off the bench vs. the run, not someone who was essentially a starter in this game, based on the number of snaps. I think Buggs is ahead of Michael Brockers in the Lions pecking order. Being that Brockers had a minimal positive contribution, regarding his overall play. Unless Brockers is dealing with an injury that hasn't been disclosed, the only hope with Brockers is he was rusty after not playing in the pre-season games. Otherwise, he's near the end of the road. His primary value to the Lions is leadership and knowledge.
Now that Vested Veteran Salaries aren't guaranteed for the season, as game # 1 is complete, I hope the Lions can work out a contract with DT Malcom Brown, who was a salary cap casualty for the Jaguars. ****
-- Barry Sanders. That’s it. That was the list of Lions players who had run for 100 yards in a season opener in the last 50 years -- until Swift laced up his cleats on Sunday afternoon, that is. He ran for 144 yards and accounted for 175 yards from scrimmage overall, his best day as a pro. It was a nice statement from a guy who has been coached so hard this year.
The Lions love Swift. They also are frustrated by the running back giving up on plays too early, and taking too many days off with injuries he should be able to play through. Running backs coach Duce Staley has come at him in staff meetings, and even to Swift’s face. While watching Swift give up on a run too early in camp, Staley just kept bellowing for Swift to do something more.
“You got to do something Swift” he said. “They’re already scared of you getting out there. Finish it! C’mon, man. Finish it! Be hungry! Be greedy for every (expletive) yard. Go get it. That’s the mentality. ‘Every yard out there is mine.’ Don’t be satisfied with that (expletive), man.”
Swift has continued to say the right things about taking the coaching the right way, and his opening-day performance is yet more evidence he’s taken to the tough love. The upside is immense, and undeniable, and it was all over Ford Field on Sunday. He had the 50-yarder, yeah, but anyone could have run through that hole. His magic came later as he ran for 11 yards on second-and-20, as he ran for a 7-yard touchdown on fourth down, as he danced his way down the sideline for a 25-yard catch. All those plays led to scores, too.
He has the potential to be the most explosive skill player on this team. He’s shown it in pockets before. Now the trick is getting more consistent performances like this one.
**** D'Andre Swift's efforts in the off-season in adding bulk strength contributed greatly to the numerous missed tackled by the Eagles against Swift in this game. He was able to maintain his speed and quickness, which was a question mark until this game against an NFL Defense, in a regular season game setting.
While Swift did much more positive than negative in this game, he made one critical mistake that easily could have been the difference in this game. With the Eagles leading 14-7, on a 2nd and 6 run from the Lions 29 yard line, Swift cut back to the outside right, which led to a Holding Penalty on T.J. Hockenson. Though Hock shouldn't have committed the penalty, considering the ramifications if the penalty was called, Swift's bad decision based on the likelihood of a good outcome resulting, put Hock in a bad situation. On the next play, on 2nd and 16, Logan Stenberg was beat badly, resulting in Jared Goff under pressure on a passing play. The missed communication with Goff and Hock resulted in a deflection, with CB James Bradbury coming down with the ball, and scoring a Defensive TD on the Interception Return. Swift's mistake is something he needs to learn from. The Lions margin of error against a team as good as the Eagles, is on the low side. The Lions never overcame that sequence. ****
-- The Lions invested heavily in their receiver unit over the last 12 months, adding outside speedsters like DJ Chark and Josh Reynolds to complement what Amon-Ra St. Brown can do in the slot. Those guys were so good in camp too, but struggled to do just about anything right for three quarters against Philadelphia. Chark was a nonfactor while dropping one pass and running the wrong route on another. Reynolds dropped a pass too. So did Jamaal Williams. Even St. Brown put one on the turf. You know you’re having a bad day when Amon-Ra St. Brown -- who caught 92 footballs without ever putting one on the ground as a rookie -- drops a pass.
St. Brown did add a touchdown in the third quarter though, pulling Detroit within 31-21, and extended his streak of eight-catch games to seven. Chark added a 22-yard score on a vertical route down the right sideline, and finished with four catches for 52 yards in his Lions debut. That’s good. More of that would have been better.
****Amon-Ra. St. Brown had two drops in this game. Josh Reynolds' drop, which cost the Lions a sizable gain in the 4th QTR, was the most damaging drop in the game for the Lions, The Lions overcame DJ Chark's drop in the red zone on the opening drive of the game and two straight False Start Penalties by Logan Stenberg that followed, with Jaamal Williams completing the drive for his first of 2 rushing TDs in the game. Williams also had a drop later on the game. Though Goff's accuracy on some of these plays and other plays was a little off, all of at least 5 drops were catchable. ****
-- Aidan Hutchinson, the second overall pick in the draft, was highly disruptive early in his Lions debut. But Hurts was able to twice evade his rush while moving the chains on the ground. In the end, Hutchinson struggled to make much of a difference, finishing with just one tackle and no quarterback hits.
**** Aidan Hutchinson made at least one subtle play in which he kept an Offensive Lineman from getting to a 2nd level block, which was probably the difference in the run being a short gain. The combination of the Eagles having a high quality Offensive Line and Jalen Hurts' unique skills, contributed greatly to Hutch not having an overall differential performance or even close. It's a good learning experience for Hutch. He's practically the least of my concerns with the Lions moving forward. ****
-- Jeff Okudah earned the start in his return from the Achilles injury he suffered in last year’s season opener. He seemed to hold up well too, including breaking up a third-down pass for A.J. Brown, but also left the game in the second quarter because of cramps. Will Harris replaced him, and it didn’t take long for him to do Will Harris things, allowing a 54-yard catch by Brown that teed up a field goal. That stretched Philadelphia’s lead to 24-14 heading into halftime.
Harris is a former third-round pick who bombed as a safety. The Lions elected to move him to cornerback this year, and gave him a genuine opportunity to win that job. They went with Okudah instead, and it’s easy to see why. Okudah is finally starting to find his stride after a tough start to his pro career, while Harris continues to allow big plays by the handful. He might not have a long leash, either. Not with cornerback Jerry Jacobs due back in a month.
**** Will Harris did get beat on the play but not by that much. It was a great throw by Hurts and AJ Brown ran a great route, and his overall skills took over. Hurts was able to make the throw without any significant duress by the Lions Defense.
As for Jeff Okudah, except on a 3rd Down play, which he gave up too much cushion to AJ Brown, I thought he had a good to very good all-around game. Encouraging performance. ****
-- Logan Stenberg won the competition to replace Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Tommy Kraemer at right guard, although it didn’t take long for him to show why he’s played just four offensive snaps in his first two seasons. After the Lions drove into the red zone on their first possession, Stenberg was flagged for jumping early, then did it again on the very next play. That set up a second-and-20 from Philadelphia’s 25-yard line. Those are losing plays -- the sort of losing plays that made Detroit one of the worst red-zone teams in the league last year. So Dan Campbell made red-zone drills a priority all offseason. Then they rolled the football out there for the opener, Detroit immediately drove into the red zone -- and there’s Stenberg getting flagged twice.
**** Logan Stenberg struggled protecting Jared Goff on at least a few plays, including the one that resulted in the Interception for a TD. The Lions overcame the False Starts but not the interception/ TD. ****
-- Rookie sixth-round Malcolm Rodriguez started at middle linebacker, officially becoming the deepest Lions draft pick to win a job coming out of camp since 1987. Going from the 188th overall pick to a starting assignment in Week 1 says a lot about the guy, although mistakes were always inevitable too. And he made some against Philadelphia, including getting trapped inside when Jalen Hurts bounced a run outside on fourth-and-goal. Hurts scored without being touched. He had trouble getting off blocks as Philadelphia carved up Detroit on the ground. Rodriguez finished with six tackles, one of which was for loss.
**** It was a mixed bag game for Malcolm Rodriquez. At times, he seemed fooled by what the Eagles were doing. At other times, he looked like he had a 6th sense for what the Eagles were doing. Growing pains are inevitable. But Rodriquez, despite size limitations, should be in the NFL for a long time if he stays relatively healthy much more enough than not. ****
-- Head coach Dan Campbell needed exactly one season to set the record for most fouth-down attempts in NFL history. He’s an aggressive guy, although there was some intrigue over just how aggressive he’d remain once Detroit returned to competitiveness. That call will have to wait until another day. For now, facing a series of double-digit deficits with no answers on defense, Campbell turned the dial back up to 11 against Philadelphia. He went for it once on fourth down -- which Swift turned into a 7-yard touchdown -- and also dialed up an onside kick in the third quarter. That backfired, as Philadelphia recovered the football an used the short field to score an easy touchdown that buried Detroit in a 38-21 hole.
It’s smart to go for it on fourth down when the offense is so much better than the defense. No problems there. The onside kick is another story. Those plays were successful 18% of the time last year. Those odds might go up a bit when the kick isn’t expected, and this one surely wasn’t. Still, it’s a long-shot bet that usually doesn’t pay off. This one didn’t either, and Philadelphia scored another touchdown to stretch its lead back to 17 points.
**** I understand why Dan Campbell went for the Onside Kickoff in that spot. While I'm not going to criticize that decision, based on the struggles of the Lions Defense preventing scores on the previous 4 Eagles drives, the Eagles were probably prepared for the Onside Kickoff. Yet, once the schedule came out with the Lions being their opening day opponent, they probably spent more time looking back at Lions Game Tape from last season than they would have if the Lions were on the schedule at some other point in the 2022 season. Also, the game the Lions Onside Kicked the most last season when it wasn't desperation time, was the game at the LA Rams. The Eagles were the Lions opponent a week later and certainly saw the LA Rams game on tape when preparing for the Lions in the days that followed.
On the other hand, the Lions should have let the clock go down to the 2 minute mark in the 2nd QTR, instead of running a play on 3rd Down. While the Lions did score a TD on the D'Andre Swift 4th Down Run, which was the first play following the 2 minute warning, the Eagles had around 1:50 remaining in the half, when they got the ball.
The Lions calling a timeout on 2nd and 14 with 54 seconds remaining in the half, following a sack by Tracy Walker, with the ball on the Eagles 32 yard line, is a decision I strongly disagreed with because of the Lions inability to stop the Eagles from scoring a TD 2 of their 3 previous drives. The end result is the Eagles converted on 3rd Down, on the long pass to AJ Brown against Will Harris. The Lions kept them out of the end zone. But the 3 points the Eagles scored was the difference on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Who knows what would have happened if the Lions only trailed by 7, instead of 10, at halftime. The mistake by Dan Campbell is one he needs to learn from. The Lions time management was very costly in the loss to the Bears on Thanksgiving Day last season. It might have been again in this game.****
-- Punter Jack Fox, the original Punt God, entered the game averaging more gross yards (49.1) and net yards (43.4) per punt than any player through 124 attempts in NFL history. Now that he’s crossed the 125-punt threshold, he can officially take his place on the throne of NFL punting history. There’s never been anyone better to do it than that guy.
**** Jack Fox is a differential player.****
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions vs. Eagles preview: Game # 1 (2022)
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1448/lions-eagles-preview-game-2022
