Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez tackles three important questions from the Detroit Lions‘ 38-35 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Ford Field:
What did you think about the Lions’ revamped offense?
We were told there was going to be a new era: a more aggressive offense with a down-the-field mentality. Instead, we got three short passes on the opening drive, which led to a touchdown. And remember that the first few plays on offense are usually scripted before the game, meaning the Lions planned this all along. That was followed by three straight three-and-outs that featured short passes and more of the same vanilla, run-heavy, conservative play-calling. What about all the hype over Jared Goff and coordinator Ben Johnson developing chemistry that would make Thelma and Louise jealous? It wasn’t until the Lions were down, 21-7, and were forced to take chances that they showed any willingness to be aggressive, and Goff connected with Josh Reynolds deep for a 28-yard pass late in the second quarter. And they still only had 53 passing yards at halftime. The Lions are going to have to be bolder than this, especially earlier in games, if they want to beat good teams.
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OK, what about the defense?
It was always going to be tough trying to stop a dynamic quarterback like Jalen Hurts. The Lions’ defense ranked 29th overall last season, including a rank of 28th against the run and 24th against the pass. That featured a 44-6 loss on Halloween, when the Lions gave up 236 rushing yards to the Eagles. It wasn’t that bad this time around, and the defense kept things close midway through the second quarter, when the Eagles led, 14-7. Aidan Hutchinson showed good hustle but had very little impact, and the rest of the defense simply got worn out against a well-balanced Eagles offense. Hurts made some beautiful passes into tight windows, but defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is going to have to get a lot more creative dialing up pressure to limit good quarterbacks.
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So is there any hope for the Lions this year?
As outmatched as the Lions looked against Philadelphia, let’s remember the Eagles expect to make a run in the postseason this year. There are certainly plenty of issues the Lions need to address, but they didn’t fold. That they were still within 10 points early in the fourth quarter shows that they believed in what they were doing and didn’t quit, even when they were clearly the inferior team. Goff had a brave, head-down run for a first down on a third-quarter scoring drive, D’Andre Swift ran hard all game on his way to 144 rushing yards and the defense never let up and forced a three-and-out with less than nine minutes left. If there is hope this year, it resides in the kind of resilience they showed late Sunday.
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Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@cmonarrez.