Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions’ season opener against the Green Bay Packers was the kind of performance that would require an immediate parent-teacher conference. In some ways, that’s a good thing. Early intervention is important, and hopefully a wake-up call to kick off the season is exactly what the Lions need to fix what appear to be some major problems.
But in the meantime, we’re sending Roary home with an ugly-looking report card. Here are our grades from Detroit’s 27-13 loss to the Packers.
It’s hard to grade Jared Goff in a vacuum, considering he had no help from his offensive line or a running game. On a very basic level, he was mostly accurate, took what the defense gave him, and actually drove the offense down the field for four red zone trips, including three very patient drives of 13 or more plays.
But Goff also rarely did anything to elevate the offense. There was no threading of the needle, managing the pocket to create extra time, or throwing any players open. And there was a deadly red zone interception that was largely his fault. And by his own admission, some of the miscommunication and mental errors from the entire offense fall in his lap.
“I am more so just urgent about getting details fixed and making sure that everyone is on the same page and that our communication is better and getting lined up correctly and all that stuff,” Goff said about the red zone issues. “Ultimately, a lot of it falls on me. So, there are some things that I can do better.”
Again, the running backs were given no favors from the offensive line, but sometimes Jahmyr Gibbs was only adding to the problem. His 6-yard loss in a goal-to-go situation was the definition of trying to do too much, and he was guilty of that on several occasions. With the Lions in checkdown mode, it was on Gibbs to create extra yardage with his 10 receptions, and his 30 total receiving yards was a failing to do that.
I thought David Montgomery was fine. While he only averaged 2.3 yards per carry, his success rate (45.5%) was actually quite good and much better than Gibbs’ (22.2%).
I’ll have to go back and check out how this unit did in terms of blocking, but Sam LaPorta’s threat as a receiver lifts this unit to the highest grade of any. His six catches for 79 yards is the fifth-best performance of his young career by yardage, and his best game against any NFC North opponent.
This is another one where the tape could tell a different story. From my live viewing, it certainly felt like Goff was forced to go through his entire progression far more often than he should. Was that a schematic issue or the result of Lions receivers failing to produce any separation with their routes? I understand the Packers’ game...
