Detroit Shutdown in Green Bay, Falls to 1-2
Last week Detroit beat themselves at home in a game they should have won. This week they lost to the opposing team and couldn’t stop the Packers offense. Detroit and Green Bay both were hurting coming into today’s game, giving Detroit a fighting chance. Sadly, that chance wasn’t good enough to beat the Packers. Let’s break this down.
Offense
Matt Stafford had another game where he looked solid, but couldn’t get the win. Stafford went 28/41 for 385 yards, three touchdowns and a interception. That interception can’t be blamed on him though. The pass was in Eric Ebron’s hands and it was stripped out right to Damarious Randall. Overall, Stafford did all he could and he did well, as the blame on the offense can’t be on him at all.
Rushing for Detroit was ineffective. Detroit had 21 carries for 41 yards. The leading rusher was rookie Dwayne Washington, ending with 10 carries for 38 yards. Theo Riddick had 10 carries for just nine yards. It was a horrible day for the rushing attack against a weak linebacker and defensive line. Detroit shouldn’t have struggled so much against this defense today, but with no real protection up front, it’s hard to get things going.
Receivers did a complete 180 from last week. Drops weren’t an issue at all today besides the Ebron mishap. Marvin Jones showed his worthy, getting six catches for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Golden Tate had four catches for 40 yards. Eric Ebron had five catches for 56 yards and Anquan Boldin had four catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. Theo Riddick also lead the team in catches with seven for 39 yards.
The offensive line wasn’t great at all today. Laken Tomlinson was horrible, just looking inconsistent and never keeping his guy back. Taylor Decker had a holding call and all together the line couldn’t help the run game get going. If there is no run game, it makes it harder for Stafford to succeed in the passing attack.
Defense
The Green Bay Packers were able to run the ball unlike the Lions. They had 24 carries for 123 yards total and Detroit could only get two sacks the entire game, only for four yards total. Haloti Ngata had one and so did Kerry Hyder, the defensive end that keeps on impressing the team.
The linebackers, thin in depth got exposed today. Green Bay attacked the middle of the field many of times and it worked continuously. Tahir Whitehead had three tackles and wasn’t impressing in zone coverage. Kyle Van Noy had four tackles and one QB hit, while Thurston Armbrister had one tackle and was horrible in coverage. Detroit will keep getting exposed in the middle of the field at the linebacker spot until they can sign somebody or until they get healthy.
Defensive backs were inconsistent today. Quandre Diggs had a tackle, pass deflection and a qb hit, but was beat easily for the touchdown early on. Nevin Lawson had three tackles but was called for pass interference early in the game which would turn into an easy scoring possession for Green Bay. Darius Slay had four tackles, but got beat by Jordy Nelson on a touchdown. Tavon Wilson would get injured and left the game with an injury and didn’t return.
Special Teams wasn’t the best today as well. Andre Roberts was making many mistakes on the kick returns, leaving the endzone deep at times and couldn’t get to the 25 yard line. He ended with three for 68 yards and two punt returns for 16 yards. Matt Prater was 2/3 on field goals, making the longest from 50 yards out. Sam Martin had two punts for 95 yards.
Week Three What it Means
The run game without Abdullah is going to be harder than expected. Detroit struggled to run the ball well and while some of the blame can be put on the offensive line, the rest can be on the backs themselves. Detroit needs to get it going or else Stafford will be throwing way more and defenses will shut him down eventually.
Marvin Jones is a true number one wide receiver. He had a fantastic day and proved he was worth his contract. He gave Detroit life in a game that it was sucked out of early on. His ability to keep his feet in bounds and go deep are two great things Detroit needed when losing Calvin Johnson.
Linebackers without DeAndre Levy and Antwione Williams on this team are getting exposed easily. They can’t do everything that Levy can do and while Williams isn’t an all-star, he is better than Armbrister. These players coming back would help Detroit greatly.
Week Three What to Think About
Detroit needs to possibly make a change on the offensive line. Laken Tomlinson had another horrible game today. Detroit needs to possibly move on from him and look at Joe Dahl.
Detroit only ran the ball with Theo Riddick and Dwayne Washington. Giving Zach Zenner a chance or two to try and get some yards wouldn’t be a bad idea. We have four backs on the roster for a reason, why not use them all?
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @BKnappBlogs, find me on Reddit at /u/sportsguy4life and leave me your thoughts on the Detroit Lions subreddit.
