Only the Lions’ opening drive offered any sort of bright spot, as they drove swiftly down the field before Matt Prater struck a 35-yard field goal to put them 3-0 up. The Lions rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat Atlanta in London in 2014 and they’re using that performance as a source of motivation when they face Kansas City Sunday morning (KPTV-12 (Fox), 6:30 a.m. PT/9:30 a.m. ET). Historically, these teams have faced off on 12 occasions and the Chiefs now lead the series 7-5.
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Even on special teams, where Cairo Santos knocked through another field-goal Sunday, Knile Davis kept giving the Chiefs solid field position on kickoff returns, and De’Anthony Thomas – who had one of those four TD runs – had a couple of electrifying punt returns. This is obviously to be expected as Charles is one of the most uniquely talented running backs in the league.
Moore appropriately laughed when asked if this is the good time for the Lions to have a bye week.
Smith stood tall with a blitzing linebacker coming right down upon him and delivered the ball across the middle to Kelce, and while most eyes went to Kelce and the moves he made as he fought towards the end zone, Smith took a vicious shot from the linebacker as he feet left the ground and he was taken to the ground. But after being down 31-3, it was evident the Lions were going to lose the London show this time. Two of them resulted in sacks. “Everybody’s involved in what has happened thus far this season, especially myself”, Mayhew said, according to the Detroit Free Press. But with limited preparation time made more hard by a 7-hour flight to London, the biggest change the Lions might experience is a more simplified blocking scheme. It was obvious that Detroit’s anemic offensive attack has been underutilized in comparison to previous years.
How will Jim Bob Cooter change the offense? Cooter has been an offensive assistant since the 2009 where he started with the Colts.
After giving up seven sacks and 13 hits in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings last week, the Lions’ protection issues reared their ugly head for a second consecutive week, allowing six sacks and eights hits on Stafford Sunday. Calvin Johnson has been playing very well and has proved that age is just a number. We’re playing against good players. Detroit did at least finish the quarter driving, but they were 40 yards away from the end zone and then an incomplete pass and a sack ended that drive.
Houston was able to catch a Ron Parker deflection for an interception, and Hali was the one to force Sean Smith’s interception.
“As a team, we have a lot to improve on, that’s obvious”, said Stafford, who finished 22 of 36 for 217 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions; most of that production came in fourth-quarter garbage time. With the incredibly aggressive front seven, Matthew Stafford could be in for a long day. Guys aren’t making enough plays. If the Motor City Kitties were hoping for immediate dividends against the Chiefs, they were disappointed. I go back there, every snap is different and we got into a tough situation today.
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There was little obvious immediate impact from the coaching changes, with the offensive line continuing to crumble all too often.
