An injury-riddled Detroit Lions roster nicely rallied around the home crowd and a more aggressive defensive approach to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 20-6, in Week 3.
The game saw many Lions playing much bigger roles and heftier snap counts than they typically do. Nowhere was this more evident than the offensive line.
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
In his first start since returning to Detroit, Graham Glasgow played all 70 offensive snaps at right guard. Glasgow was one of five Lions on offense who never left the field. QB Jared Goff and OL Penei Sewell, Jonah Jackson and Frank Ragnow were the iron men of the Detroit offense.
Three players saw double-digit reps filling in at right tackle. Matt Nelson started and managed 18 snaps before leaving with a knee injury. Dan Skipper lasted 16 before departing with a leg injury of his own, which left fifth-round rookie Colby Sorsdal to play the other 36 in his NFL debut.
Jahmyr Gibbs took over for an injured David Montgomery as the starting RB, and he played 42 snaps, or 60 percent. Behind Gibbs, Craig Reynolds out-snapped Zonovan Knight, 20 to 7.
Sam LaPorta continues to dominate the TE reps. The second-round rookie played 52 snaps to Brock Wright’s 29. James Mitchell played just two offensive reps for the second game in a row, while Jason Cabinda played 10 at fullback.
On defense, four players were in on all 67 snaps:
- DB Brian Branch
- CB Cam Sutton
- S Tracy Walker
- LB Alex Anzalone
Jerry Jacobs missed one play, replaced at outside CB by Will Harris — and that was Harris’ only appearance on defense. Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu saw a season-high 48 snaps on defense, the same number as LB Derrick Barnes.
The linebacking corps saw much more action overall, thanks to the Lions largely rolling with a 4-3 front. Rookie Jack Campbell played 38 of the 67 snaps and Malcolm Rodriguez played 20. That’s with Anzalone always on the field and Barnes playing over 70 percent of the snaps. Jalen Reeves-Maybin, typically only used on special teams, played three defensive snaps too.
Up front, Isaiah Buggs earned 18 snaps. That’s one more than Benito Jones and double what Levi Onwuzurike played in the game at DT. Alim McNeill played 40 snaps as the primary attack DT.
Aside from Sorsdal, two other Lions made their NFL debuts in the game. Undrafted rookie DBs Steven Gilmore (11) and Brandon Joseph (6) each saw their initial action on special teams duty against the Falcons. Neither recorded a statistic.