Lions News

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions plucked apart by Baltimore Ravens in 38-6 wake-up call



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson can do certain things other humans can’t, and on Sunday, he did a little of everything while having his way with the Detroit Lions.

Jackson threw for a season-high 357 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score, extending countless plays with his feet and slipping a handful of sacks as the Baltimore Ravens handed the Lions their second-worst loss of the Dan Campbell era, 38-6, at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Lions, who had won four straight by double digits, remain alone in first place in the NFC North heading into next week’s Monday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders (3-4). Their only worse loss under Campbell came on Halloween in 2021, when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 44-6.


The Lions (5-2) on Sunday went three-and-out on their first three possessions, did not get a first down until early in the second quarter, scored their only touchdown on a Jahmyr Gibbs run with 13:59 left and had no answer for Jackson and the efficient Ravens’ offense.

The Ravens (5-2) scored touchdowns on their first four possessions, outgained the Lions, 503 yards to 337, and averaged more than 10 yards per play until the end of the game. Jackson finished 21 of 27 passing and added 36 yards rushing on nine carries.

Baltimore marched down the field and scored on the game’s opening drive, with Jackson completing a 46-yard pass to Zay Flowers on the third play and Jackson capping the possession with a 7-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 when he ran around left end on a designed keeper.




Jackson converted three third downs on the Ravens’ next possession, and threw his first touchdown of the game on a third-and-3 when he extended the play for nine seconds, stepping up in the pocket to avoid a pass rush, then scrambling to his right as Nelson Agholor slipped away from Brian Branch in the back of the end zone.

The Ravens led 28-0 at halftime after an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Mark Andrews and a 2-yard touchdown run by Gus Edwards. Andrews caught his second touchdown of the game on Baltimore’s first possession of the third quarter, two plays after the Lions gave up an 80-yard catch-and-run to Edwards on a coverage bust in the right flat off a play-fake. Edwards had 64 yards rushing on 14 carries.


The Ravens sacked Lions quarterback Jared Goff five times and nearly had numerous others. The Lions did not sack Jackson once.


Goff finished 33 of 53 passing for 284 yards and threw his fourth interception of the season on a heave to Jameson Williams in the second half.



Gibbs, making his second start of the season in place of the injured David Montgomery, had 68 yards rushing on 11 carries and added nine catches for 58 yards. His fourth-quarter touchdown, from 21 yards out, was the first of his career.

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 13 passes for 102 yards for the Lions, who finished 2 of 6 on fourth downs.


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Lamar Jackson’s 4 TDs power Ravens to dominant win vs. Lions: Baltimore sends message



By Jeff Zrebiec and Colton Pouncy
3h ago


Quarterback Lamar Jackson starred in the Ravens’ win over the Lions on Sunday, as Detroit routed Baltimore 38-6. Here’s what you need to know:


* Jackson went 21-of-27 passing for 357 yards and three touchdowns for a 155.8 passer rating. He added a score on the ground on Baltimore’s opening drive.

* It was Jackson’s first game with at least three TD passes and a rushing touchdown since Week 3 of last season against the New England Patriots.

* Baltimore held Detroit scoreless through the first three quarters. The Lions got on the board in the fourth via a 21-yard TD run by Jahmyr Gibbs.

* Detroit quarterback Jared Goff completed 33 of 53 passes for 284 yards with no TDs and an interception.


NFL’s ‘sleeping giant’ wakes up


Some Ravens offensive players in recent weeks had taken to describing themselves as a sleeping giant. The suggestion was that the offense had so much potential once it stopped making mistakes and started putting together something resembling a complete game. The Ravens weren’t perfect offensively in their rout of Detroit. They had their weekly fumbled exchange when they were deep in Lions territory late in the second quarter and looking to build on a 28-0 lead. But the performance was pretty close to perfect offensively and it rolled up over 500 yards against the NFL’s seventh-ranked defense coming into the game. It was clear that the “sleeping giant” has awoken. Now, the Ravens need to build off this and they’ve struggled to do that off big wins this year. — Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens senior writer


Mike Macdonald, Ravens defense shine


Mike Macdonald will be getting head-coaching buzz soon.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is considered one of the NFL’s hottest head-coaching candidates and for good reason. However, the Ravens’ young defensive coordinator Macdonald seems to be on the verge of getting some head-coaching buzz of his own. The Ravens entered the day with the NFL’s second-ranked defense and tied for the league lead in sacks.

Macdonald’s group then went out and completely overwhelmed one of the league’s hottest offenses. Detroit had just 97 yards of total offense. It didn’t have a first down until midway through the second quarter and it was a shutout until early in the fourth quarter. Macdonald’s star is on the rise. — Zrebiec


Baltimore dominates first half

Ravens coach John Harbaugh typically defers when his team wins the coin toss. On Sunday, the Ravens took the ball. It was as if Harbaugh wanted to send a message. Consider it sent. The Ravens scored touchdowns on their first four possessions. Only a botched handoff late in the second quarter prevented the damage from being worse.

The Ravens have been saying for a few weeks that they believe they are close to an offensive breakout in Todd Monken’s new system. That breakout came in the first half. — Zrebiec


Disappointment for Detroit

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the Lions. A loss to the Ravens would’ve been understandable. They’re a good team that matches up well against the Lions. But a 38-6 loss? That’s going to put a damper on Detroit’s Super Bowl parade. Truthfully, though, this wasn’t the Lions’ day. You could tell from the opening drive.

They went on to allow 503 yards of offense while mustering up just six points. They haven’t been roughed up like this since the Carolina game late last year. This might’ve been worse, considering the expectations for this team. This was a burn-the-tape game.

How the Lions handled Jackson and this Ravens offense doesn’t inspire much confidence. Jackson went off for 357 passing yards and four touchdowns overall. They couldn’t stop him. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Lions won’t face many quarterbacks as good as Jackson the rest of the way. But they had a chance to prove their defense was for real, and didn’t make much of it. — Colton Pouncy, Lions staff writer

Highlight of the game

Key stats

This was the 14th game of Jackson’s career with touchdowns via pass and rush, tied for third-most in the NFL since his first season in 2018.

It was the biggest first-half deficit the Lions have faced under coach Dan Campbell and is the largest first-half deficit overall since Week 16 of 2020 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (trailed 34-0).

[Iron Lion]

We said we'd be happy to split @KC and vsSEA, then we were promptly not happy.

We said we'd be happy to split @TB and @BAL, and we are not happy.

[chemiclord]

"Why are you bitching? You said you'd be happy if you got one great meal, and one bad meal!"

"You gave me an excellent steak dinner last week. You then shit on the plate and pissed in my cup tonight. Even if that is the letter of the deal, it sure as hell isn't in the spirit of it."

Lions fans have very good reason to not be happy about this. That performance was beyond inexcusable.

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions report card: Defense suffers major letdowns across the board against Ravens



Justin Rogers
The Detroit News



Baltimore— Justin Rogers grades the Detroit Lions' performance in their 38-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Quarterbacks

Windy conditions and pocket pressure gave Jared Goff problems in the first half, causing many of his throws to leave his hands with a wobble, adding a layer of inconsistency to an already struggling offensive attack. By the time the QB got going, the game was well out of hand. He finished without a touchdown and tossed his fourth interception of the year, while nearly throwing a second. This outing should pause any talks of being in the MVP race. Grade: D



Running backs

Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs was Detroit's best offensive option on Sunday. Returning from a two-game injury absence, the first-round pick provided 126 yards from scrimmage and scored his first touchdown of the season with a 21-yard romp around the left edge. And in a supporting role, Craig Reynolds did reasonably well despite a balky hamstring, gaining 25 yards on three carries and a reception. Grade: B



Wide receivers/tight ends

Amon-Ra St. Brown paced the Lions with a career-high 13 receptions, but the typically reliable receiver also put a couple of catchable balls on the ground. Detroit got steady contributions out of Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond and tight end Sam LaPorta, who combined to haul in 10 of 12 targets, but Jameson Williams struggled to have an impact, failing to catch any of the six balls his direction. Among those looks, he appeared to run the wrong route on one deep ball and failed to locate another. Grade: C-


Offensive line

It hardly all fell on the line, but Goff ate a season-high five sacks in the defeat, absorbing eight overall hits. Additionally, Penei Sewell got flagged for two holds, while the group was responsible for a pressure that led to an intentional grounding, ruining a field-goal opportunity late in the first half.

The ground game was better than average, helped by Halapoulivaati Vaitai returning to the lineup. Detroit's backs averaged 6.0 yards per carry, but the Lions weren't able to stick with it as the score got lopsided early in the contest. Grade: C-



Defensive line

This was the worst game of the season for Detroit's front, who failed to corral Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and allowed Baltimore's average running back tandem of Gus Edwards and Justice Hill to churn out 110 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Grade: F


Linebackers

Detroit's linebackers were uncharacteristically poor, contrasted against their season-long performance. The cracks showed up on the first drive, when Derrick Barnes wasn't deep enough on his zone drop, allowing Jackson to complete a 46-yard pass, while Jack Campbell overcommitted on a run fake, allowing Jackson to coast into the end zone on a keeper around the left edge.


The team's starting trio contributed just five solo tackles, none behind the line of scrimmage, and no pass breakups. Grade: F


Secondary

It's tough to say a late-week injury to cornerback Jerry Jacobs disrupted the flow in the secondary, but it certainly didn't help. Positioning was a major issue throughout the contest as Jackson torched the Lions with his arm, registering big gain after big gain while racking up 357 passing yards. Grade: F


Special teams

Jack Fox punted well with his opportunities, although his coverage unit let him down on one of those boots when Chase Lucas drew a 15-yard infraction for interfering with the returner's ability to field the ball. For Detroit, Raymond popped off with a 24-yard punt return, but it came late in the fourth quarter, when it hardly mattered. Beyond that, it was a quiet day for the special teams, with Riley Patterson not attempting a single field goal or extra point. Grade: F


Coaching

Let's face it, the Lions weren't prepared for this game. Coach Dan Campbell said the defensive woes were the result of poor execution, not the game plan, but when the overall failures are that poor, you are left to point to preparation. The offense wasn't any more prepared, going three-and-out multiple times before securing an initial first down. Just a total failure, across the board. Grade: F


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions grades: Straight F's for defense in epic fail against Baltimore Ravens



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



BALTIMORE — Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 38-6 loss to Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

Quarterback

This loss wasn’t on Jared Goff by any means, but he didn’t have his best game. He finished 33 of 53 passing for 284 yards and struggled throwing the ball into a strong wind going towards the east end zone. Goff threw low to Sam LaPorta on a third-and-4 play on the Lions’ second drive and floated two wobblers to Amon-Ra St. Brown in the first half. He didn’t recognize a slot cornerback blitz on the Ravens’ second sack and took an intentional grounding when he was under pressure late in the second quarter to knock the Lions out of field goal range. The Lions put Goff in a bad spot asking him to drop back nearly 60 times, but they had no choice on a day their defense had no answer for Lamar Jackson. Grade: C

Running backs

Jahmyr Gibbs had his most productive day of the season with 68 yards rushing on 11 carries and 58 yards receiving on nine catches. Most of that yardage came late with the game already decided, but Gibbs showed his elusiveness on screens and once again demonstrated the ability to handle a sizable workload. Lions coach Dan Campbell said Gibbs set up his runs well and “was one of the guys that there was some real positive things” with on the field. Craig Reynolds had just three carries and linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez got time at fullback, but the Lions’ opportunities in the run game were limited by game script. Grade: A-minus


Receivers/tight ends

St. Brown had another huge day with 13 catches for 102 yards, and it would have been even more prolific if he didn’t drop two passes (though one of the drops was nullified by an offensive holding penalty). St. Brown’s best catch was a diving grab just before halftime, but like the rest of the unit he was mostly a non-factor in the first half. Jameson Williams didn’t catch a pass on six targets. He had one deep ball bounce off his facemask in the fourth quarter, dropped another deep ball soon after, had a swing pass sail wide off his fingertips, and was the intended receiver on Goff’s interception on a fourth-down heave. LaPorta had six catches on a day the Lions played without Marvin Jones. Grade: C-minus


Offensive line

The Lions had three carries on their first three possessions, for gains of 4, 4 and 3 yards, then had to abandon the run after falling into a 28-0 hole. The few times the Lions did run the ball in the final three quarters, they generally got good blocking from Graham Glasgow and Taylor Decker. Halapoulivaati Vaitai played right guard in his return to the starting lineup and allowed a sack on the Lions’ opening series when Justin Madibuike beat him cleanly inside. Penei Sewell was called for two holding penalties on the Lions’ final drive of the first half, and Decker gave up sacks to Odafe Oweh, when he was lucky he wasn’t called for a trip, and Kyle Van Noy. Decker had a key block on Gibbs’ 21-yard touchdown run, Ragnow and Decker opened the hole on Reynolds’ 12-yard run in the second half and Glasgow and Vaitai had the key blocks on Gibbs’ long gain on a screen pass. Grade: B-minus



Defensive line

The Lions had a total defensive failure. They didn’t get enough pressure on Jackson with their four-man rush, let him slip out of their grasp the times they did, and had breakdowns in the back seven in the pass game. Aidan Hutchinson let Jackson slip away on a would-be sack two plays before Jackson’s first touchdown pass. Hutchinson also appeared to lose outside contain on one of Jackson’s four TD passes, when Jackson stepped up in the pocket then retreated and was able to roll to his right. Hutchinson did recover a fumbled exchange between Jackson and Justice Hill, but he also had a roughing-the-passer penalty for hitting Jackson low on a third-down stop. Isaiah Buggs and Alim McNeill got pushed around too easily inside — both were culprits on Hill’s 27-yard run. Buggs had a tackle-for-loss on the second drive, and Romeo Okwara and John Cominsky drew holding penalties on the Ravens. Grade: F



Linebackers

Jack Campbell played well in the first third of the season, but had a rough game Sunday. Both Campbell and John Cominsky crashed inside on a run-action fake, giving Jackson a clean edge on his 7-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening drive. Campbell also seemed to crash too hard on the run fake on Jackson’s second touchdown pass, when Mark Andrews caught a ball in the flat and beat Campbell and Derrick Barnes to the pylon. Andrews beat Campbell for a 22-yard gain on first-and-20, when Campbell didn’t get enough width to the sideline. Alex Anzalone had six tackles, but none of the linebackers had a tackle for loss, pass deflection or quarterback hit. Grade: F


Defensive backs

Running back Gus Edwards had the biggest play of the game, turning a short pass into an 80-yard gain when Tracy Walker and Barnes both followed Andrews on a drag over the middle and the Lions had no safety help behind Anzalone. Andrews beat Walker off the line of scrimmage for his second touchdown, and Walker was flagged for illegal contact on a third-and-7 incompletion that extended a Baltimore drive. Cam Sutton seemed like he was expecting safety help that was slow to come on Jackson’s 16-yard pass to Rashod Bateman one play after Walker’s penalty, and Sutton missed a tackle on Edwards’ 20-yard run. While the Ravens seemed to have their most success against the Lions’ front seven, Dan Campbell acknowledged “there was enough stuff we dropped in coverage,” too. Grade: F

Special teams

The Lions didn’t have many chances on special teams. Their first kickoff resulted in a touchback, their second was an onside kick the Ravens recovered, and Baltimore didn’t punt until late in the third quarter. Chase Lucas committed a catch interference penalty when he slid into Devin Duvernay in the first half, and Jack Fox bombed a 61-yard punt to the Baltimore 8 that resulted in a fair catch. Khalil Dorsey had a nice 19-yard return on Justin Tucker’s pop-up short kickoff. Grade: B-plus

Coaching

Dan Campbell took some of the blame for the Lions’ no-show, saying, “My job is to get (my players) ready to play and they clearly were not ready to play, which that falls on my shoulders.” The Lions didn’t sleepwalk through the game; they played with energy and until the final whistle. But they didn’t have any answers for Jackson and never found a rhythm on offensive. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn tried a variety of approaches to get Jackson off his game, but his unit played its worst game of the season. The final score might have been closer had Campbell decided to kick a field goal or two, but that would have been window dressing; he made the right decisions on the Lions’ fourth downs. Grade: D


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him@davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Dan Campbell explains why Lions' Charles Harris was healthy scratch vs. Ravens



Nolan Bianchi
The Detroit News

Baltimore — There was a surprise addition to the inactives list just hours before kickoff between the Lions and Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.

Veteran defensive end and team captain Charles Harris, who had played 58.5% of Detroit's defensive snaps entering Sunday, was a healthy scratch.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell explained the decision after the game, saying it was partially because of a roster crunch and partially because he wanted to give an opportunity to Julian Okwara, who started the season on injured reserve.

The Lions brought nine defensive linemen to last week's win over Tampa Bay, but with running back David Montgomery avoiding injured reserve after suffering a rib cartilage injury last week and Jahmyr Gibbs and Craig Reynolds dealing with nagging injuries, they carried four running backs for insurance into Sunday's game. And with Josh Paschal, who hadn't played since Week 1, coming back, the decision came down to Okwara or Harris.



"Do we bring (Okwara) or do we bring Charles? That's really where we're kind of at. We wanted to give (Okwara) a shot at it and see," Campbell said.

Campbell declined to speak on why veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. was ruled out Saturday for personal reasons, saying, "that's a personal issue there. We're all good, all good."


Okwara was placed on injured reserve just before Week 1 with an arm injury and made his season debut in Week 5's win over the Panthers. He played 15 defensive snaps in last week's win over the Buccaneers, recording two tackles and a sack. Harris, meanwhile, had seen a decrease in his workload since taking 52 defensive snaps in Week 1.

Okwara had a quiet day, but then again, so did the rest of the Lions' defense.


"Charles is a guy who puts the work in. He's one of our captains. He gets it. He was busting his (butt) in practice again," Campbell said. "He knows this isn't it for him. He can very well be up next week. That was where it was at."

Harris had a team-high 7½ sacks in the 2021 season but tallied just one a year ago while dealing with a nagging groin injury. He had 1½ sacks and generated 17 pressures through the first six games this season.



nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @nolanbianchi

[whatever_gong82]

Lions rookie Jahmyr Gibbs takes 'a step forward,' scores first career touchdown



Nolan Bianchi
The Detroit News


Baltimore — Oh, how the tables turn.

For possibly the first time this season, Lions fans are coming away from watching their team feeling dejected while Jahmyr Gibbs fantasy football owners are feeling golden.

The Lions rookie running back had a breakout game Sunday in the absence of injured rusher David Montgomery (ribs), accumulating 126 yards from scrimmage and scoring his first NFL touchdown. Gibbs was also returning from his own injury, missing games against Carolina and Tampa Bay after suffering a hamstring injury two days before the win over the Panthers on Oct. 8.


"It means a lot. I worked very hard to get here and it shows the commitment I made to this game," Gibbs said.

Entering the week, there was some speculation about how the Lions would handle the workload of its battered running back room Sunday, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell made clear Friday the team would be leaning on the No. 12 pick with Montgomery out. After the game, Campbell said he was pleased with Gibbs' performance.


"It was good having him back out there and I thought he took a step forward today," Campbell said. "I think he was one of the guys that there was some real positive things in there. I just thought he had pretty good vision, I thought he set some runs up pretty well, and there again, I felt, 'OK, he's a little better.' I just feel like the more he plays, the better he's going to get."

Gibbs rushed the ball 11 times for 68 yards and caught nine passes for 58 yards. His touchdown came early on in the fourth quarter, with the game already in hand for Baltimore. Gibbs took a pitch to the left side and found a seam, exploding through it and skipping to the end zone, untouched, for a 21-yard score.


"He's explosive. You can see it there on a couple of those runs and he did a nice job catching the ball out of the backfield," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said.

"Getting him the ball in space is something that we're aware of doing and I'm aware of doing. I thought he did a good job. I thought he protected pretty well, too."

The first solid appearance of Gibbs' career came a few weeks back during another week in which the Lions were without Montgomery, who leads the team in rushes (94), rushing yards (385) and touchdowns (six). Gibbs ran for 80 yards on 17 carries in a 20-6 win over Atlanta in Week 3.


nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @nolanbianchi

[whatever_gong82]

'No fun': Lions' 20-point streak comes crashing to an end



Nolan Bianchi
The Detroit News



Baltimore — It’s been a long time since the Lions have mustered a performance like the one they did Sunday.

You may be quick to point out the team’s 37-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Christmas Eve last season, but this was worse. In that game, which dampened Detroit’s playoff hopes, at least the Lions’ offense showed up.

Detroit’s 38-6 loss to the Ravens not only crashed a growing wave of hype surrounding the team, but it also brought to an end a 15-game streak of scoring 20 points or more, which dated back to Week 10 of last season and was the longest active streak in the NFL.


“We were putting pressure on our defense and it was no fun,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. “Hats off to them. They really got after us today and we’ve got to respond the right way."

Baltimore stifled Detroit’s offense from the opening snap. It took the Lions halfway through the second quarter to pick up a first down, at a point in the game where Baltimore was already leading 28-0.



“We got off to a slow start. You don’t convert a first down for a while, it’s hard. You just don’t complement each other,” head coach Dan Campbell said.

At halftime, the Lions trailed 28-0 on the scoreboard and 355-97 in the battle for yardage. Goff was 11-for-18 passing for 99 yards at the half.


Offensive tackle Taylor Decker elaborated on the struggle of getting behind the eight ball early.

“They’re playing with a huge lead early and that makes us kind of one-dimensional because you have to save the clock," Decker said. “We definitely could have helped our defense getting some first downs or at least give them some time to regroup on the sidelines and maybe put up some points to close that gap a little bit, and we just didn’t do it.”


The Lions scored fewer than 20 points on three occasions last season, with all of them coming during Weeks 5-9. The team’s last performance with under than 20 points came in a 15-9 win over the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 6 at Ford Field.

Detroit closely held on to the record through two 20-point games this season, including last week's win at Tampa Bay.


nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @nolanbianchi

[whatever_gong82]

Lamar Jackson, Ravens hand Detroit Lions lopsided 38-6 loss: 'We probably needed it'



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson gave the Detroit Lions their most thorough butt-kicking of the season on Sunday, and Lions coach Dan Campbell promised it’s something his team will be better for.

“Ultimately, things happen for a reason,” Campbell said. “The good Lord never gives us anything that we can’t handle, and so we probably needed it.”

Jackson threw for a season-high 357 yards and accounted for four touchdowns as the Baltimore Ravens handed the Lions their second-most lopsided loss of the Campbell era, 38-6, at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Lions (5-2) had won four straight by double-digits and entered the week tied for the best record in the NFL. On Sunday, they had no answer for Jackson or a Ravens offense that pounded them on the ground and flummoxed them through the air.



Jackson threw three touchdown passes, two to Mark Andrews, and scored on a 7-yard run as the Ravens (5-2) racked up 503 yards of offense and led, 28-0, before the Lions had a first down.

The Lions’ only worse defeat in Campbell’s 41 games as head coach came on Halloween 2021, when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 44-6.




“They just kicked our ass,” left tackle Taylor Decker said. “It is what it is, but it’s not going to change what we’re about. Obviously, we’ve got a lot to clean up. We’ll see what the film says, ultimately, but that’s not going to change the mentality of this team. It’s a 17-game season. It’s one game. You hate to have those games, but even Coach said at some point it was going to be inevitable that we were going to stumble. We could’ve stumbled in a win, but we stumbled in a loss, which is embarrassing.”

The Lions went three-and-out on their first three possessions, never found a rhythm offensively and had their worst defensive performance of the season against the game’s most unique quarterback.




Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP, sidestepped pressure and slipped sacks, extending countless plays with his feet. He threw his first touchdown pass on a play that took almost 10 seconds to develop and finished the day 21 of 27 passing.

“They kicked our ass,” Campbell said. “Lamar beat us. He hammered us with his arm. He threw the ball extremely well. He ran when he needed to, and we did not handle it well. Our energy was good, which is crazy. You come out of a game like that and you look at the score, our energy was good. But our detail and discipline, which has been so good over the last four or five weeks, was not good enough.”



Asked why the Lions needed a loss like that, Campbell said “it re-centers you, it refocuses you.”

“I don’t want it to happen,” he said. “Nobody wants it to happen. Nobody likes to look over there and watch them having a great time because they kicked our ass. Nobody thinks that’s fun, but I know that motivates me for next week, it motivates our team. So I know that you’ll do any and everything you can not to have that feeling again.”



The Ravens had 10 plays of 20 or more yards Sunday and finished with 146 yards on 27 carries a Lions defense that entered the week ranked seventh in total defense and first against the run.

Jackson marched the Ravens down the field on the game’s opening possession and scored on a 7-yard keeper on fourth-and-1, then gave Baltimore a 14-0 lead by converting three third downs, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor, on an 11-play, 68-yard scoring drive.



The Ravens had 16 first downs before the Lions picked up their first early in the second quarter, and at one point had outgained Detroit, 325 yards to 16. Before Sunday, the Lions had not allowed 100 yards rushing in a game all year.


“(Jackson) was slinging it,” Andrews said. “Man, he was on the money all day. Money Lamar. … Extending drives if he had to, but (his) ball placement was incredible.”

Jackson finished with 36 yards rushing on nine carries and Gus Edwards had 144 scrimmage yards for the Ravens, including an 80-yard catch-and-run to set up Baltimore’s fifth touchdown early in the third quarter.



Jahmyr Gibbs, making his second start of the season in place of the injured David Montgomery, had 68 yards rushing on 11 carries and added nine catches for 58 yards for the Lions. He scored the Lions’ only touchdown, the first of his career, on a 21-yard run early in the fourth quarter.



Jared Goff finished 33 of 53 passing for 284 yards with one interception and Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 13 passes for 102 yards for the Lions, who remain alone in first place atop the NFC North heading into next week’s Monday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“It’s here, it happened, it’ll motivate us moving forward,” Campbell said. “The shame would be if we don’t use this to get better for next week and it bleeds over into the Raiders. That would be the ultimate shame.”


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions’ blowout loss to Ravens was unexpected. Now let’s see how Detroit responds



By Colton Pouncy
57m ago


BALTIMORE — There are off days, there are bad days and then there’s whatever that was from the Detroit Lions.

“They kicked our ass,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after his team’s 38-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. “It’s a credit to them.”


A fairly accurate depiction of events from Campbell, but one that wasn’t expected coming into this contest. The Lions (5-2) were riding high off a four-game winning streak. They’d won all four by double digits, taking care of business. The Lions had a chance to get off to their best start since 1956 with a win Sunday. Take down the Ravens on the road and every sports talk show would have been calling Detroit a Super Bowl contender come Monday morning. It would’ve left little room on the bandwagon.

After this game, though, there might be more space.


Lions fans hoped their team had graduated from the school of hard knocks. That they took their lumps and were no longer prone to blowouts like this. You can’t win ’em all, but you can compete. The Lions have done that in most of their games since the start of last season, even when they were still learning how to win. And with the heightened expectations of a team that was tied for the best record in the NFL, it’s completely fair to want more than the Lions showed versus the Ravens.

They’ve earned the right to be criticized like a contender. Efforts like the one we saw Sunday are fair game.

This one, by and large, was over before it started. Baltimore won the toss and elected to receive — a surprise decision to some, but one that ultimately set the tone for how this game would go. A seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 46-yard completion and a QB keeper that fooled the entire defense, gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead.

It was all they needed the way their defense played. But they got so much more.


The Lions, in the Campbell-Aaron Glenn era, have not handled mobile quarterbacks particularly well. Their pass rush is good, not great, and certainly not elite. You make do with what you have, but it shows in games like this, against quarterbacks like that. Lamar Jackson is the sport’s premier dual-threat quarterback. He’s able to escape pressure and create when things break down around him. Because of this threat, the Lions — who ranked 10th in the league in zone coverage rate entering Week 7, per TruMedia — opted to play more man coverage than they have this year. It led to some issues, as you could probably deduce from your couch.

Jackson shredded this defense. He was 21-of-27 for 357 yards and three touchdowns through the air, and added 36 yards and another touchdown on the ground. His passer rating was 155.8. The Lions failed to record a sack and registered only one QB hit. The Ravens recorded 503 yards of offense, 9.1 yards per play and were 5-of-6 in the red zone.


Pop quiz: What happens when you play undisciplined man defense, against one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in football, with a pass rush that fails to generate consistent pressure?

Answer: You get sliced and diced to the tune of 38 points allowed on the road.


“We knew we were going to need to challenge (in) coverage,” Campbell said. “Played man and we just — the combination of not getting very much pressure and then having to cover a long time, we didn’t handle it well.”

“It’s hard to execute against a team like that,” linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “(When) you have a player like that, it makes it really hard. That’s what happens when you don’t execute, you’re not on top of all your P’s and Q’s, is they put up 500 yards and that many points.”

The Lions had been playing complementary football of late. There was more of that on Sunday, just not the type of complementary football you wanted to see. Down 7-0 to start the game, the Lions’ offense took the field. What ensued was, uh, odd. They started linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez at fullback. Quarterback Jared Goff was sacked for a 12-yard loss on third down, then fumbled. Penei Sewell recovered it with one hand and advanced the ball 9 yards — still short of the marker.

It was Detroit’s third-longest play of the first half, if that tells you what kind of day this was for the offense.


That 7-0 deficit stretched to 14-0, then 21-0, then 28-0 at the half, then 35-0. The Lions had possession nine times in this game. They punted four times, turned the ball over on downs twice and another via an interception, then ran out the clock to end the game. A fourth-quarter Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown — the first of his career — prevented a shutout and provided a bit of a bright spot, but the damage was already done. The Ravens added a field goal for good measure. Not that they needed it.


Goff was sacked five times and fumbled twice (the Lions, somehow, recovered both). They had few answers for Baltimore’s pass rush, which was tied for the league lead in sacks and only added to that total Sunday. Trailing early, the Lions abandoned the run in the first half and tried to air it out to move the chains, doing so with little success. Goff was uncharacteristically inaccurate, looking out of sync throughout the day and failing to convert when it mattered. This was a struggle from start to finish.

“We didn’t do much to help ourselves out in those first few drives,” Goff said. “We couldn’t get a first down. … We were putting pressure on our defense. It was no fun. Hats off to them. They really got after us today, and we’ve got to respond right away.”



No player wants to be in this position, left head-scratching after an out-of-character effort, but it helps that the Lions have been here before, as contenders, in their own ways. Goff brought up a game from 2018. Quarterbacking the Rams at the time, Los Angeles headed to Chicago to take on the Bears. It wasn’t a blowout — a 15-6 loss — but it sure felt like one to Goff after the Rams’ offense failed to get it going, much like the Lions’ offense on Sunday. It left a sour taste in the mouths of many. The Rams would go on to win four of their next five contests, before a loss in the Super Bowl.

Anzalone recalled giving up 48 points to the Buccaneers in Week 1 of the 2018 season, when he was with the Saints. Ryan Fitzpatrick carved them up for 417 yards and four touchdowns. New Orleans regrouped and went on to win 10 in a row. Anzalone’s Saints lost to Goff’s Rams in the NFC Championship Game that season.


And even this group, to some extent, has gotten up when smacked around. Sunday’s loss to the Ravens was somewhat reminiscent of what happened on Christmas Eve last year, when the Lions lost a crucial game to the Panthers on the road. Their playoff hopes diminished that day. The Lions could’ve let it carry over into the next week against the Bears, and the week after against the Packers. Instead, they won both — setting the tone for this season as the NFC North favorites.

“I mean, think about it,” Anzalone said. “The past few years, we’ve dealt with so much. I don’t know what the outside noise is saying, obviously, but I know that we never buy the hype, we never buy the low. We know who we are.”


Ultimately, we’re still learning who these Lions are. Each week provides a new piece of the puzzle. It’s why they play 17 games and not six. This team’s next chance to show who it is will come in front of a national audience on “Monday Night Football,” when the Lions take on the Las Vegas Raiders (3-4).

If this is the team they say they are, expect better days.



Colton Pouncy is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered Michigan State football and basketball for the company, and covered sports for The Tennessean in Nashville prior to joining The Athletic. Follow Colton on Twitter @colton_pouncy

[Iron Lion]

"Why are you bitching? You said you'd be happy if you got one great meal, and one bad meal!"

"You gave me an excellent steak dinner last week. You then shit on the plate and pissed in my cup tonight. Even if that is the letter of the deal, it sure as hell isn't in the spirit of it."

Lions fans have very good reason to not be happy about this. That performance was beyond inexcusable.

I understand your point but I was merely referring to the win/loss column.

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

[ghandi]

We said we'd be happy to split @KC and vsSEA, then we were promptly not happy.

We said we'd be happy to split @TB and @BAL, and we are not happy.

I think it has more to do with the way the loss occurred, at least the Ravens loss......IF it felt like the team competed with the Ravens, and the Ravens got a lucky break like they did last year, then that is easier to swallow than being completely crushed and dominated.