DETROIT VS. KANSAS CITY:
Lions Take Down Defending Champs
-Frank Leon, Contributor
The Detroit Lions were given a chance to be in the national spotlight for the first time in a while and take on the defending champion Chiefs at the kickoff game of the season and boy, did these young Lions deliver.
The biggest storyline heading into this game was the loss of Travis Kelce for the Chiefs. This is their biggest weapon on offense and the guy the entire gameplan goes through for Patrick Mahomed and head coach Andy Reid. Suffering a knee injury during the week was not the news the team or fans wanted to hear but this is the NFL and "next man up" is the only way to survive. Chris Jones, the Mahomes of the defense, is also currently holding out due to a contract dispute.
Now that everyone understands what the Chiefs were down, let's get it out of the way: there is no asterisk here. The Detroit Lions beat the defending champions and an MVP quarterback in Mahomes. The last two games for the Lions now are a season ending matchup with hated rivals Packers to end their season and end their playoff hopes at Lambeau Field and a season opener against the Chiefs in Arrowhead to beat the defending champions. The same old Lions are dead and the brand new Lions are here. Willing to take chances (fake punt on their own side of the field, going for it on 4th late in the game), willing to fight until the end, stepping up on the biggest stages and making the plays when it's needed the most. This is the first game of the season so nothing is finished, no titles have been won, and no playoff games have been won. But if you want a good place to start your year, there is no bigger victory than an upset over the defending champions.
Below are some game notes and highlights:
-Jared Goff is now at 359 straight passes without an interception, 3rd highest streak all time in NFL history. Goff has now not thrown an interception since week 8 of last season.
- Jahmyr Gibbs, 12th overall pick, had 7 carries for 42 yards and forced 6 missed tackles on these runs. In comparison, Swift had 24 last year and Jamaal Williams had 30 all year. Gibbs might be really special.
-All 4 of the rookies drafted in the 1st and 2nd rounds of this year's draft for the Lions had an impact on this game. Jack
Campbell had 2 tackles and an impressive pass breakup. Gibbs had 60 all purpose yards. Sam Laporta caught all 5 of his targets for 39 yards and had the key block on the game winning TD run by Montgomery. And Brian Branch came up with one of the biggest plays of the night picking off a dropped pass with one hand and scoring a pick 6. He topped out at 20 miles an hour during his run back, the fastest of the night which again shows you how much 40 times do not matter.
One of the biggest stories of the night was the battle between Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor and the rule book. Taylor lined up further back than allowed for an offensive lineman and would leave earlier than the snap on a consistent basis but was not called for a false start or an illegal formation once throughout the game (his LT counterpart was called for it on their last drive). Even more absurd was the consistent holding done by Taylor on Lions superstar Aidan Hutchinson. Taylor regularly would hug or grab on to the jersey of Hutchinson but this did not really slow down the young Lion as he picked up a team leading 7 QB pressures per PFF.
Mahomes struggled to look comfortable without his safety valve Travis Kelce on the field. His leading receiver Valdes-Scantling had only 49 yards receiving and Mahomes only finished with 226 yards passing, with 2 TDs and a 77.5 QB rating. Despite his struggles, Mahomes was able to consistently move the ball with his legs with 45 yards running which lead the team.
Lions superstar receiver Amon-Ra St Brown became the first Lions receiver in history to have 200 receptions in his first 3 seasons and it's only the first game of that 3rd season. Goff and St Brown are a
matchup nightmare with how well they play off of each other. Once young WR Jameson Williams finishes his suspension week 7, the Lions receiving group will be a difficult matchup to stop for any defensive coordinator in the league.
The next matchup for the Lions is the Seattle Seahawks who interestingly enough are the reason the Lions did not make the playoffs last year. Going into the final week, the Lions needed the Seahawks to lose to the Rams and they would just need to beat the Packers. The Seahawks won, finished the Lions chances and the Lions beat the Packers to end their season. Seahawks fans were nice about it but the Lions definitely are going to use it as motivation for this big time home opener for them. Another note, Barry Sanders' statue will be unveiled at this game outside of Ford Field.