If their offensive line plays like it did on the first series Friday, the Detroit Lions offense will be tough to defend this fall.
The Lions’ starting line lived up to its preseason hype in its lone series in Friday’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons. Jared Goff led a 10-play, 79-yard touchdown drive, but it was the running game — behind the blocking of Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Penei Sewell — that moved the chains.
After Sewell couldn’t quite get out to a second-level block on D’Andre Swift’s first carry of the game, the Lions had 31 yards rushing on their next five attempts. Jamaal Williams ran for 3 yards on a third-and-1 and 9 yards on a second-and-10, Swift had a 7-yard run on first down and scored on a 9-yard scamper, and the run game set up Goff’s biggest pass play, a 20-yard catch-and-run by Amon-Ra St. Brown off a run fake.
It was only one series, and it came against one of the three worst teams in the NFL, but after decades of struggling to run the ball — and considering the massive investment the Lions have made in their offensive line the past few years — it was reassuring to see.
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The Lions finished 19th in the league in rushing last season, but new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson lamented their inefficiency, particularly in the red zone, earlier this spring.
With three first-round picks on their line in Decker, Ragnow and Sewell and two proven vets at guard, the Lions are counting on the unit to be the engine of the offense this fall.
If all five starters play next week against the Indianapolis Colts, the line should get a better gauge of where it stands heading into the regular season. If not, they look ready based on Friday’s limited action.
Lions preseason observations
• I know it’s one game and no real game-planning went into stopping the Falcons, but it’s OK to be concerned about the Lions’ ability to stop a rushing quarterback based on Friday’s performance.
Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota had three carries for 23 yards and a touchdown on his lone series, and backup Desmond Ridder added 39 yards on two scrambles in the first half. The Falcons flummoxed the Lions’ first-team defense with a couple designed bootlegs.
The Lions don’t play any great quarterbacks early in the season, but they do face mobile Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who ran for 784 yards in 15 starts last season, in Week 1.
• The best news to come from Friday: The Lions did not appear to suffer any major injuries among their starting unit. Will Harris started at cornerback over Jeff Okudah and left after one play with a right hand injury, but he returned for the next defensive series with tape on one of his fingers.
• Okudah, playing his first game in 334 days; since rupturing his Achilles in last year’s regular season opener, took a knee at the 15-yard line and said a prayer as he ran onto the field before the playing of the national anthem.
Okudah, the star-crossed No. 3 pick of the 2019 draft, made a couple tackles in run support but still has some rust to shake off in pass coverage. Okudah played a couple series in the first half and got beat on a third-and-8 play at the 18-yard line when he appeared a slow to react to a stutter-step off the line by former Lions receiver KhaDarel Hodge.
I wouldn’t read too much into Okudah’s performance Friday. He’s coming off a long layoff and Achilles injuries are tough to overcome. More than anything, he needs reps right now so the Lions can determine what he has to offer this season.
• Aidan Hutchinson, the other player atop my five-to-watch list, made a nifty tackle-for-loss on the Lions’ second defensive play. Hutchinson beat left tackle Jake Matthews cleanly with an inside swim move and stopped Qadree Ollison in his tracks.
• Malcolm Rodriguez made a quick and favorable first impression, too, delivering a big tackle on the Lions’ first kickoff. Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes got the start at linebacker, with the Lions giving Alex Anzalone the night off.
Barnes remains a major work in progress. He tried to sneak inside a blocker on Ollison’s 18-yard first quarter run, but instead left a gaping hole for the Falcons’ second-string back to run through.
• Elsewhere at linebacker, Jarrad Davis had a mixed first half. Davis had two tackles, a pass breakup and a pressure to force an incompletion in the first half, but he also was called with a roughing-the-quarterback penalty that nullified Mark Gilbert’s interception. The penalty was ticky-tack, but Davis made contact with Ridder after he threw the pass.
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• Tim Boyle had a mixed night as well playing as Goff’s backup. Boyle was 8 of 14 for 109 yards in about a quarter of work. He dug the Lions out of a third-and-12 with a 45-yard bomb to Kalif Raymond down the sideline, but he also missed an open Trinity Benson on the first play of second series, airmailing the receiver off a run fake, and was late on another pass to Raymond over middle late in the first half when Raymond had a big cushion on his defender.
Boyle, who has alternated second-team reps with David Blough all training camp, stayed on the field to start the third quarter. If the Lions stay true to form, Blough will play ahead of Boyle next week against the Colts.
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• Austin Seibert remains the leader in the Lions’ kicking competition. Seibert got first crack at the job Friday, made both his extra points in the first half and drilled a 46-yard field goal.
• And lastly, shout out to the Ford Field D.J. for playing Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” during a break in the action late in the second quarter. Hutchinson, who sang the song at the Lions’ rookie talent show (as captured on “Hard Knocks”) shook his hips to the song on the sideline as he talked with Alim McNeill.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.