That wasn’t it. He had more big plays in the second half and finished the game with five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
The David Montgomery show
There was some thought that maybe Jahmyr Gibbs would get the ball a lot more than David Montgomery this year, that is not the case. The Lions are still all in on Montgomery and it showed right away. He had 8 carries for 33 yards in the first quarter alone. He killed it in overtime and punched in the game winning touchdown. Montgomery finished with 91 yards and a tochdown.
Anzalone just wants to hit people
What a game for Alex Anzalone. He started the game off with a big tackle for a loss that really popped the crowd and then added two more TFL’s as the night went on. He was just all over the place and he made a big impact. Of all the players that were on the field Sunday night, it felt like Anzalone was the guy that just couldn’t wait to hit someone the most. He had 13 total tackles and the three TFL’s.
That back surgery is no joke, but he’s doing it
I had the same back surgery that Levi Onwuzurkie had a few years back and I can tell you that it took some time to get back to where I could get in the gym and be normal again. I’m, of course, not an athlete, but it still took some time for Onwuzurkie to get to this point and I can see why.
He got a chance to start this game and he played fairly well. Even got in a sack.
Bend but don’t break in the first half
The Rams employed some no huddle in this game and the Lions struggled with it early on, but they still managed to hold the Rams out of the end zone in the first half. That included holding them to a field goal, forcing a turnover on downs and picking off a pass in the end zone.
Defensive line struggles against patchwork offensive line
The Rams came into this game without both starting tackles and then continued to lose linemen as the game went on. Still, the Lions had a ton of trouble getting to Stafford and he burnt them a few times and the team gave up the lead. The Lions should have dominated here, but they didn’t. Hopefully this is just a one off.
Marcus Davenport might wind up being a problem for offenses
The big thing I’ve tried to get across this offseason is that having injury issues doesn’t mean you’re a bad player. Davenport might be the king of that. When healthy he is a problem and you could see that on Sunday night. He got in pressures and a sack. While everyone struggle a bit, he seemed to be the one guy in Stafford’s face a lot.
Lions need to work on bad penalties
The Lions really helped the Rams out multiple times on Sunday. They had a big roughing the passer that helped the Rams and then two pass interference calls on Terrion Arnold in the end zone. Both of those set up scores. It’s early in the season, so there’s some leeway to give now, but that has to be cleaned up sooner than later.