Week 2 was rough. Definitely not as fun as week 1 was. The first half was abysmal, the defense was a no show, and the injuries continue to pile up. The secondary is in shambles, the o-line is injured, and we looked lost. All of these are natural takeaways from the game but it is only week 2 and there is plenty of season still to play.
Last week, I did a drive-by-drive recap of the game and don’t think I will this time. I want to go over some key moments and some key takeaways I have from the game and some other games around the NFL this week.
First I want to talk about the offensive line. Thursday we were missing the left guard Christian Mahogany, right tackle Blake Miller, and center Cade Mays remains on the injured reserve. While they are out we had Ben Bartch at left guard and he was awful. There were a number of plays where he got beat immediately and gave Goff no time to throw at all. I don’t love PFF’s grading system but he has a 25.1 pass blocking grade (out of 100) so far this season. He has not been effective at all and has been a detriment to the team. Left guard was the weak point on the offensive line entering the season and continues to be. Juice Scruggs did not have a good game at center but he is who we’re stuck with until Mays came back. He was fine last week when we had other starters around him but struggled on Thursday.
Then the worst offender: Larry Borom. The right tackle. He was horrendous. He was credited with allowing 11 pressures. For those that don’t look at these stats that might not mean anything, but the most any single player was credited with last year in a game was 9. So from using only pressures you could say he had the worst game of any o-lineman since the start of last season. Again using PFF but he ranks 66th of qualifying tackles overall and 65th in pass blocking. There are 66 qualified tackles. He ranks last overall. But good news is Blake Miller should be in next week and back at right tackle, so Thursday should be the worst we’ll see from the group all year. So there is reason for optimism with the o-line, should have Mahogany and Miller back next week and I would expect Cade Mays back after the bye week. Having a healthy offensive line will allow for this offense to click and be able to win us nearly any game.
But now for the main concern: the defense. They looked lost out there; it was like a practice against middle schoolers for Josh Allen. Jack Campbell has not been himself yet this year which I think is a major reason the defense has looked so awful. Everyone knew the secondary was going to be a rough watch but when the leader of our linebacker group is struggling too, it causes the entire defense to be vulnerable. The defensive line has been fine, they’ve continued to apply pressure but they let Josh Allen escape the pocket and make plays with his legs too many times during the game and a quarterback of that caliber will take advantage and make you pay. The linebackers were mediocre, Campbell struggled, Barnes was decent but had a few misplays, and Devin White in coverage is unwatchable. I expect Campbell to get it together and play like the all-pro that he is paid to be.
The secondary disgusts me. There are so many issues with this group that can’t be fixed with a simple trade or guys coming back from injury. Rock Ya-Sin left with an injury but appears to be okay which is good news. The bad news for him though is that he was awful when on the field. He is a good depth piece to have but when he has to play the entire game as a starting corner he has struggled. Then DJ Reed continues to not play like the player he was paid to be. After his struggles I see him as a CB2, it is what he was with the Jets next to Sauce and he was great in that role. But now as a CB1 in Detroit and covering the best receivers he has struggled and been picked on often. Christian Izien made his Lions debut and looked fine which was good to see and hopefully he improves as the season continues.
Now for the worst part of the secondary, the safeties. Let’s start talking about the starters: Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Oh wait they’re injured. Good thing we have Avonte Maddox to fill in. Never mind he injured his foot and is going to need season ending surgery. Fine, Chuck Clark and Thomas Harper it is. That is not going to cut it against the better teams in the NFL. Brian Branch should hopefully be back in mid-October but with coach Dan Campbell’s recent comments, I think we should not expect to see Kerby Joseph back at all this season. I love Kerby and think he is one of the best safeties in the league but we cannot count on him coming back to save our secondary. He is a total unknown with his knee problems and we should approach the next few weeks as if he is not coming back. I hope Brad Holmes looks to make a trade to try and improve the secondary because this is not a Super Bowl level defense as is.
I don’t think we are winning the Super Bowl this year. I would love to be proven wrong. In fact there is nothing more I want from this team than to be proven wrong. But as is I think the team is capable of making the playoffs and winning a game or two in January. The defense won’t cut it against the top teams in the league but our healthy offense should be able to keep us in nearly every game.
I am not excusing the loss to Buffalo but it was a tough environment to play in. After an overtime game Sunday, we had to play on short rest in the Bills’ home opener at a new stadium. The energy and excitement was through the roof for the home team and our guys looked sluggish coming off the short week. I expect a bounce back and a statement victory against the Jets on Sunday. They are not to be overlooked after going to overtime against the Packers, but I expect our guys to play hungry on Sunday following the loss.
Lastly, I want to discuss Drew Petzing, the offensive coordinator. I like what I see so far for the most part but a lot of Thursday mirrors how he was in Arizona. We started off slow but finally woke up and looked great after the game was out of reach. And the one time we had the ball to try and cut it to a one possession game, we went three and out. However, I do believe in this offense and want to go over how the unsuccessful drives ended. The first drive was unsuccessful and ended with a sack on third down. On the second drive, we were driving into Buffalo territory before a sack and an aborted snap killed the drive. Third drive was a touchdown, and then the fourth looked good to start until we had a penalty on the o-line followed by a third down sack. So in the first half, we had to punt three times and all three drives ended with a sack on third down. With a healthy o-line, I believe some of these drives would have led to points instead of ending prematurely thanks to the struggles primarily from Juice Scruggs, Larry Borom, and Ben Bartch. The second half was more successful but the one three and out involved two batted balls and a second and ten run. That play call I won’t defend; it was predictable and easily stopped. But the batted balls were simply good plays by the defensive tackle. What was a tough day for the offensive line still managed to end with the team scoring over 30 points which gives me reason for optimism in this offense moving forward.
Many people thought the Saints game was us barely beating a bad team. This week New Orleans went to Baltimore and again came back from a double digit deficit, yet this time they won. After week 1 I saw people saying Baltimore was a top ten team in the league and they just lost to the Saints. We managed to hold on and win. Winning in the NFL is hard, each win counts the same whether it is by 1 or by 40. Baltimore is a good team even after losing to New Orleans. And the Saints are a good team as well, I think they’ll continue to challenge good teams and I think they will win the NFC South. Yes we struggled in the second half last week and we struggled against Buffalo, but there is a lot of season left. It is a week-to-week league in the NFL, do not overreact to any one thing you see each week. Last week the Bears scored 59 and were crowned “the greatest offense of all time” yet they only scored 3 this week. Crazy things happen each week and especially this early you never know what is real and what is not in the league.
It is way too early in the season to throw in the towel and I’ve seen and heard many Lions fans already calling it quits. Did you want to quit in 2023 after being unable to stop Geno Smith and dropping to 1-1? We went to the NFC championship game that year. Did you want to quit in 2024 when we went 1 for 7 in the red zone against Tampa Bay and dropped to 1-1? We went 15-2 that year. It is still September. Stop it with the doom and gloom. We lost to a top team in the league on a short week in September. Win the games ahead of you, this game will be a distant memory. There’s a lot of season left and a lot of games to win, on to the Jets next week. The offense will be fine, the defense needs to improve and there is a lot of season left to get better. Don’t throw in the towel after two weeks, if this continues to be an issue in December, fine. But it’s week 2, get healthy and continue to win football games.
Standout Players:
Amon-Ra St. Brown: 9 receptions, 142 yards, 2 touchdowns
Jared Goff: 26 for 38, 327 yards, 4 touchdowns
Aidan Hutchinson: 1 sack, 2 qb hits, 3 tackles
Tyleik Williams: hard to see on the box score but he has been a force at defensive tackle
Jahmyr Gibbs: 6 receptions, 61 yards. 16 carries, 52 yards. Running the ball wasn’t effective compared to last week but he started strong on the ground and was more impactful as a receiving back in the second half.