5 Winners and 4 Losers From the Detroit Lions’ Week 1 Win: One star took over, another had a day to forget
Detroit escaped New Orleans in overtime, with huge games from several key players, one brutal afternoon from a star receiver and plenty to clean up before Buffalo.
The Detroit Lions won their Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints, but it did not go exactly how Detroit was hoping. Then again, this is a common Week 1 thing for the Lions. No matter what they wind up doing at the end of the year, they just kind of have these Week 1 struggles. The Lions pulled it out, and that’s all that really matters. When it’s Week 17, nobody is going to look back at Week 1 and think they barely beat that Saints team. And by the way, New Orleans looked way tougher than most people expected.
With that in mind, let’s break down the winners and losers from the Lions’ overtime victory.
Winners
Derrick Barnes/Spider-Man
Barnes had himself a day. He grabbed an interception, recorded a sack on the very next drive, added a big pass breakup, and showed up to the stadium dressed as Spider-Man with his son. What a day. That was about as good as it could have been for him. The Lions absolutely need that linebacking corps to have days like that. If Barnes can keep getting into the backfield, pulling down interceptions, and breaking up passes, that is going to be big for Detroit.
Jahmyr Gibbs
An easy pick here. Over 100 yards, 2 touchdowns, and he just looked good. This was the Lions’ first real game with Gibbs as the primary ball carrier, and he handled it with almost 30 carries for 156 yards. He didn’t look like the change-of-pace back or scat back that people thought he would be his first year. Saylors and Vaki barely played. It was all Gibbs. You would like to see the workload dialed back a little because you don’t want him running 30 carries every week. On top of that, he also had about 5 receptions for 30 yards. Coach Dan Campbell talked after the game about how Gibbs showed up in the best shape he’s ever been in, citing his MMA training. He certainly looked like it. Still, if I were the Lions, I would monitor that workload.
Tay Martin
A name I’m not saying enough. What a game on special teams. He got a tackle for loss on a punt return, added 2 other big hits on returns, and just genuinely showed up. Campbell made sure to bring up Martin in his postgame presser as one of the guys who really stood out. Here’s the thing: if Martin can figure out how to also be a productive receiver, he might be able to pass Isaac TeSlaa on the depth chart. There it is. I said it. Look, it’s probably an overreaction to Week 1, but when a guy starts showing up more and more on special teams, you start thinking about the possibilities beyond that role.
Aidan Hutchinson
Hutchinson had 2 sacks and was the top guy getting pressure all day. He showed up when it was necessary.
Rock Ya-Sin
He had some ups and downs, but his pass breakup won the game. The Lions were very close to either losing in overtime or winning in overtime, and it all came down to Ya-Sin with that breakup. Shout out to him for a big-time play.
Losers
Jameson Williams
A rough door, sure. Let’s just call it what it is. This was not indicative of what the Lions saw from him all summer. The general sense coming out of training camp was that he was going to have a breakout year. He looked stronger, more able to get contested catches. And then today, it just wasn’t that. A lot of drops, some really bad ones. At least 2 drives were killed by Williams not catching a ball. One of those killed drives allowed the Saints to score on the very next possession and stay in the game. He also had a big-time drop early that would have been a highlight-reel touchdown, plus the end-around fumble.
Now, he did make a huge catch in overtime that set Detroit up for the game-winning touchdown. Quarterback Jared Goff talked to him after the game and said he doesn’t think this will affect Williams’ confidence. That catch at the end? He needed that so bad, and it says something about a guy who has a terrible game but still makes the play when it counts.
Christian Mahogany
He fought hard all summer to win the left guard spot, and the Lions still wouldn’t name him the starter until Friday. He eventually won the job, and then he went down with an injury. Campbell said the first X-ray came back negative but that they’re not out of the woods yet, expressing concern about a possible hip injury. It’s a total wait-and-see situation, and it just stinks.
Isaac TeSlaa
He looks invisible on the stat sheet because he was barely targeted. But he was. Every time Goff was about to throw his way, something went wrong. Pressure got through, Goff took a hit, or he took a sack. The Lions intend to target TeSlaa more, and you might see that in Week 2. But you can’t have more games like this when Tay Martin is nipping at your heels.
Kelvin Sheppard and the Lions defense present a complicated picture
On paper, Detroit’s defense had a good day: 3 turnovers, 5 sacks (Hutchinson had 2, McNeill had 1, Barnes had 1, Roger McCreary had the strip sack). But you wouldn’t know it because when it counted the most, when the Lions needed their defense to be at its best, that’s when something bad happened. The absolute killer was the fourth-and-12 conversion they allowed in the fourth quarter. Stop the Saints there and you win in regulation. Then in overtime, they allowed another fourth-down conversion to Chris Olave when all they needed was one more stop.
The Lions stuck it out and won. There are things to work on. But if you’re judging Detroit based off this Week 1 game, don’t do that. We’ll see what happens by Week 5. If these problems are still around then, we can say there’s a real issue. If they’re not, we’ll just look at it the way we always have. Week 1, Lions struggle. What’s new?
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