Pride of Detroit
Well, if there were any doubters left, the Detroit Lions’ 38-30 road win over the Baltimore Ravens cleared things up real quick. The Lions land in the top five in most power rankings this week—save the usual suspects—even reaching as high as No. 3 overall.
Let’s take a look at where the Lions land in this week’s power rankings.
From ESPN Staff, excerpt from Eric Woodyard:
Through Week 3, the Lions are tied for a league-low 22.0% pass rush win rate. They’ve relied on Hutchinson, who has been consistently double-teamed as he tries to find a groove after returning from a season-ending leg injury in 2024. Detroit lacks depth at the position, as defensive end Marcus Davenport (chest) is now on injured reserve. The Lions are counting on fellow end Al-Quadin Muhammad to step up (he had 2.5 sacks against the Ravens). Also, the return of defensive tackle Alim McNeill (ACL injury) and end Josh Paschal (reserve/non-football injury list) at some point this season will help fix those issues. But Detroit did look impressive in tallying seven sacks against the Ravens on Monday night.
Look out, Andy Reid. The Lions are also capable of retrofitting grainy 1927 plays into their arsenal.
After a disjointed start to the season against the Packers and an expected thrashing of the Bears, there was no telling which Lions team would show up this week against the Ravens. After Monday night, there shouldn’t be any more confusion over whether this team can contend. They thoroughly controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and kept Baltimore at arm’s length throughout the second half.
It’s way too early to make a call on exactly how good John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard will be as coordinators, but what we can see is that head coach Dan Campbell is the straw that stirs the drink, and he’s why this team is still one of the league’s best.
I think we can bury any coordinator concerns about John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard here and now. The Lions were the tougher, smarter and better-prepared team on Monday night, repeatedly coming up with clutch plays in a hostile road environment. The Lions delivered the first punch. The Ravens countered, landing a few haymakers, too. But Detroit never came close to shriveling up, playing exceptional three-phase football and essentially beating the Ravens at their own game. Four rushing TDs in Baltimore? Seven sacks of Lamar Jackson? Three-for-three on fourth down? Elevated stuff, borne out of coaching and preparation. There were a dozen players I could highlight, but please, out of respect to Morton and Sheppard — who each called a brilliant game in the MNF spotlight — can we now end the Ben Johnson/Aaron Glenn questions? That narrative...
