5 biggest takeaways from Detroit Lions Week 3 win over the Atlanta Falcons
You can't really call a Week 3 game a must-win, but the Detroit Lions absolutely needed a better performance (especially defensively) against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday to remove the bitter taste of Week 2's loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Mission accomplished, as the Lions sacked Desmond Ridder seven times, held Bijan Robinson to 33 rushing yards on 10 carries and held the Falcons to 183 net yards of offense (44 rushing). A 20-6 win for Detroit wasn't truly that close. But the Lions committed 10 penalties for 119 yards to even the playing field for a team that's not as good as they are, even with them missing a chunk of key players.
Will Burchfield of 97.1 The Ticket captured the sentiment of Sunday's win perfectly.
"That's a grown-up win by the Lions. Missing several starters, they slowly choked out a lesser team. Doubled up the Falcons in yards per play. The response they needed after last week. "
Slowly choked out a lesser team...no better way to say it than that. It was exactly what the game felt like. Even if it was a little to close for comfort into the fourth quarter, before a decisive touchdown drive that put the game away.
The day after a nice rebound win, here are the five biggest takeaways from Week 3 for the Lions.