The post Detroit Lions are off to a great start appeared first on Cover32.
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They’ve won seven of nine dating back to a year ago, apparently found a ground game and an up-tempo offense, and even managed to rally when it looked like hope was lost Sunday afternoon. “That stuff is sometimes overlooked but really important when you gotta try and win a game like this”.
It was a promising game, too, because Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick and Eric Ebron made such significant impact.
The talk of the off-season was how the Lions offense would perform without future Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson. If it’s a field goal that they have to get to win or a touchdown that they have to get to win. a touchdown you have to get to win, you have to work a little bit because you don’t want to help them.
The Lions went three-and-out on their next possession, then mounted back-to-back scoring drives. Stafford would throw three consecutive completions of 19, nine and 22 yards to Riddick, Ebron and Marvin Jones respectfully, before throwing an incompletion out of bounds with 8 seconds to go. Later in the game, Abdullah also showed new versatility, coming out of the backfield to catch a touchdown pass. The Colts moved the ball but Joe Reitz gave up a sack, which was followed by a pitch play to Robert Turbin on 3rd and 15 which forced the offense to punt, but when you have the best punter in the National Football League in Pat McAfee, it is not always a bad thing as the punt was a touchback. Can you imagine if they got to 1st and goal from the one but had only:07 seconds left?
“Seeing the situation we had with 37 seconds, three timeouts left, I knew we had the guys who could get it done”, said Abdullah. The Lions defense held Andrew Luck in check for much of the first half, limiting big plays and getting of the field on third down.
They were up 21-3 on Sunday as well, but the Colts rallied and took a 35-34 lead with 37 seconds to play. Luck finished 31 of 47 with 385 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, no fumbles, and nearly another incredible comeback in his first regular-season start since early November.
Only this time, Stafford got the ball last and made the plays that sent Luck home with a painful loss. After a prior penalty, Luck hit 2015 1st Round Pick Phillip Dorsett for a 51-yard gain and all of the sudden, the Colts were starting to look like the team most of us had expected all along.
No miracle play went against the Lions.
What we do know is that quarterback Andrew Luck and tight end Coby Fleener were teammates at Stanford and then for four years with the Colts. The most disturbing thing for the Lions moving forward was the lack of production from their front seven.
Once they scored however, THAT’s when you need to start looking at the clock. “It helps your passing game, keeps the wear and tear down on your quarterback and things of that nature”. Matt Prater however, would miss the extra point and the Lions lead would only be six. Matthew Stafford was superb. They tried. They could have been MUCH better with the clock, and at one point they were winning 21-3 before letting the Colts back in the game. The offensive performance was encouraging and Matthew Stafford seems to be embracing his role as the clear leader of the team.
Instead of Luck duplicating the beat-the-clock win over Detroit during his rookie season – a 35-33 win on a 14-yard TD pass to Donnie Avery as time expired – the Lions turned the tables.
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The Detroit Lions understand all of the caveats.
