Detroit traveled to Carolina on Sunday Night Football in a matchup that allowed for plenty of fireworks on the offensive side of the football, where the Lions lost 32-26.
The Detroit Lions made the trip to Carolina for Sunday Night Football to take on a Carolina Panthers team that has had a great passing offense to start the season. The Lions defense has been a liability all year, and the Panthers offense has been hitting on all cylinders. Meanwhile, the Panthers defense had been near the bottom of the league in rushing yards allowed, so it was expected this matchup could lead to fireworks. Instead, the Panthers shut down Jahmyr Gibbs, and even without Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette in the receiving game, Tetairoa McMillan and Bryce Young had themselves a night to lead them to a 32-26 victory.
Detroit’s defense had one stop on the Panthers’ first possession of the game, which forced a punt deep in Lions territory. Jared Goff dropped a dime to Jameson Williams on second and 10 that could have led to a big play, potentially even a long touchdown to take a 10-0 lead. Instead, Williams short-armed the pass when he had a step on the defender, and the ball was placed perfectly. It led to a gain of five on the next play and a punt back to Carolina.
After that drive, the Panthers offense left nothing on the table. Chuba Hubbard could not be stopped on the ground, Bryce Young looked like prime Drew Brees, getting the ball out in seconds and being insanely accurate, and Tetairoa McMillan looked like he was ready to set the single-game receiving yards record in the first half. The Lions tried to run man coverage most of the night, but the defense just does not have personnel to make that happen. McMillan and Young were eating up the man coverage all night long.
Kelvin Sheppard’s defense has given up the most pass yards in the league through four weeks and counting, and the clock has to be ticking on him in Detroit. Dan Campbell has let coordinators go in the past for not living up to the standard of grittiness, and even though the secondary lacks without Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, changes may have to be made.
As stated in the open, Jahmyr Gibbs did not account for much at all tonight, as the Lions offense drove the ball but settled for field goals all throughout the game. The offense cannot settle for field goals with a defense this bad, and it is what killed Detroit. When Campbell kicked the field goal on fourth and six inside the red zone, that’s when it felt like the game had ended because this defense was not going to be able to stop anything the Panthers offense threw at them.
After the missed opportunity early in the game, Jameson Williams rebounded by just about catching everything thrown his way. He had a nice catch late in the first half to set up a field goal to tie the game that he had to climb the ladder for. Isaac Teslaa also had a good long catch that set up a field goal in the second half after the Lions got caught behind the sticks on a first and 25. A couple of highlight plays on offense were not enough to make up for the absolute woeful unit that was the secondary.
The offensive line played well tonight for Detroit, allowing only one sack on the game, but the difference in holding Detroit to field goals versus touchdowns was that the Panthers defense was knocking down passes all night. They knocked down a pass on third and goal early in the game that set up a Jake Bates field goal. They knocked down another pass to set up a fourth and long that the Lions had to go for.
The defensive line for Carolina was getting their hands up all night and deflecting passes that changed the complexion of so many Detroit possessions. Drives where Detroit was moving the ball and looked like they would score touchdowns, the Panthers would deflect a pass at the line of scrimmage and completely deflate any Lions momentum. Their pass rush may not have been able to get home to Jared Goff often, but they got their hands up, and it absolutely made a difference in this game.
It really is disappointing that this Lions team has a Top-12 Quarterback in the league, an offense full of superstars, the offensive line has been playing well again, and the defensive line has been getting pressure like fans finally dreamed of, yet the secondary is so dreadful that they cannot win games like this.
With the schedule lined up for them, this should be their division for the taking, but the defense constantly holds back all the offensive talent. The Lions had Carolina in a third and 14 situation with a chance to get the ball back late in the fourth quarter, but Bryce Young rolled out to his right and hit McMillan for a big gain to keep the drive alive and keep running the clock to all but end the game.
The Lions had one more chance late in the game but took a bad sack and threw it short of the sticks on fourth down to conclude an embarrassing final drive and an embarrassing performance.
The Lions have a lot to figure out before they make Jacoby Brissett next week look like the next coming of Carson Palmer in Arizona. Marvin Harrison Jr., who has been a bust up till this point in his career, should be foaming at the mouth for the opportunity he has against this Lions secondary.
Kelvin Sheppard will have a lot to answer for, Dan Campbell will have a lot to answer for, and Brad Holmes will as well. So many questions are holding back this team from winning with the fourth-place schedule gifted to them this year. Moves must be made, and changes have to happen if the Lions want these results to be any different the rest of the year.
