Detroit News contributor Nolan Bianchi offers his first-half observations as the Lions trail the Browns 13-0 at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
Sloppiness (the sequel)
Are we headed for another beautiful disaster in the likes of last week’s Lions-Steelers game? Early on in cold and wet Cleveland, it almost looked inevitable.
After both teams punted on their respective opening drives, both Baker Mayfield and Tim Boyle threw interceptions on consecutive possessions. Both could be classified as ‘ugly.’
And it didn’t get much better from there for the road team. The Lions gave up a third-and-9 to the Browns when it jumped offsides and then took a defensive pass interference penalty. Moments later, Alim McNeil shot the gap on third-and-5, had D’Ernest Johnson for a loss, but let him slip away as the Cleveland back scampered to a 13-yard gain.
The tackling and all-around details — Detroit’s also been flagged for 52 yards in penalties — need to be better for the Lions if they hope to have a different result than the nine previous weeks, but the Browns have been keeping the Lions alive with sloppiness of their own. Browns kicker Chase McLaughlin badly pushed a 46-yard field goal that could have put Cleveland up 10-0 in the second quarter.
Tim Boyle era off to a slow start
The Boyle era in Detroit has yielded some mixed results early. It’s hard to say that Boyle is performing any better or worse than Jared Goff, but it’s clear that the Lions’ coaching staff has even less faith in Boyle than the usual starter. He’s just 2-for-6 passing for 21 yards and a pick.
After that interception on his fourth pass of the day, who could blame them? Still, even before Boyle turned it over, the Lions opted for a draw play on third-and-10 during the opening possession, and Detroit has continued to live and die with its running backs on crucial situations.
That hasn’t been a rousing success, either. It appears that the Lions are more comfortable with simply not turning the ball over than they are actually trying to move it, but at this point in the season, it’s hard to agree with overly conservative play calling.
Tough debut for Josh Reynolds
The Lions expected to get a boost at wide receiver from the arrival of Josh Reynolds, who was claimed off waivers last week but did not play against Pittsburgh.
And after two quarters, the expectations have lowered quite a bit. Reynolds let an easy catch get knocked out of his hands on his first target, then took an offensive pass interference penalty on the next possession that overturned a 14-yard gain.
The disclaimer here is that Boyle didn’t throw the ball a whole lot after his interception, so Reynolds hasn’t necessarily had the chance to make up for his early mistakes.
Defense keeping Browns on field
The Lions’ defense has done a pretty solid job of getting Cleveland to third-down situations, but it’s done a terrible job of getting off the field once it gets there.
Part of that isn’t their fault. We mentioned penalties earlier, and while 52 yards in a single half is certainly something to clean up, the Browns have benefited from a handful of phantom calls on third down, including a non-existent hands to the face penalty on Amani Oruwariye and a questionable pass interference penalty later in that same drive, when Cleveland took a two-score lead.
Detroit has some things to clean up on the defensive side of the ball, for sure, but it’s again hard to detract from its performance when Detroit’s offense simply cannot stay on the field.
Nolan Bianchi is a freelance writer.