Brad Holmes and the Lions may need to jump into the trade market after win over Browns, 9 other big takeaways
It was kind of an ugly game, but the Lions walk out with a win
It was not the prettiest 34-10 win the Detroit Lions have ever had, but they got the job done largely because of the play of the Lions’ defense. It was a good showing. Here are our biggest takeaways from the game.
Time to make calls to see who’s willing to trade you a cornerback
The Lions lost both of their starting cornerbacks in this game. Terrion Arnold went out with a shoulder injury, and then D.J. Reed was carted out of the game with a leg injury. The season doesn’t stop because those guys might miss some time.
They have the Bengals, Chiefs, and Bucs coming up, and this team has just three cornerbacks on the roster. Four, if you count Avonte Maddox. So yeah, make some phone calls and see who you can get now instead of at the trade deadline. We’ll see who’s out there and get something written up.
Goff Report
Not Goff’s best day. The interception he threw was pretty ugly, and he struggled to get the deep ball going all game. He completed just 59.3% of his passes. It was just an uncharacteristic performance.
He managed to throw two touchdown passes, though. That’s cool. Put this one behind you and move on.
Defensive holding after defensive holding
Shawn Smith and his team were all about calling defensive holding in this game. Coincidentally, the kind of call the Lions were trying to get changed at the league meetings in April. Arnold got called for it twice on the Lions’ first defensive drive, and it led to a touchdown. Branch got called for it three times, and one of those times wiped out a strip sack for Aidan Hutchinson.
If you’re keeping score at home, Branch now owes Hutchinson for a strip sack he got called back, and Arnold for an interception he got called back in Week 2. He’s a phenomenal player, but when he makes a mistake, it’s bad.
Lions are bad against the script
There’s something about this Lions defense on its first drive of the game. It just cannot stop anyone to save its life. For the fourth straight game, the Lions have allowed a touchdown on the first drive of the game. These drives are always scripted, and it’s not crazy that teams score on these drives.
The Lions’ defense has, for the most part, been able to recover. But at this point, it feels like its spotting teams a lead each week.
Aidan Hutchinson shows some smarts on the field
Hutchinson had a great game with eight pressures and two sacks. One of which was a strip sack. But the moment that needs to be pointed out came from the second quarter. The Browns clearly used the Lions’ pressure against them on a screen pass.
On the next play, Hutchinson broke through and got a sack. However, on the third play, the Browns tried to use the pressure against the Lions, and Hutchinson spotted it. Instead of pursuing Flacco, he stopped and then backed up. This led to Flacco throwing the ball in the dirt. Heads up, stuff from Hutchinson — way to adapt.
The pass rush you saw against the Ravens was real
The Lions had 34 pressures and seven sacks against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens on Monday, and then on Sunday, they showed it wasn’t an anomaly. This team can get after you. They finished the game with 24 pressures and two sacks. It was a very strong performance.
Monday’s standout, Al-Quadin Muhammad, was pretty quiet
Muhammad had a big game against the Ravens with 2.5 sacks on five pressures. In this one, he was quiet with just one pressure and no tackles.
He did play a smaller number of snaps in this one and shared the field with Pat O’Connor. He played just 24 snaps. So the hope that he would turn into a superstar has cooled down a bit, but he still played well when he was on the field.
The deep ball to Jameson Williams just was not there against the Browns
The Lions tried their best in this game. Goff went 0-8 when going deep to Williams. He was picked off on one of those throws. Besides that, it killed multiple drives on third down.
I know the Lions want this to be a part of their game, but this felt forced, much like Week 1’s attempts against the Packers. When you force it, bad things happen. Hence the pick. This might have also been the worst game we’ve seen from Williams. He had a lot of trouble finding the ball in the air.
That is not Jack Campbell
Nike started doing this ad this week, and it features Saquon Barkley jumping over number 46 on the Lions. Then you see number 46’s face, and you can very clearly see that it is not Jack Campbell. I don’t know who this fictional player is.
Raymond is just always about to break one
Anytime Raymond gets on the field, he is always a threat, and Lions head coach Dan Campbell is always talking about how he’s getting close to breaking one. Welp, there you go.
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