Tag: Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons

Jahmyr Gibbs to get ‘majority of work’ for the Lions at RB

With David Montgomery out, it makes perfect sense to unleash more of Gibbs against the Falcons

It’s been a slower start than anticipated for Lions rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs. That looks to change in Week 3, according to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Reporting live, Pelissero reported what most Lions fans both expect and hope for from Gibbs against the Atlanta Falcons with regular starter David Montgomery ruled out with a thigh bruise.

“I am told rookie first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs is expected to get the majority of the work,” Pelissero said on NFL Network on Sunday morning. “The No. 12 overall pick only has 14 carries for the first two games.”

He went on to note the Lions “will still play multiple backs,” which means more of Craig Reynolds and recent practice squad call-up Zonovan “Bam” Knight.

Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing the Lions Week 3 matchup with Falcons Wire

Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing the Lions Week 3 matchup with Falcons Wire’s Matt Urben

Week 3 brings the Atlanta Falcons into Ford Field for a matchup with the Detroit Lions. The unbeaten Falcons present another tough early-season challenge for Dan Campbell and the Lions.

To help learn more about the visitors from the NFC South, I turned to Matt Urben of Falcons Wire for some questions and answers. From Atlanta’s early success to a former Lions CB returning to Detroit, as well as a game prediction, Urben sheds a lot of light on the Falcons.

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Keys to Victory for the Lions against the Falcons in Week 3

Keys to Victory for the Lions against the Falcons in Week 3

After a disappointing end to week 2  against the Seahawks, the Lions remain at home but this time against a different NFC bird in the Falcons. Despite America being upset with Arthur Smith and his usage of his skill players, he has the Falcons firing on all cylinders and the Lions can’t look past that.

Against the Seahawks, injuries piled up and the defense struggled to get stops against Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. The Falcons will have that same game film so perhaps this is the week that Desmond Ridder opens up the offense.

Preventing that and more will be the key to a Lions victory on Sunday.

Jeff Okudah ‘can’t wait’ to play against the Lions for Atlanta

Ex-Lions CB Jeff Okudah ‘can’t wait’ to play against Detroit for his new team, the Atlanta Falcons, in Week 3

The Jeff Okudah experiment didn’t go well in Detroit. Not for the player, not for the team, and not for the fans.

Between injuries, misfit coaching style and play from Okudah that just wasn’t good enough consistently, it needed to end for all parties involved. And that’s what happened this offseason. Detroit shipped the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft to the Atlanta Falcons for pennies on the initial draft dollar.

The Lions moved on. So has Okudah. Mostly…

He’ll likely make his Falcons debut in Week 3 back in the familiar Ford Field. Okudah has been sidelined with a foot injury since training camp and he’s still not officially locked in to play, but it’s expected the Ohio State product will be active on Sunday.

Okudah is a quiet guy, and he’s clearly trying not to get too caught up in the “revenge game” drama with the Lions. He seems content to just try and get back on the field. Any field.

“In retrospect, I have to think of it in retrospect, I wouldn’t say I felt indifferent about it, but in retrospect I’m just really glad to be here,” Okudah said via Mike Rothstein of ESPN. “So I guess you could say it worked well for both sides.”

Okudah doesn’t seem bitter about his three years in Detroit. He clearly learned and grew from the star-crossed experience.

“You kind of get rid of that utopia mindset that things will always go perfect and try to just take things as they come,” Okudah said. “In this game, there’s a lot of competitors so things might not always go your way so it’s just how you respond, how you bounce back from all that.”

Even so, Okudah is fired up to head back to Detroit and face his old team.

“I think as a competitor, you naturally have a game like this circled,” Okudah said. “The environment is going to be a crazy environment. So, I mean, I can’t wait.”

Dan Campbell ‘encouraged’ by CB Jeff Okudah’s play vs. Falcons

Lions head coach Dan Campbell is encouraged by CB Jeff Okudah’s play vs. Falcons in Detroit’s preseason opener

One of the focal points of the summer for the Detroit Lions has been the progress of third-year cornerback Jeff Okudah. After two disappointing seasons riddled with injuries, it’s a big season upcoming for the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

So far, so good, according to Lions head coach Dan Campbell. That’s the word from the coach after the first preseason game, a 27-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

“Listen, he did some good things. It was encouraging,” Campbell said Monday. “We came out of this game encouraged with Jeff. It was like, ‘OK, this is pretty good.’ Just to see him get up there and press a little bit, challenge, and then, man, he’s getting involved in some of these tackles, and so I would say we were encouraged.

That’s the best way to say it; it was encouraging.”

Okudah had three tackles (including the pictured one here) on the evening in 18 defensive snaps. He allowed one completion on his only target in coverage, per PFF’s game tracking. Okudah did have one very impressive rep in run defense that didn’t show on his stat sheet too, where he stacked the edge exactly as the Lions want their outside CBs to do

Taylor Decker proud of ‘swagger’ on the Lions offensive line

Decker: “There was like a little swagger about us out there. That was good to feel and good to see.”

One of the universal takeaways from the Detroit Lions’ first preseason game was the sheer dominance of the first-team offensive line. The starting five played just 10 snaps, engineering a 79-yard scoring drive that owed much credit to the outstanding blocking in both the run and pass game.

Left tackle Taylor Decker, the senior member of the bunch, was proud of how his unit played on Friday night. It was the first time the five-man unit had played as one despite being brought together before the 2021 season. Injuries to Decker and Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow kept them from ever seeing the field together last year.

“We knew we were all going to play, and we were all excited to finally be out there together in a game-time situation,” Decker said in his postgame press conference. “We’ve had the scrimmage, but this will be the first time our projected starting five has been out there for a game scenario. The coaches said, ‘Be ready to play a quarter. If you guys go out there and do what you need to do, you might come out, you might not.’

We just took the game mindset really. We just went out there and—we were able to run the ball, get some passes going and move the chains which was nice. I thought the energy was really, really good as a whole team. I’ve been here for a little while now; there was like a little swagger about us out there. That was good to feel and good to see.”

The swagger comes from the players being talented, but also beyond that. It’s something instilled by the coaches, notably head coach Dan Campbell, assistant head coach Duce Staley and OL coach Hank Fraley–all longtime former NFL players.

“I would say—and I’ve said this before, what feels different around the building is just an atmosphere for open communication to where everyone is able to ask questions and feel comfortable, and when you’re comfortable you can go out there and you can play confidently,” Decker explained after the game. “You know that your coach believes in you. You know that your teammates believe in you.”

Decker knows the line can do better and will push for more.

“We just need to maintain that for the entire four quarters because we know there’s going to be ebbs and flows in the game,” he said. “That’s just the NFL, everyone’s got good players. If we can keep that high level of energy and emotion out there, I think it can be really good for us.”

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Lions vs. Falcons: Snap count notes and observations

Lions vs. Falcons: Snap count notes and observations from Detroit’s preseason game

Tabulating snap counts in preseason games is a full-time job for the spotters, with so many players getting action on both plays from scrimmage as well as special teams. The Detroit Lions used 76 different players in Friday night’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons.

There were a select few healthy Lions who did not participate in the exhibition: TE T.J. Hockenson, LB Alex Anzalone, S C.J. Moore and rookie TE James Mitchell. All the other players who sat out were idled in practice with minor injuries or remain on the PUP or NFI lists.

Tom Kennedy led all Lions offensive players with 43 snaps. He saw 12 passing targets, making the most of his time with QB David Blough, who played 42 snaps. The reserve offensive linemen dominated the rest of the top snap counts; Kendall Lamm played 42 while Dan Skipper, Evan Brown, Tommy Kraemer and Logan Stenberg all hit 40.

The starters on offense played the opening drive, 10 total plays. D’Andre Swift saw six reps at RB while Jamaal Williams had four.

In the crowd competing for tight end spots behind Hockenson, Brock Wright dominated with 29 snaps. Wright was followed by:

  • Devin Funchess – 21
  • Shane Zylstra – 18
  • Derrick Deese Jr. – 18
  • Nolan Givan – 14
  • Garrett Griffin – 13

It will be extremely interesting to see where those reps fall in the next preseason matchup, presumably with Mitchell entering the mix as he gets healthier from the leg injury he suffered last year at Virginia Tech. Note that Zylstra played the most special teams reps of the group (11) while Deese did not appear on special teams.

Defense

As with the offense, the defensive starters appeared on just one drive and 13 total plays. Cornerback Will Harris played just seven after leaving early with a hand injury. That forced Jeff Okudah onto the field for an extra few plays. Okudah logged 18, the same quantity as CB Bobby Price and one behind Saivion Smith.

Starting LBs Derrick Barnes and Malcolm Rodriguez played beyond the first drive. Rodriguez (21 snaps) and Barnes (19) split reps with Anthony Pittman (22), Chris Board (21), Shaun Dion Hamilton (19) and Josh Woods (14).

Jarrad Davis played primarily at off-ball LB in his 26 reps but also worked in some SAM reps, a pass-rushing role in this defense.

The most reps went to rookie safety Kerby Joseph and running mate JuJu Hughes, who each played 43 snaps. Reserve DT Bruce Hector (34) was the only other defender to top 30 reps.

Rookie CB Chase Lucas was on the field for just seven snaps. Mark Gilbert led all Lions defenders with 16 special teams reps to pair with his 22 plays on D.

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Lions defense blistered by Falcons’ mobile QBs, lack of containment

The Lions defense was woeful against the Falcons mobile quarterbacks in the preseason opener

One of the primary takeaways from the Detroit Lions preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons was the rousing success the visiting Falcons had with the quarterback run. The Lions defense was consistently blistered by runs from starter Marcus Mariota and rookie Desmond Ridder, who played most of the game for Atlanta.

Mariota ran three times for 23 yards in his one series, a drive he capped off with a 6-yard touchdown run around the left end. Ridder led the Falcons offense with 59 rushing yards on six attempts.

Most of the runs came off the same basic action. Atlanta bootlegged off a play-fake and the Lions defense was woefully out of position to contain or defend it.

After the game, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith noted that none of the plays were designed runs for Mariota or Ridder.

“None of them, we didn’t have any designed runs,” Smith told reporters. “We had plays that – we’ll continue to evolve there, but it’s preseason, we’re not going to show our hand in a lot of other stuff. But, when you have athletic quarterbacks and you’re able to move the pocket, they’re going to be able to extend plays.”

And extend plays they did. Mariota and Ridder also found some wide throwing lanes off misdirection or stepping around the initial rush beyond the times when they tucked and ran, too.

Lions coach Dan Campbell showed his frustration with his defense’s inability to defend the mobile quarterbacks after the game.

“Yeah, I mean sometimes you got to see it – you to see it live full time,” Campbell said. “That’s why I say our guys don’t do that. We haven’t worried about it. We don’t run, read, run. We will mix some stuff in, but so no that hasn’t been an emphasis. And we didn’t work that for Atlanta either. And it wasn’t something they were doing read-run; it was the allusion of read-run. I talked to Arthur (Smith), but still when you’re in the gun and some of these things – no, it’s a pass, and it comes time I’m just making a play as a quarterback you got to be disciplined in the rush.”

The backside containment on the rush was often egregious from the Lions. And it wasn’t just one individual player abandoning the contain ship. Pretty much every Lions EDGE was victimized, as noted in the Twitter highlight (lowlight?) thread here:

As noted in the root tweet there, the Lions defense doesn’t get to practice against this sort of thing. Jared Goff is not a runner, though he too has chewed up some serious yards in practice by tucking and running when the defense leaves him a huge opening. Tim Boyle is athletic but not really a runner, and David Blough is no ground threat either.

It’s an issue the Lions need to iron out with more reps in practice and in more preseason situations. Perhaps using nifty WR Tom Kennedy or utilizing the freakish agility of rookie WR Kalil Pimpleton as a mobile practice QB can help. It’s definitely something defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn needs to work at with his EDGEs and slot corners with several mobile QBs on the regular season schedule, including Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1.

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Top photos from the Lions first preseason game

A look at some of the top photos from the Detroit Lions first preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons

Football returned to Ford Field on Friday night. The 40,000-plus fans in attendance saw a spirited exhibition game between the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.

The visiting Falcons prevailed, 27-23, after a late touchdown. The game featured lead changes, impressive scoring drives and a few big plays. Detroit’s starting offense was fantastic in its one drive, and rookie Aidan Hutchinson made a couple of plays that showed he’s ready for the NFL.

Here are some of the top photos from the action in the Lions’ preseason opener.

8 quick takeaways from the Lions preseason loss to the Falcons

8 quick takeaways from the Detroit Lions preseason opener, a 27-23 loss to the visiting Atlanta Falcons

The preseason kicked off on Friday night with an entertaining matchup between the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. The visiting Falcons prevailed, 27-23, on a late TD after the Lions couldn’t hold onto a lead with two minutes to go.

Here are some quick first impressions from the Lions in the exhibition opener.