The Colts would have one more chance on a kickoff return, but their attempt at a miracle lateral play yielding only an illegal forward pass in the endzone, which scored a safety for the Lions and made the final score 39-35. That’s why, when the Lions got off to a 21-3 start, questions were asked. We’ll take the brunt of that one. Overall there were some positives and negatives to take away from the first game of the 2016 National Football League season. DeAndre Hopkins added 54 yards and a score and running back Lamar Miller had 106 yards rushing in his first game with the Texans. Instead of going for the PAT, Chuck Pagano kept his offense on the field where Luck found Dwayne Allen to make the score 21-17, it was a one possession game in Indianapolis when the score was once 21-3. The score would then be tied for the first time since 0-0, with a 28-28 tie.
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Sunday was different. Anyone who has watched the Lions and Matthew Stafford over the years saw it. Luck and the Colts made the most of their opportunity, driving the length of the field and scoring on a six-yard touchdown pass from Luck to Doyle, Doyle’s second touchdown of the game.
Riddick caught a check-down for 19 yards in the middle of the field, then Stafford found Eric Ebron for 9 yards and Marvin Jones for 22 to move the Lions into field-goal range.
Chicago’s Jay Cutler threw for 216 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but was also sacked five times and hurried several others on a day when linebackers Whitney Mercilus and 2014 top overall pick Jadeveon Clowney led the pass rush. Riddick had one recieving and one rushing, Abdullah one recieving and Washington one rushing.
Matthew Stafford is the leader of the Lions. “When you miss like that, the second one can be hard”.
They all played like (bleep) in the first half. For the game, he had 385 yards and four touchdowns, but for the Colts to compete, they need that running game early and often.
No miracle play went against the Lions. The Lions outlasted the Colts. One bright spot for the Lions was defensive lineman Kerry Hyder. He outplayed Colts, quarterback Andrew Luck on his own turf. Unfamiliarity and a lack of talent are a brutal combination and that’s why so many Lions receiver were running free. “They gave us a lot of problems in those areas, I think things that we have to improve upon”. However as mentioned above punter Sam Martin had a fantastic day punting the football as he averaged 58.8 yards per punt with a net average of 55.5 yards, both were team records. And what about the inability to get off the field on defense when it’s needed most? The reason this grade isn’t an A is because kicker Matt Prater missed an extra point attempt that nearly lost the game for the Lions. “Not much freelancing by too many people”. Of the first 13 games in Week 1, four were decided by a single point, and 10 by a touchdown or less, so almost everyone on any side was tortured by the question of how best to use the clock.
THEY SAID IT: Stafford on his confidence in Prater: “No sweat”.
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“I’m not certain of all the details and what went wrong on the extra point, but often times you see a guy like that when it happens to him and the second one is even more hard”. Detroit had a hard season of its own, and now QB Matthew Stafford and the Lions look to recover from the retirement of Calvin Megatron Johnson as they look to contend in the NFC in 2016.
