The Detroit Lions left Ford Field in Week 1 with a win, although describing the football we watched get played by them against the New Orleans Saints as "winning" might be a major oversell.
The Lions' secondary looked just as shaky as fans anticipated it could against Tyler Shough and a plethora of talented receivers rostered by New Orleans, while their offense looked like it had one creed to follow the entire contest: let Jahmyr Gibbs ground pound.
While the Lions did end up with the victory in overtime here, there was a lot to be concerned about ahead of an intimidating road game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, in just four days.
My joints hurt just reading that.
4 winners (and 4 losers) from Lions' win over Saints
Winner: Lions' offensive line
There were so many changes to look out for in this game along the Lions' offensive line: Penei Sewell was in at left tackle for the first time since filling in for an injured Taylor Decker there, Blake Miller was starting in his first ever NFL game at right tackle, and Juice Scruggs was taking his first starting center snaps for Detroit amid Cade Mays' injury.
And yet, the team helped Jahmyr Gibbs rush for 156 yards on the day, while also earning a pat on the back from Jared Goff for their pass protection:
"Offensive line, I thought, did a great job. Coming together, and [Ben] Bartch in there, able to play pretty much the whole game, I told them, 'I thought the pass pro was awesome.' And in the run game, it was good. And, it's really, really close to being really, really good," said Goff after the win.
After such a tumultuous offseason and plenty of warranted questions about how they'd handle regular season play, they held their own against a very legitimate Saints defense.
Loser: Lions' secondary
After a first half that had folks convinced that, perhaps, the Lions' secondary wouldn't be too bad off this year, they gave up over 400 passing yards and three touchdowns in the second half that led to an overtime period. Rock Ya-Sin, rookie Keith Abney II, and Avonte Maddox were targeted by Shough relentlessly, and they had zero answers for him.
READ MORE: Week 1 continues the Lions' remarkable run of stability at the QB position
New Orleans' biggest strength is their defense, so to see their offense completely carve up Detroit in the air was concerning.
Well, not concerning for everyone. Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters after the game that he doesn't feel concerned about the teams' DBs, but would like to see them work through their issues this week.
Perhaps they'll have a better go of things against the Bills and Josh Allen, who has a tendency to make a boneheaded pass or two.
Winner: Lions' defensive line
In the other trenches, the Lions looked fantastic - they recorded five sacks on the day, with two coming from Aidan Hutchinson as he looks to piece together a DPOY campaign this year. A huge help to the line was defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard's utilization of linebacker Derrick Barnes and cornerback Roger McCreary in the pass rush.
Overall, this looked like the teams' best unit on the day. That's a good sign with how much they struggled to find consistent quarterback pressures last year, but they need to do a better job of finishing those pressures with sacks. They let a few go to the detriment of the secondary.
Loser: Jameson Williams prior to OT
Three drops on the day don't exactly scream "improvement" for Jameson Williams in that specific department, but it shouldn't be of major concern to Lions fans. It's Week 1, and Williams played zero snaps in the preseason under new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing - same for Goff.
Buffalo's defense, and their secondary, is a lot less intimidating than New Orleans'. That should open the door for a bounce back game from Williams, who's speed and one reception in overtime helped set up the Lions' game winning touchdown in that period.
Winner: Special teams
Heavy hitters defined the Lions' special teams excellence in this contest: Eric O'Neill and Tay Martin led the way there with six tackles total, while Jake Bates was a perfect 5-5 on his kicks. Jack Fox also look good at punter in this one, and Tom Kennedy had a decent performance in his first game as the Lions' starting returner.
It's the intangibles from a group like special teams that will continue to help the Lions eek out wins in tight situations like the one they faced against New Orleans in Week 1.
Loser: Drew Petzing, or whoever was too conservative with 4th down play-calling
The Lions had a few moments in the second half where they decided to punt, or go with a conservative run, on series where they should've been more aggressive. With how their secondary was playing, it was imperative that they tried to rely on their offense to gain some separation in this one, and they refused at multiple turns to do so.
We're trying very hard not to call out Petzing after literally one, singular game, but it's hard to gain goodwill with a fanbase that just experienced the flat play-calling of John Morton with decisions like these. With a healthy receiving corp, a few of those conservative calls made little sense.
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