The Detroit Lions made plenty of mistakes in their 20-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during Week 2. But there might not have been a bigger Lions blunder in the first half than the offense’s failure to at least add 3 points just before halftime.
The Lions faced second-and-10 at the Tampa Bay 17-yard line with 17 seconds left in the second quarter. Quarterback Jared Goff completed a 8-yard pass to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
But the Lions didn’t have any timeouts remaining, so the offense lined up to spike the ball to stop the clock. The only problem was the field goal unit was already running onto the field.
As a result, the Lions had too many men on the field when the next Detroit snap occurred. The penalty was only for 5 yards but also required a 10-second runoff on the clock.
The half expired with the Lions not cutting into the Buccaneers 7-point lead.
During end of the half interview with Fox Sports sideline reporter Laura Okmin, Lions head coach Dan Campbell took full responsibility for the mistake. He again held himself accountable in front of reporters after the game.
“Their coach cost them. Their head coach cost them this one,” Dan Campbell told the media. “Critical error at the end of the half. One-hundred percent on me. We improved, there’s areas where we need to continue to improve on, but it’s not okay.”
The Lions had a chance to take the lead twice late in the fourth quarter. But they failed to score a touchdown on both occasions.
If the Lions had made a field goal at the end of the first half, they would have only needed another field goal instead of a touchdown to take the lead at the end of the fourth quarter.
Lions Commit Costly Too Many Men on the Field Penalty
The Lions only had four penalties in Week 2. But most of them came at inopportune times, none bigger than the too many men on the field foul.
The drive that ended in the too many men penalty was the first of three red zone possessions where the Lions failed to score any points. They also settled for three field goals in the red zone. Overall, the Lions scored just one touchdown on seven red zone opportunities.
“We’d get down into the red zone, [but] we couldn’t get TDs,” Campbell told the media. “That was kind of the story of the game.”
On their final two red zone possessions, Goff threw an interception, and the Lions turned the ball over on downs. But again, if they had three extra points from a field goal before halftime, the Lions could have settled for a field goal and still taken the lead.
Lions Lose Playoff Rematch With Buccaneers
During his halftime interview with Okmin, Dan Campbell said that his team was going to “have to pick him up” for his blunder. Unfortunately for the Lions head coach, that didn’t happen.
Goff threw his second interception of Week 2 when he threw an erratic pass over the middle of the field about halfway through the fourth quarter. The pick occurred with the Lions holding the ball at the Buccaneers 28-yard line.
On their next possession, the Lions converted fourth-and-1 at the Tampa Bay 36. But Goff’s short pass to running back Jahmyr Gibbs went for only 5 yards on fourth-and-8 at the Buccaneers 11-yard line with 1:01 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Lions did force a Tampa Bay punt after that turnover on downs and quickly drove to the Buccaneers 26-yard line. But they had to try and convert a fourth-and-10 instead of kick a potential game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left because they trailed by four.
The Lions will try to bounce back next week in their first road test of the season against the Arizona Cardinals on September 22.
