Last week, I was pleased that the Lions beat the bears because the next week playing against the Ravens at Baltimore, we would only be 1-2 and not 0-3 during Monday Night Football. After the Packers game, I did not know what to believe, the offensive red zone was not impressive, not a defensive pass rush, run game was not there, but all that changed after Monday Nights game. The Lion's offense ran for over 250 yards total, 7 sacks, and were 5-5 in the redzone. It was everything we needed to show that the Lions are the real deal and can win a tough away game with special players on the other team.
Watching the first 2 games, I was very confused why David Montgomery was not getting the reps he deserved. Last year he was the first down guy who got the carries and he usually got at least 3 yards to start off the drive which is also huge to start on offense. So far this season, they used Gibbs for most plays in all of the possessions to start the games. Against the Ravens, they began to use David Montgomery, and he showed why he should be getting more reps. 100+ yards, and one carry for 70 yards until he got caught in the 10 yard line. He did amazing, I hope it will become more of a duo again and it would be a threat of speed and power to drive down the field especially in the redzone throughout the season.
The Lions live and die off of the man to man defense. It is tough to expect a defensive coordinator to stop a receiver from getting open with all the open room on the field. Against the Ravens, the Lion's defensive coordinator did an amazing job with the blitz packages, man defensive set up, and even a start of using zone defense to confuse the offense, it was amazing to see, if with the Lions giving up 30 points. Especially against the Ravens, Lamar Jackson does not get sacked, he finds a way to get out of the pass pressure and either get a gain of 15 yards and find a receiver open eventually. In this game, he did not get that many opportunities, with the defense able to close up the pocket and had him nowhere to go. This is the type of defense we needed against the Commanders in the playoffs, and we could have won that game.
4th and 2, ball on our own 47 yard line, up 7, 2 minutes left of the game. Commercial break is on and all the fans are wondering, "Are we going to see the punt team out there? Or the offense?" And if you have been watching the Detroit Lions and Dan Campbell the last couple of years, you already knew what the answer was... Jared Goff and the rest of the offense was on the ball ready to make the big play, and that is what they did, a fade to St. Brown to get the first down. Love him or hate him, he does what most coaches don't do, risk it to win it.
And after David Montgomery had the 30 yard touchdown, up 14, with under 2 minutes to go, that is when you hear the Detroit Lion's fans that made it to the game hearing the chants "Let's go Lions" and "Jared Goff" yelling around the stadium. This was one of the games that the Detroit Lions did not win in the past, but this is a new era, this is a new staff, this is a new team, and this is a new Detroit Lions.
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