The Detroit Lions and New England Patriots had an unexpected role reversal on Sunday night, giving the Lions perhaps their most impressive win in years.
I generally try to act as if nothing the Detroit Lions do can surprise at this point. With this said, I’ll admit that I’m 100% surprised about what went down at Ford Field on Sunday night.
After a 0-2 start, the Lions looked like a completely different team. Disciplined, methodical, coldly dominant. In short, they looked like…well, the Patriots.
The Patriots looked like a completely different team on Sunday night as well. Impatient, overwhelmed on both lines, inexcusably flat. In short, they looked like…well, the Lions.
The final result was a thoroughly dominating 26-10 win over perhaps the NFL’s greatest dynasty, in which Detroit doubled up the Pats in total yards, first downs, and time of possession. The Lions were the team that looked like they’ve played in three of the last four Super Bowls, while the Patriots were the ones that had no answers on either side of the ball and looked ready to quit on their coach.
As Chad Finn from the Boston Globe put it, for the Patriots, it was:
"” … a thoroughly embarrassing loss to a previously winless team that they were supposed to thoroughly embarrass.”"
Opposite Day?
I don’t know what sort of Freaky Friday stuff was going on in Ford Field, but right from the beginning things looked far different than any sane person could have envisioned heading into it.
How else do you explain the Patriots offense getting off to such a slow start, one where they didn’t even pick up a first down until their final possession of the half?
What else would account for Tom Brady‘s bizarre 50-yard bomb that somehow landed about 60 yards away from his nearest receiver?
The Lions went nearly five years without a 100-yard rusher for a single game. They somehow went over 20 years without winning a game on NBC. Rookie Kerryon Johnson‘s breakout performance played a large role in this 2-for-1 snapping of both unfortunate streaks.
With the score 13-3 moving into halftime, I kept waiting for the earth’s poles to flip back into place and restore order. Or maybe the first half was Belichick’s housewarming gift to Matt Patricia. The Lions couldn’t possibly keep this up, right?
Then again, if Tiger Woods can win a golf tournament, why shouldn’t the Lions be able to beat the Patriots? See, that line itself shouldn’t even make sense, but that’s the sort of night it was on Sunday.
After a few brief miscues to begin the third quarter, Matthew Stafford found Marvin Jones Jr. in the end zone for a clutch response to the Pats’ only touchdown. TB12 wasn’t his usual pliable self, tossing a bad interception into double coverage on New England’s best chance to get back in the game.
Kerryon Johnson kept grinding away. The suddenly stingy defense continued forcing three and outs. As the collective catharsis in the stadium grew louder and louder, it eventually became clear that this was Detroit’s night.
Both teams are now 1-2 on the season. One looks like they’re on the way up, while the other looks like they’re on the way down. Now that Opposite Day is over though, how are we supposed to tell which is which?
Looking Ahead
Last week, I looked at the Lions’ upcoming schedule (Cowboys, Packers, Seahawks, etc, etc) and feared that it could be mid-November or later before Matt Patricia gets his first win. Now on the other side of dismantling Brady and the Patriots, I don’t think anyone has a place to say what they are and aren’t capable of doing over the next two months.
All I can say on the subject is that I don’t think anything would surprise me at this point. Which pretty much guarantees that something will.
Next Game: Sun 9/30, 1:00pm @ Dallas (1-2)