How did you spend your Sunday night? No matter what your answer, aside from being in a hospital with a loved one, I’m betting you had a better time than I did.
I spent my Sunday night rewatching the Detroit Lions preseason opener. Twice.
Here’s what the masochist in me witnessed upon further review of the ugly 31-3 loss to the Patriots.
Tyrell Crosby could not handle quickness
From a Patriots point of view, the defensive standout was rookie edge rusher Chase Winovich. The hirsute Michigan man feasted on Lions RT Tyrell Crosby.
I had Crosby on the hook for three sacks, and another could be split between him and QB Tom Savage. Left side, right side, no matter where Crosby played he got consistently beaten by Winovich — and other Patriots — on the very first step. Crosby could not match the quickness off the snap and didn’t show the strength or footwork to recover and prevent the pass rush from getting home to the QB.
This play, captured by Dov Kleiman and handily featuring a slow-motion replay, was indicative of how quickly Crosby gave up the edge to a quick first step:
Crosby has to either get a wider set or move his feet quicker to force Winovich (and other rushers) to have a longer path. He’s too narrow and upright. Jamie Collins roasted Crosby (playing LT) for a sack on the Lions’ second drive almost exactly the same way. This has been an issue in practice sessions, too. It’s correctable, but it must get fixed promptly.
Ty Johnson looks like a playmaker
Not everything was negative, believe it or not. One of the biggest bright spots was the play of rookie RB Ty Johnson.
Specifically, Johnson’s two runs which gained over 10 yards (one was wiped out by a Kenny Wiggins hold on the play where Jermaine Kearse was injured) showed why the fifth-rounder from Maryland should be an upgrade from Theo Riddick in the overall offense.
His acceleration to get the edge was evident. And he didn’t dance or try to get cute with his runs, something which has plagued “speed” backs Ameer Abdullah and Riddick in recent years.
Johnson has the feet to make the first defender miss and the speed to rack up yards before the cavalry arrives. It was a very promising debut for the RB.
The scheming for success was minimal
If the game plan were flavors of ice cream, the Lions opted for the generic vanilla with no toppings. Particularly on defense, coach Matt Patricia kept things basic and did not show off many of the tricks, gimmicks, odd alignments or multiple attack angles that the team has consistently shown in Allen Park in practices.
The Patriots were more like rocky road. New England coach Bill Belichick dialed up some A-gap blitzes and stunts with his defense. They were more complex in their route combinations on offense, too.
Patricia played this game straight. Either he didn’t want to show anything to Belichick or the rest of the league, or he was just trying to get through a game without playing almost any key starters; 14 starters out of 22 did not play a single snap, and on offense the most snaps from any starter were 14 from Graham Glasgow and Kenny Wiggins. Based on what we’ve seen in practices, I would guess it’s the latter.
Passing defense awareness stank
The Patriots first scoring drive featured three separate passes where the Lions defender on the play was in decent position to make a play but failed to recognize the throw. That includes the TD pass to Maurice Harris over Amani Oruwariye:
The Lions rookie CB is in position to make a play on the ball here. It’s a good throw, but Oruwariye had a shot to get a hand up or try and dislodge it once Harris got his hands on it. It’s a lack of awareness of the ball.
Mike Ford and Jalen Reeves-Mabin also got beaten in similar fashion on the same drive. I saw two other instances in the game, including another by Oruwariye, where Lions defenders had trouble recognizing the ball in the air while in the vicinity to make a play.
It sounds simple, but the simple act of the line and players on the sideline yelling “ball” could help here. It would be better if that weren’t needed, of course, but maybe the Lions should practice the middle-school coaching tactic.
