The Lions need to address these three concerns before Week 2 against the Buccaneers.
The Detroit Lions needed extra minutes, but they were able to secure a win in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. The Rams gave the Lions all they could handle in a game that felt like it could slip away from Detroit at multiple times. However, the Lions were able to force overtime and defeat the Rams 26-20 to start the season on a high note.
Detroit looked shaky throughout the game and were never able to establish a rhythm on offense. Their defense held up good enough to force overtime, but Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford looked unstoppable for the entire second half.
There are no style points in the NFL, a win is a win. However, Lions fans can be forgiven for being a little bit concerned about their team's performance on Sunday Night Football.
Below we will explore Lions three reasons for concern after Week 1 against the Rams.
The Rams defense bottled up Jahmyr Gibbs for much of the game
Lions fans were expecting a huge game from Jahmyr Gibbs to start the 2024 season. The second-year running back had an incredible rookie season and fans expected him to pick up right where he left off.
Things did not go according to plan.
Gibbs ran 11 times for 40 yards and a touchdown, which is good for an average of 3.6 yards per carry. This is about a yard and a half below Gibbs' yards per carry from the 2023 season. It may be a small sample size, but it goes to show that Gibbs was not able to establish himself on the ground.
The Lions had one of the best running games in the NFL in 2023 and arguably have the best offensive line in football. Therefore, it should be concerning that the Lions weren't able to get Gibbs going on the ground — even in Week 1, which is always wacky.
Perhaps preseason rust is one of the main factors here. After all, the Lions had a dominant overtime period that was nothing but run after run after run. Only one of these was Jahmyr Gibbs, but the point stands that Detroit seemed to find themselves in overtime.
Where was Lions star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown?
This may have been the biggest surprise of the Lions Week 1 game. Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the most important players on Detroit's offense, and he is now compensated as such.
Therefore, fans were expecting St. Brown to be the steady guy that he always is. That's what made it so shocking that the Rams totally shut him down.
St. Brown had six targets but only hauled in three passes for 13 yards.
One reason could be that opposing defenses are finally starting to respect how important St. Brown is to Detroit's offense. The Rams deployed a lot of three safety looks in Week 1 and used considerable resources to take away the middle of the field.
That ended up working out for the Lions because Jameson Williams had a coming out party. It couldn't have come at a better time.
Regardless, the Lions will need to find answers on offense to the defense that the Rams played on Sunday. Other NFL teams may start using it as a blueprint for slowing down St. Brown and the Lions offense.
Lions fans should keep their eyes on St. Brown for every offensive play in Week 2.
Lions defense could not stop Cooper Kupp, get sacks on Matthew Stafford despite depleted o-line
Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp looked like their 2021 selves in Week 1.
Cooper Kupp was far and away Stafford's favorite target on Sunday. Kupp had 14 receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown. The Rams may not have intended for this to be their primary strategy. After all, Puka Nacua left this game early with an injury.
Kupp had a whopping 21 targets out of Los Angeles' 48 total passes. The next closest Rams receiver in targets was Tyler Johnson and Demarcus Robinson tied at seven targets each.
It is easy to understand what forced the Rams into this strategy. What's concerning is that it worked so well against the Lions. Once Puka Nacua left the game, and it was clear that Kyren Williams was not was not having a good day, the Lions could have easy focused on shutting down Kupp.
The Lions completely overhauled their secondary this offseason. Therefore, on some level it is expected to see some struggles while the group gels together. However, this feels like less of a personnel failure and more of a schematic failure.
It is entirely possible that Detroit was content to let the Rams dink and dunk their way down the field instead of getting big chunk plays. This would also explain why the Lions defensive line failed to get a good number of sacks against Matthew Stafford despite an incredibly depleted offensive line.
Lions fans should pay attention to the relationship between the team's coverage unit and defensive line over the next few games. Their Week 2 game against the Buccaneers should be revealing, as Tampa Bay loves to push the ball down the field. Aidan Hutchinson and friends will have plenty of opportunities to sack Baker Mayfield.
