Category: Lions News

Seahawks struggles in Week 1 show Lions paths to success in Week 2

The Detroit Lions head home as they face the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2, who did not perform to expectations in their Week 1 loss.

Heading into Week 2’s matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks, the two teams had very different outcomes in Week 1. While the Lions pulled off a significant win against the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Seahawks suffered a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the team that kept the Lions out of the playoffs last year.

Despite not playing a clean game, the Lions managed to pull everything together to secure the win, which has been their motto under Dan Campbell’s leadership. With their mini-bye, they have had time to prepare for a tough Seahawks team that is looking to bounce back after their loss to the Rams.

After their surprise rise last year, the Seahawks were expected to continue their hot streak into the new season. However, early in their Week 1 game, they were leading 13-7 heading into halftime, but ended up losing in the second half. Many metrics showed how ineffective the Seahawks offense was, including their low time of possession and small number of plays in the second half.

One of the reasons the Seahawks offense struggled was due to the loss of both of their starting tackles, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. Losing both starting tackles can be detrimental to any team’s performance. Their status for the upcoming game against the Lions will be closely monitored. If they are unable to play, the Seahawks may have a difficult time against the Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson, who had a stellar game against the Chiefs.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Seahawks had mixed results. Their run defense looked good, allowing only 92 yards with a 2.3 yards per carry average, but they allowed three rushing touchdowns. Their pass rush was also ineffective, registering only two quarterback hits and no sacks, allowing Matthew Stafford to carve up the secondary for 334 yards. The Lions offensive line is considered stronger than the Rams’ offensive line, so the Lions could have an advantage in this department.

It’s important to remember that a team’s first game of the season can be unpredictable. Overreactions are common, but it’s not fair to judge a team based on one game. The Lions will have the home-field advantage, so they will look to take advantage of the raucous crowd and secure their second win of the season.

Lions new RB room blew away the 2022 version in Week 1

Lions new RB room of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs blew away the 2022 version of Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift in Week 1

The Detroit Lions had a very successful ground game in 2022. It raised some eyebrows when the team swapped out the top two running backs, Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift, after the season.

In their place came prized free agent David Montgomery and No. 12 overall draft pick, rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.

Based on the Week 1 results, the Lions made a smart move.

Montgomery ran well in the Lions win over the Chiefs, charging for 74 yards on 21 carries in the role Williams held a year earlier. In the old Swift role, Gibbs racked up 42 yards on seven carries and added 18 more yards on two receptions.

Williams went to New Orleans and was the Saints primary rusher, but he managed to gain just 45 yards on 18 carries. He also caught two passes for seven yards and had a fumble, which he recovered, in New Orleans’ 16-15 nail-biting win over the Titans. He did not score a touchdown but did effectively end the game with an impressive late pick-up.

In Philadelphia, Swift barely made a dent in the box score. Playing as the No. 2 RB behind Kenneth Gainwell, Swift had one carry for three yards in the Eagles’ 25-20 win over the Patriots. He also caught one pass that didn’t gain a yard. He and Gibbs played the exact same number of snaps (19).

It’s tough to make apple-to-apples comparisons across different offenses in divergent game situations, but the Lions new fruit was a lot riper than the old ones in Week 1.

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NFC North roundup: Vikings and Bears fall, Packers prevail in Week 1

The Detroit Lions got to watch their NFC North opponents today, and should be happy with the results in Week 1

After the Detroit Lions secured a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, we had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the remaining NFC North games. The Minnesota Vikings faced off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were without Tom Brady, while the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears had their early divisional clash.

In terms of the Lions’ pursuit of the division title, the matchups played out relatively favorably. Let’s take a look at how the other NFC North teams fared.

Jared Goff remains elite at one style of throw

Lions QB Jared Goff was the NFL’s best at throwing in-breaking routes in 2022 and he’s keeping it up in 2023

Jared Goff might not be the NFL’s best quarterback, but the Lions signal-caller definitely has his strengths. One of Goff’s particular set of skills stands above every other quarterback, too.

Goff excels like no other QB at in-breaking routes. He did it in 2022 in Detroit, with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson smartly designing a lot of those routes for Goff to hit in the offense. And he’s doing it once again in 2023.

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Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Goff had an excellent Week 1 throwing in-breaking routes in the win over the Chiefs. He hit 13 of his 16 attempts, including his touchdown strike to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

The Next Gen Stats passing chart nicely illustrates how well Goff paints the strike zone over the middle of the field.

To put it in perspective, Goff was 9-for-19 on throws that weren’t targeting in-breaking routes, although at least two of those were on-target passes that were not caught.

Week 1 broadcast maps: What games are on for Lions fans to watch

Week 1 broadcast maps: What games are on for Lions fans to watch on Sunday

With the Detroit Lions playing on Thursday night, it opens up the viewing options for Lions fans around the country for the Sunday games in Week 1.

Who will be on the local channels for those who wish to watch live?

For fans in Michigan, the early games broadcast on local affiliates will be Tampa Bay vs. Minnesota on CBS and San Francisco at Pittsburgh on FOX.

Here are the broadcast maps for the early games, via 506 Sports:

For the late afternoon games, nearly all of the markets east of the Mississippi River will get the Patriots vs. Eagles on CBS. On FOX, everyone east of the Rockies can watch the NFC North matchup between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.

 

 

 

Expect more touches for Jahmyr Gibbs going forward, per Dan Campbell

Jahmyr Gibbs got just 9 touches in Week 1, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell indicates the rookie RB will get more going forward

Jahmyr Gibbs had a pretty impressive NFL debut in the Detroit Lions’ 21-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The first-round running back averaged 6.0 yards per carry and also caught every ball thrown his way.

The issue for Gibbs was not touching the ball all that much. He took just seven carries and was only thrown two passes. On a night when the Lions offense was sputtering and lacking big-play potential, the relative lack of usage for Gibbs was the source of considerable consternation.

Many analysts, notably fantasy football folks, expected quite a bit more from Gibbs. Yet when Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Gibbs’ usage, he indicated the game plan was closely followed in Kansas City.

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“No, I would say that was what we talked about with him,” Campbell said when asked about the apparent lack of touches for Gibbs in Week 1. “First game out of the gate, there again man, and we really didn’t want to overload any of those guys. I think it’s important you go in and let them get a feel of what it’s going to be like.

It’s the first one, let’s go in and make sure that the guys that have been around here, the guys who have taken a load for us that we’ve been in games with, that they take on a bigger load and we work these rookies in and get them a feel of it.”

Expect more touches for the speedy rookie from Alabama going forward, according to Campbell.

“Now they’ve got that one under their belt, so for Gibbs, he’ll begin to get more touches now. So, that was just the beginning last night.”

Big V played big in his return to the Lions lineup

Lions RG Halapoulivaati Vaitai earned Detroit’s highest PFF grade in Week 1 after missing all of 2022

For the first time in over two years, the Detroit Lions had their projected starting five on the offensive line intact. The group laid the foundation for the offensive success in the Lions’ 21-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

The missing man in 2022 was right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who missed last year with a back injury. “Big V” was back and better than ever in Week 1.

Vaitai earned the highest Pro Football Focus grade of any Lions player in the win in Kansas City. His 88.4 grade was nearly 10 points higher than any other Detroit player. For Vaitai, it was the second-highest game grade of his career, topped only by the 2021 finale against the Packers.

Vaitai did not allow a single QB pressure on Jared Goff and also notched the highest run-blocking score by anyone on either team in the game.

 

 

Dan Campbell focused on ‘correctable issues’ after the Lions’ Week 1 win

Campbell talked about working on offensive tempo in advance of the Lions next game

Even in victory, Lions head coach Dan Campbell remains focused on improving his team. Campbell found some areas where his team needs to do better than they did in Kansas City in Week 1 if they hope to keep the wins rolling.

Campbell’s Lions beat the Chiefs, 21-20, on Thursday night. It’s a great win, knocking off the reigning Super Bowl champs in their own building to kick off the new NFL season. The head coach won’t let his players or assistant coaches revel in the accomplishment without working on issues he saw during the game.

What stood out to Campbell that needs to improve?

“Probably offensively is tempo. Man, we’ve got to improve our tempo,” Campbell said on Friday. “That’s probably top of the list right now and then third-down offensively. And we weren’t great on defense either in that first half, now we turned it around there, but I think those are a couple things we’ve got to clean up that would be top of the list here.”

The Lions had some plays on both sides of the ball where the timing and coordination between the different units were not sharp. Fortunately, the Lions made more plays on offense and defense than the Chiefs did, and came away with the victory.

Campbell noted that “they are very correctable issues that we’ve got here, so that’s what fires you up. We’ve got so much room to grow and get better.”

 

Studs and Duds for the Lions victory over the Chiefs

Here are this weeks Detroit Lions Studs and Duds for their Week 1 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Detroit Lions have been telling everyone they’re ready to win and compete, but most people wrote them off, saying they haven’t proved anything. However, they proved the doubters wrong with a massive 21-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Lions demonstrated their grit and no-quit attitude, showing the world they’re ready to walk with the big boys. Although their game wasn’t the cleanest, they didn’t let their mistakes affect the outcome. The team received contributions from all players, and it showed on the big stage. Unfortunately, some players weren’t fully prepared when it mattered most.

Here are this week’s Lions Studs and Duds for their win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

By the Numbers: Breaking down the key stats and figures in the Lions Week 1 win

By the Numbers: Breaking down the key stats and figures in the Lions Week 1 win

The most important set of numbers from the Week 1 matchup between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are 21 and 20. That’s the final score, with the Lions coming out on top on the road on Thursday night.

How the two teams arrived at those respective scores can be told by breaking down some other key numbers and figures from the game.

0 – Interceptions thrown by Jared Goff, now up to 359 straight passes without an INT, the 3rd-best streak in NFL history

0 – Successful third-down conversions in the second half by the Chiefs offense. They went 0-for-7 after being 5-for-7 in the first half

0 – Number of kick returns in the game by both teams

1 – Combined number of sacks for both teams. Chiefs DL Mike Danna got Goff for the only one.

1 – Lost fumble for Lions WR Marvin Jones, the first he’s lost in his 12-year NFL career

2.6 – Average yards per carry by the Chiefs on handoffs

3 – Dropped passes by Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney. Some outlets have him for just two but the NBC broadcast credited him for three.

4 – Passes defended by the Chiefs, all broken up at the line of scrimmage

4 – Enforced penalties against the Lions, costing them 63 yards

4.5 – Ending wager line favoring the Chiefs in the game

5 – Passes defended by the Lions coverage, all down the field

5.8 – Average yard per pass attempt for Patrick Mahomes

6.9 – Average yards per pass attempt for Jared Goff

16 – Ending number of the streak of Chiefs wins against NFC teams

20.5 – Aidan Hutchinson’s pressure rate on pass rushes, despite not getting a sack

25 – Total yards by the Chiefs in the fourth quarter, on 12 plays

41 – Fourth-quarter rushing yards for Lions RB David Montgomery, on 11 carries

94.1 – Jared Goff’s QB Rating, the seventh time in 10 games he’s topped 90.0