There’s a reason that game tape from Week 1 in the NFL should be labeled “for educational purposes only.” It’s often ugly, frequently inaccurate, and very quickly worthy only of being thrown away. In the case of the Detroit Lions-Green Bay season opener, very far away. I’m thinking Madagascar.
The Lions are better than this. Heck, the Akron Rubber Ducks are better than this. If Sunday’s tape had been Steven Spielberg’s first film, he’d be an accountant right now. The Lions laid an egg, painted it lemon, and rolled it into Garbage Town.
But, as Dan Campbell told the media afterwards, “As bad as that is, it’s not what it appears to be.” Which is good, since it appeared to be a bug on a windshield. The Lions didn’t just lose to Green Bay, they got under their truck tires and yelled “back it up!”
Detroit’s beloved high-flying offense scored exactly one field goal in the first half, went in, made adjustments, came out, and essentially scored exactly one field goal in the second half (only a meaningless touchdown in the final minute kept their tally from single digits.)
They actually had a series that started on their own 8-yard line and finished, four plays later, on their own half-yard line. As John Candy yelled in “Planes Trains and Automobiles”: “You’re going the wrong way!”
Meanwhile the Lions’ defense, supposedly the strong suit of the team this year, didn’t sack Jordan Love once. The Green Bay QB was able to split the secondary like a hot knife through a custard pie. On one series, he threw two passes, the first for a 48-yard completion, the second for a 17-yard touchdown. If you get any more efficient, NASA hires you.
How different were the fortunes of these two teams Sunday? Detroit ran nearly 20 plays more than the Packers, yet scored less than half as many points. The Lions yards-per-pass average (5.8) was surpassed in meagerness only by their yards-per-rush average (2.1). Take out a single 14-yard scamper by Jahmyr Gibbs, and the rushing average was actually 1.45 yards per play. Some NFL players cover that much ground by stepping over a puddle.
The tape is ugly. Then again, it’s “for educational purposes only.”
Remember?
Educational? What did Lions learn
“We made some critical errors at the worst times possible,” Campbell said after the 27-13 defeat.
Those include a dumb Brian Branch unsportsmanlike penalty on Green Bay’s first scoring drive. And a Goff interception in the second quarter, after the Lions had marched to the Green Bay 16. And a dropped interception by Alex Anzalone, followed immediately by a pick six by Branch that was called back due to a holding penalty on backup cornerback Rock Ya-Sin.
Those were golden chances blown or blown up. And on a day when the Lions moved downfield at a pace akin to “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” (when she wasn’t driving), well, you’re just not going to get a lot more opportunities.
“If you’re gonna be patient, you gotta score in the red zone,” Goff told the media. “If you’re not gonna score on 60-yard touchdowns, (then) when you get down there, you gotta score touchdowns.”
The Lions didn’t. They drove. They sputtered. At times they stopped altogether. And as Goff would say, “ultimately, that’s kind of the difference in the game.”
But, since this is educational only, let’s turn the lesson spotlight on the offensive line.
Everyone said coming in that this would be the potential Achilles heel of the Lions. On Sunday, it actually looked like Achilles, in a cast, in traction. Playing with new starters Christian Mahogany and rookie Tate Ratledge, the Lions were a shadow of the well-oiled unit that sprung so many rushing holes for Gibbs and David Montgomery last year. In the Lions two wins over the Packers in 2024, Gibbs and Montgomery totaled more than 130 yards rushing in the first meeting and nearly 100 combined in the second.
On Sunday, they had 44.
The line also didn’t protect Goff the way he’s gotten used to. He had to hurry some throws, including perhaps the interception. Put it all together, and you have a potential continuing problem. I don’t want to say that the O-line dropoff is stunning, but halfway through the game, I heard Lions fans yelling, “Thanks a lot, Frank Ragnow!”
“The more those five (offensive linemen) play together … the better we’re going to get,” Campbell said. “These are real reps against real opponents, you get a full game and, man, you go and you teach off of it.”
Yeah. Educational purposes only, remember?
Rust didn’t sleep on Lions
Which, as long as Dan is mentioning it, brings us to a point worth mentioning. Sundays’ opener was, for nearly all key players on Detroit’s roster, their first real football action since last January’s NFL playoff game. Campbell chooses not to play anyone significant in the preseason. So despite all those exhibition games, guys like Goff, Gibbs, Jamison Williams, Amon Ra. St Brown and others were seeing their first real football action in many months. And while I do not advocate risking injury during preseason, throwing players out there in Game 1 against a top divisional opponent is likely to lead to some glitches, timing and otherwise.
It seemed to show Sunday for Detroit. Rust, missed blocks, penalties, all things that tend not to happen when you’re in the zone. And they can’t happen again this Sunday. Not against the Chicago Bears. The mental price paid for that would be tough, especially since the Bears are now coached by former Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, whose inventiveness felt sorely missed in the Lions’ vanilla offense Sunday.
“Look,” Campbell said, “this is the same thing we went through with (Aaron Glenn) and Ben in 2022. Remember, we started 1-6, and I think people asked me to fire Ben at 1-6. … It took us a while to get our feet wet, to get our bearing. …
“Everything (that went wrong Sunday) is so correctable. … We’ll hit it head on. … Nobody takes it worse than (the Lions players) do. That’s the good news. We got the right dudes.”
And all the right dudes, carry the news. Or something like that. One game. One loss. One reel of tape that nobody should have to watch again except the coaches. And they should get combat pay.
Now, if we’re still talking about the bad traits we saw Sunday in three weeks, we’ll have another discussion. Until then, if, on Sunday morning, you thought the Lions were going to be good this season, think it now. One lousy movie doesn’t sink a career. This isn’t “Showgirls.” Although there were some plays on Sunday. …
Nope. Not going there. Stay positive. Educational purposes only, right?
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.
0 Comments