Pride of Detroit
A wise man once said, “Sometimes it just ain’t your day.” That was the case for the Detroit Lions during their Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad. There were things to like on the defensive side of the football, and even the offense, despite all of their issues along the offensive line, had stretches when they were moving the chains.
Naturally, that is where we are going to focus this week’s film study—in the trenches. Luckily for Lions fans, I think part of the reason the performance at Lambeau was jarring was because we are so accustomed to excellence from the offensive line. It has been a major strength of the team since coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes took over back in 2021. Unfortunately, their Week 1 performance was not indicative of that.
“We had a lot of MAs (missed assignments),” Campbell said of his team following the loss. “So that tells me that we had too much on their plate. That’s my fault. So, that was really the story.”
Let’s get into the film and see what went wrong for Detroit, and what can be corrected ahead of their home opener against the Chicago Bears.
Missed assignments and communication issues
We begin the study in the second quarter with what ends up being a relatively successful run for Lions running back David Montgomery. In the first of what appeared to be several instances on the day, quarterback Jared Goff changes the play pre-snap. With Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt lined up over Lions center Graham Glasgow, rookie right guard Tate Ratledge was uncovered pre-snap. Appearing to not get the call, he ends up running right into Glasgow once the ball is snapped, when it looks like he may have been responsible for getting to the second level to get a hat on Packers linebacker Quay Walker, who ultimately makes the tackle.
In the next clip below, we jump to the beginning of the fourth quarter in was the final play of a truly disastrous three-snap sequence for the Lions. Unlike the first two plays of the series where the defenders defeated their blocks, this one appears to be another missed assignment on the part of the rookie.
With the Lions backed up near their own goal line in a third-and-16 situation, Goff, again, appears to change the play at the line of scrimmage. Green Bay defensive tackle Colby Wooden is lined up on the inside shoulder of Ratledge at the 2i. After Ratledge pulls and leaves Wooden unblocked, Montgomery has to do everything he can just to avoid a safety.
Jumping to a bit later in the fourth quarter and the Lions are facing a fourth-and-2. Green Bay has linebackers walked up in either A-gap, with seven total defenders lined up on the line of scrimmage. After the snap, both linebackers drop back into coverage, leaving Ratledge to block Wyatt. However, it looks like Ratledge oversets...
