Detroit — The Detroit Lions’ offense performed much better against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday than it did a year ago.
But the defense? That was pretty reminiscent of last season’s 44-6 loss.
The Lions on Sunday gave up 455 yards of offense in what ended up a 38-35 defeat at Ford Field. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was 18-for-32 passing for 243 yards with 90 rushing yards, A.J. Brown caught 10 passes for 155 yards in his Eagles debut and Miles Sanders ran for 96 yards and a touchdown.
“We struggled with their quarterback. Hurts hurt us. So, he’s a good player, but we got to be able to respond to those things,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said.
More than anything, though, the Lions’ defense struggled with third down. Hurts’ ability to extend drives with third-down scrambles and completions was a major sticking point as the game went on. The Eagles went 10-for-17 on third down — but started the game 8-for-12 — and gained a whopping 151 yards on third-down plays for an average of 8.89 yards.
“It was more of the pass, drop back, scramble situations that we weren’t able to contain (Hurts),” linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “Obviously, that was a focus and point of emphasis this week, so we’ve just got to figure out how to be disciplined in our rush lanes and where the help is in coverage situations, and get it cleaned up.”
It was no surprise, then, when Philadelphia converted on a third-and-two on its own half of the field to seal the win.
The Eagles faced the third-and-two with 2:21 to go. If the Lions got a stop, they would have had a full two minutes to tie or win the game. And as Sanders reached the line of scrimmage, it looked like the Lions got what they wished for — until it didn’t. Sanders emerged from a wall of bodies to rip off 24 yards and give the Eagles a chance to take a knee with just one more first down, which they eventually got on a quarterback sneak from Hurts.
“We gotta make our layups,” Anzalone said about the third-down hiccups. “We have an opportunity to take a quarterback down and pressure in those situations. That’s what really hurt us. It’s pass rush and coverage married together, and we just gotta make our layups.”
Outside of the struggles on third down, the Lions were really put to work by Brown, who was targeted on 13 of Hurts’ 32 passes. Philadelphia acquired Brown from the Tennessee Titans this past offseason and extended him on a four-year, $100 million deal, which, as Lions quarterback Jeff Okudah pointed out, would indicate that he would have a high target share.
Lions safety Tracy Walker added, “Honestly, he just made a lot of catches and a lot of good plays. Jalen Hurts, shoutout to him for putting the ball in good spots and his receiver A.J. Brown making good catches,” he said.
“So, sometimes you can have great coverage and at the end of the day, the quarterback and receiver make a better throw and catch. You’ve got to get better from it.”
Twitter: @nolanbianchi
nbianchi@detroitnews.com