Three and out: More than usual to tighten up after blowout and a solid debut merits more opportunity
Allen Park — Here are three observations after a second viewing and a night to ponder the Detroit Lions’ 52-14 win over the Tennessee Titans.
Deceptive scoreboard
“Here’s the thing, let’s call a spade a spade, that was not our best performance,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said in his postgame comments.
It feels like such a strange thing to highlight given the lopsided final score, but in some ways, the the criticism is understated.
Sunday’s game was fluky. No doubt, the Lions caused some of the flukiness that went in their favor, but a few bounces the other way and we’re talking about a dogfight against one of the worst teams in football instead of a blowout.
The under-the-hood metric that stood out was yards per play. Despite a 70-yard touchdown run for Jahmyr Gibbs, Tennessee was far more efficient on the afternoon, averaging 5.9 yards per snap, contrasted against Detroit’s 4.8, the team’s worst mark of the season.
The Titans churned out chunk gain after chunk gain. They averaged a healthy 4.9 yards per carry and executed four pass plays longer than 25 yards. Despite not allowing a point in the final 44 minutes, Detroit’s defense should undoubtedly feel like there’s plenty to clean up before heading to Green Bay. Because the difference between that opponent and this one seems to be a backup quarterback who won’t repeatedly shoot his offense in the foot.