The Detroit Lions fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in their preseason opener with a final score of 16-14. Preseason shouldn't scare fans too much, as the Lions were wary about playing anyone of significance for major snaps. That includes rookie Blake Miller, who was pulled early on in the second half, and center Seth McLaughlin, who had a solid debut at center.
Of course, there were some performances of concern in this opener that need to be discussed. Drops, penalties, missed tackles, and injuries marred the contest, and will surely stick in those players' minds as we head for another week of training camp in preparation for their lone home preseason game.
Here we'll take a look at the three performances that gave us pause in the Lions' preseason debut.
3 Lions players whose stock plummeted in Week 1 of preseason
Isaac TeSlaa
First, TeSlaa dropped a pass that landed directly in his hands, letting it slip through to hit his helmet and bounce into the hands of a Bengals defender. Then, TeSlaa dropped another accurate pass from Luke Altmyer that would've extended Detroit's drive.
Drops have been a reported issue of TeSlaa's in training camp, and surely the wet weather didn't help his case on that front for his preseason debut.
But, those drops really killed the Lions' momentum on two separate drives from Altmyer, who had an overall solid debut. He's got the threat of a few wide receivers looking over his shoulder for the teams' open WR3 job, and this sort of performance isn't going to help his case to retain the job.
Christian Mahogany
Mahogany is another player who is fighting to keep his starting job, and he needs to create some separation at left guard to keep players like Ben Bartch and Juice Scruggs at bay. Unfortunately, two silly penalties that also worked to kill the Lions' momentum are not going to cut it.
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Mahogany was not the only problem for the Lions' offensive line in this contest, but his mistakes are going to feel amplified with the ongoing competition at left guard. Penalties were what kept Detroit pretty much out of range in this game, as they just couldn't get into decent scoring range with so many gains called back.
He has to clean that up in Week 2, or risk falling behind in the LG competition with Bartch getting healthier and Scruggs with a big spotlight on him following Cade Mays' injury.
Miles Frazier
Frazier was the other lineman that really struggled with penalties in this one. Three penalties, with two holding calls back to back on one series, completely killed Detroit's offense. Frazier is also competing at left guard, and he's already a step behind having missed so much time in his rookie season last year. Without standout performances in the preseason, he's at risk of sinking on the depth chart.
Again, it's Week 1. Next week, we may very well see Frazier and Mahogany allow no sacks or quarterback hits, open up huge running lanes, and draw zero penalties. What's concerning is just the number of penalties that Frazier wracked up in such quick succession.
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