Pride of Detroit
These are the best kinds of games to watch when it comes to the Detroit Lions. It still wasn’t a perfect game by all three phases, but the offense had a complete bounce-back performance from their dud against the Minnesota Vikings last week. Detroit also sought revenge for how the Washington Commanders ended its season last year, so this game was a bit amplified.
Detroit started the game with a stout three-and-out by the defense. That gave the offense the ball, and quickly, the Lions scored to take the lead. Even though it was 14-3 at the end of the first quarter, it felt like once Detroit got the first score, the game was in their control. The offense played relaxed throughout the entire game, as Detroit never once punted the football.
Let’s get into my six takeaways from the win against the Commanders.
With the offensive line dropping like flies against the Vikings last week, it was unclear how it would shape out against Washington. The team knew they would be without left guard Christian Mahaogany, but who would replace him was up for debate. Would center Graham Glasgow move to left guard, and backup center Trystan Colon start? Would veteran guard Kayode Awoskia start at left guard? Could left tackle Taylor Decker miss the game?
The answer was this: Decker played, Awosika moved in at left guard, and the rest of the offensive line stayed the same. With the minor change, the offensive line seemed to improve, as quarterback Jared Goff never got sacked and the run game exploded for 226 yards and two touchdowns.
The bad news about the offensive line was the injuries that continued to affect them, as right tackle Penei Sewell left the game briefly due to an injury, but he returned and finished the game. Glasgow left the game in the second quarter with a back injury and would later return. The Lions’ offensive line depth was tested, and with the game put away in the fourth quarter, all the starters except for right guard Tate Ratledge got to sit as the rookie continues to play well.
We heard the Lions coaching staff discuss how they focused on converting third-down plays on offense last week before the Vikings game, and it didn’t appear that it worked. Last week, Detroit went 5-for-17 on third-down attempts, a big factor in the loss. The defense needed to improve on third down, too, allowing Minnesota to go 4-for-12 on third down as the team failed to make the big stops when needed.
This week, whatever changes they hoped to see last week, the team saw. Detroit went 5-for-10, so the same amount of successful downs but a decrease in attempts. It could be better, but with fewer third-down attempts, since the offense was moving the chains on first and second down, it was a positive development.
The defense saw the better improvement on third down,...
