Team Grades: Lions Miscues Costly Against Panthers
By Chris Morgan
The Detroit Lions' performance in week one may have made fans quite excited, but one would imagine their hopes and spirits took a hit in week two. The Lions went on the road to visit the Carolina Panthers, and their offense which was potent last week was held in check, as the Lions were soundly beat by a score of 24-7. However, in truth, the Lions' problem was not general stagnation on offense, but some key miscues by their offense and their special teams. Here are the grades for the Lions after this thorough defeat at the hands of the Panthers
Offense: Detroit's success is expected to be built on offense, so this outing is concerning. Granted, the Lions were dealing with a lack of depth at right tackle, but the Panthers were also without their best pass rusher in Greg Hardy. Still, the Lions gave up four sacks, which is not good to say the least.
As expected, the Lions couldn't really run the ball, with Joique Bell's 36 yards on 10 carries leading the way. Bell did add six catches for 61 yards, but he also lost a fumble. Reggie Bush was an afterthought, but Calvin Johnson did manage 83 yards on six catches, and Eric Ebron made his first career catch. Overall, a disappointing performance, even against a very good defense on the road. Grade: C+
Quarterback: Matthew Stafford was the real star of Detroit's season opening win, but against a better defense, on the road, he came back to reality a bit. Stafford went 27-for-48 for 291 yards, one touchdown to Jed Collins, and one interception, which led to a touchdown for the Panthers.
Stafford is still the key to this offense, and he didn't necessarily play bad, but he didn't play good either. He has all these weapons, after all, but you can't really blame him for this loss, and one interception isn't a huge issue when you throw the ball so much. Grade: B-
Special Teams: Special teams gets overlooked sometimes in the NFL, but it won't be by Lions fans after this game. Rookie kicker Nate Freese raised a ton of issues, and the hackles of Lions fans, by going 0-for-2 on field goal attempts. He has now missed three field goal attempts in two games. Jason Hanson is still missed. The usually reliable Jeremy Ross loss a fumble, which the Panthers turned into a field goal. At least Sam Martin's performance was unobjectionable. Grade: D+
Defense: This is the one aspect of the game where the Lions found anything approaching success. Sure, they gave up 24 points, but their teammates were giving the Panthers short fields, and three of Carolina's points came on a 53-yard field goal, far from a given.
The Lions didn't get any turnovers, but they were in the Carolina backfield all day. They sacked Cam Newton four times, with C.J. Mosley getting two sacks, and they had seven more quarterback hits. They also had a whopping 11 tackles for loss. With a little more help from the offense, this performance could have gotten the Lions a big win on the road. Alas, it was not meant to be. Grade: B
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Chris Morgan has been a diehard Detroit Lions fan through the good (Barry Sanders) and the bad (Matt Millen) and that love has led him to take jobs writing about sports, including as a fantasy sports "expert." His work can be found on Examiner.com. .
