Detroit Lions Week 1 takeaways: A wild win answered some questions and created a few more
Detroit escaped with a 31-30 overtime win, but the final score only begins to explain a game filled with encouraging signs, ugly mistakes and one bizarre review.
The Detroit Lions opened up their 2026 season with a very up-and-down game against the New Orleans Saints. Still, they found a way to win 31-30 in overtime. Now, I encourage everyone to breathe.
The Lions got ugly at all the wrong times
Detroit mostly dominated this game and came out swinging in the third quarter to go up 21-7. From there, they allowed the Saints right back into the game, got themselves into a position where they allowed them to flat-out tie it up, then the Lions had the Saints backed up on fourth down with a chance to end the game twice and just couldn’t do it. Still, when it all came down to it, the Lions found a way to win by stopping the Saints’ two-point conversion attempt in overtime. Must look better in Week 2.
Goff Report
A solid day for Goff, but it felt like some of the drops might make it look worse on paper. There also seemed to be this weird correlation between targeting Isaac TeSlaa and getting punched in the face by pressure at that exact moment. So it didn’t look like the best day for TeSlaa because of that. Goff finished the day going 26-39 for 206 yards and two touchdowns.
Cut all that “Goff is a statue” stuff out
You always hear about how Goff just folds when there’s a ton of pressure, and then he does stuff like this. Is he going to take off for a 20-yard scamper? No. Is he an instant sack? Also no. This was very impressive.
A rough day for Jamo
The first half was definitely not the start to the season that Jameson Williams was looking for. He dropped a sure touchdown on what would have been a big explosive and then dropped another pass on what would have been a first down. Some think it was a PBU, but I didn’t see the defender get his hand in there. Then he dropped the ball on an end-around, and the Lions lost yardage on the drive and ultimately punted. In the third quarter, he had a sure first down and dropped the pass there. We’ll see how big of a thing this winds up being as the year goes on, but Williams did take a lot of pride in working on this stuff during the offseason, and from what we saw this summer, it looked like it was in his rearview.
Pass rush showed up
It wasn’t just Hutchinson, although he did have two of the Lions’ four sacks. They also got a strip sack from Roger McCreary, Alim McNeill got one, and Derrick Barnes got one as well. This was an impressive showing from the pass rush. We’ll see what they’re able to do against Josh Allen and the Bills in just a few days.
Fixing the Lions’ biggest problem last year
If there’s one thing the Lions wanted to be good at last year and struggled at it, it was turnovers. The Lions brought them on Sunday. Barnes got a pick, Chuck Clark got a pick, and McCreary forced that fumble. This is a pace the Lions need to make sure they keep up.
Run game woes?
That first drive was rough on the Lions’ run game, so I wrote “run game woes?” in my notes since I was a tiny bit concerned that the Lions’ defensive line had kind of beaten up on Gibbs and the run game in training camp, and there’s no Isiah Pacheco. But then Gibbs ran for 67 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and I just went ahead and put a line through that one. He finished the day with 156 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns. He added 30 yards through the air as well.
Guys, Tay Martin is really good
Martin absolutely killed it on special teams on Sunday, and you probably won’t hear a whole lot about it, but he absolutely showed up. The biggest one was on a punt in the second quarter when he made it downfield as a gunner and hit the Saints’ return man for a two-yard loss. This is exactly why he made the 53-man roster. He just makes plays on special teams.
Everybody gets one. Tell him, Barnes
Barnes showed up at Ford Field dressed as Spider-Man on Sunday, if this joke doesn’t totally land with you. On the very next drive, Barnes had a sack as well. A good day for your friendly neighborhood linebacker.
Review controversy?
Going to have to wonder how much this one gets talked about. In the second quarter, Goff was sacked from behind by Chase Young, and he seemed to have fumbled, and the Saints scored off the recovery. The review shows Goff’s arm moving forward in the throwing motion, but the ball goes backwards. It’s an interesting thing. Ultimately, the Lions caught the break because the touchdown was wiped out, but plenty are going to be thinking about it as a backwards pass.
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