Allen Park — Here are four observations after having a night to ponder the Detroit Lions’ 29-0 loss to the New England Patriots.
First down
It’s about this point in the season, four to five games in, where opponents start to get a clearer understanding of the nuances of a new scheme. So after the Patriots managed to shut out the Lions, a team that came into the game averaging better than 35 points, it begged the question, is the book now out on Ben Johnson’s system?
Quarterback Jared Goff doesn’t think so.
“No,” Goff said when asked if he felt the Patriots had a full read on the Lions. “It was man coverage and they just played it really well and they rushed really well. I made some dumb decisions. Kind of a combination of all that. But it wasn’t anything revolutionary over there. They just did a good job planning. It’s always hard with those guys.”
Goff’s right. It is always hard with those guys, and it brings back memories of Detroit’s last trip to New England. The Lions came to town in 2014 with a juggernaut of a defense, a unit that hadn’t allowed more than 24 points in the first 10 games, only to see the Patriots rack up 34 points and 439 yards, also a season-worst for the Lions that year.
In the locker room after that loss, safety James Ihedigbo was asked if the Patriots had cracked the code and exposed Detroit’s defense, which drew an angry response.
“What are you talking about?” Ihedigbo shot back. “No. 1 defense, what are you talking about ‘figured us out?’ What does that mean? I don’t get it.
“… We still are a great defense,” he said. “One game doesn’t change that. We just have to regroup, correct the mistakes that we made, and know what our strengths are on defense, know what we do well and just do that. When we just line up and play and do what we do well, no one can hang with us.”
And Ihedigbo was right. The Lions’ next four opponents failed to top 17 points. The New England game was largely a blip. And that’s potentially the case here, too.
Watching the game again, with a fresh set of eyes Monday morning, one can see the Lions were still moving the ball well; they just couldn’t finish drives. And, even though we’ve started to take it for granted, because of how well Johnson has adjusted, it’s worth a reminder the team was down D’Andre Swift and DJ Chark, while St. Brown was clearly not operating at 100%.
Are the Lions the best offense in the league? No, probably not. But they didn’t score a touchdown in 15 of the first 16 quarters to start this year because of dumb luck. There’s still a high level of potency with that unit and it’s reasonable to expect the offense to get back on track after the bye.
Second down
The two biggest themes coming out of the locker room Sunday afternoon is that this was rock bottom and the upcoming bye couldn’t have come at a better time.
On the surface, both sentiments make sense. While the bottom is a difficult-to-pin-down concept for the perpetually cellar-dwelling Lions, this embarrassment was the unofficial undoing of all the positive vibes the team brought into the season. While there are no moral victories, you could at least justify three close losses as a young team still figuring it out. But to get manhandled by a decent-at-best Patriots team having a rookie quarterback making his first start, it’s all too much.
The bye gives the Lions both a physical and mental break. The physical side doesn’t need to be explained, given the laundry list of injuries the team was battling coming into the game and the number of issues they added during the course of action on Sunday.
Mentally, the Lions need to hit reset, as much as possible. The coaches and players are trying to say all the right things, attempting to maintain a positive attitude with 12 games remaining, but with the way things snowballed against the Patriots, it’s similarly threatening to snowball down the stretch of the season.
At his locker, safety DeShon Elliott looked stunned. Half talking to his locker mates and half mumbling to himself, the young veteran basically was saying he’d never experienced anything like this before. No surprise, given the Baltimore Ravens posted a 43-22 record his four seasons with that franchise.
Locally, we call what Elliott is experiencing being Lionized, loosely defined as having your optimism drained by the continued failures of the franchise.
“Bro, like, 1-4 going into the bye week is horrible,” Elliott said. “That’s disgusting and (if) we want to be a great team in this league, (we’d) better be able to bounce back. So, coming out of this bye week, bro, we just got to go ahead and do what we need to do.”
But even if coach Dan Campbell is able to hold the team together, maintaining the fight they had last year when expectations were considerably lower, grander issues remain. The team still lacks talent, and coaching decisions have been further hindering the team’s chances in many weeks. The Patriots sucked the air out of the room and it’s going to be tough to get it back.
Third down
Between Jason Hanson and Matt Prater, the Lions have had the fortune of employing two of the better kickers in NFL history. But the bridge between the two tenures was a rocky road. The Lions cycled through a number of options for more than a year, even giving a European trick-shot artist a crack at the job, before Prater fell into their laps in the middle of the 2014 season.
Now, after letting Prater walk in free agency following the 2020 season, the Lions once again find themselves going through excessive tribulations trying to find the franchise’s next long-term solution at the spot.
Last year, the Lions tried out three kickers throughout the offseason program — Matthew Wright, Randy Bullock and Zane Gonzalez — but none made the final roster. The team ultimately settled on Austin Seibert, a 2019 draft pick who had been waived by the Cleveland Browns. And that looked promising for a minute, when he made 10 of 12 field goals to open the season, before a groin injury ended his year prematurely.
But again, the Lions seemed to stumble on another solid option when they plucked Riley Patterson off the Patriots’ practice squad. He didn’t possess ideal leg strength for the position, but he was reliable when called upon, making 13 of his 14 attempts down the stretch, although none from 50 yards or beyond.
That set up a good camp competition this offseason, where Seibert emerged as the clear choice, but after making Detroit’s roster, a residual issue related to the previous year’s surgery sidelined him. Now, he’s gone and the Lions are on their third kicker in as many weeks, veteran Michael Badgley. And it’s clear they have limited trust in him, opting to go for it on fourth-and-9 on Sunday instead of attempting a 50-yard field goal while down six points in the second quarter.
Admittedly, Badgley hasn’t been good from long range during his career, making just 3 of 10 from 50 and beyond. So it begs the question, why even put him on the roster? After not kicking once on Sunday, given the Lions didn’t score and punter Jack Fox handled kickoffs, it’s possible they open up the job again after the bye.
But something has to give, because no one needs to give Campbell even more reason to go for it on fourth down, given the team is on pace to smash the record for attempts in a season. Sometimes, you just need the points, and the Lions are in enough close games that you want to know you have someone reliable in those situations.
To be clear, it wasn’t wrong to let Prater go. At his age, and coming off a down year, a new deal would have been a poor investment for a team beginning a fresh rebuild. And, again, there’s no debate Seibert won the job this offseason, regardless of Patterson’s subsequent success after being claimed by Jacksonville. But finding the right guy, even if you have to invest a draft pick or meaningful cap space in free agency next offseason, is a clear priority.
Fourth down
On Friday, Campbell was asked about the matchup between his offensive tackles and the Patriots’ edge rushers. He acknowledged the importance of the battle, putting the spotlight on Matt Judon.
“I think he’s gotten better every year, and just when you think he’s a menace, he takes it up another notch,” Campbell said. “So, he’s somebody we’ve got to pay close attention to. We can’t let him wreck this game.”
Mission not accomplished.
Judon was every bit the menace Campbell thought he could be, racking up seven quarterback pressures, two sacks and forcing the fumble the Patriots scooped up and returned for a long touchdown late in the second quarter.
But Judon’s success was symptomatic of a larger issue against the Patriots — the Lions’ strengths didn’t hold up in this game.
You see, within Campbell’s answer about his tackles against the Patriots’ edge rushers, the coach said he liked the matchups. And why wouldn’t he? For as good as Judon and Deatrich Wise had been performing for the Patriots, Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell have been rocks for the Lions, the top-performing individuals on the team’s top-performing units. Yet, on this day, both failed to live up to the standard we’ve come to expect.
Together, they allowed eight quarterback pressures, while Sewell also got beat on a fourth-and-1 run stop. The Lions’ offense has been so good, despite significant injury issues, in large part because its offensive line has been so good. With Decker and Sewell giving way repeatedly against the Patriots, it contributed to multiple issues on fourth down and ultimately factored heavily into the Lions being kept off the scoreboard.
And it wasn’t just the offensive tackles. On offense, the Patriots took away T.J. Hockenson and St. Brown, reinforcing Bill Belichick’s reputation for eliminating what opponents do best.
And on the other side of the equation, two of Detroit’s early-season defensive strengths, stopping the run up the middle and the coverage of Jeff Okudah, both floundered against the Patriots, with the majority of running back Rhamondre Stevenson’s damage being done between the tackles and Okudah giving up two catches, getting beat for a third that was dropped and committing two pass-interference penalties.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers