Of all the fun mini-storylines involved in the Detroit Lions' resurgence over the last couple years, consistently beating Matt Stafford at home in front of a packed house and nationally televised audience is easily one of the most fun.
The Lions added to that lore in Week 1, shaking off a late scare from the Rams on the way to a 26-20 overtime win that fans can now call thoroughly entertaining, thanks in large part to some angry runs by David Montgomery.
There are plenty of other good things to take away from the win, but like Dan Campbell mentioned a dozen times in his postgame presser, there were potentially even more things to clean up.
2 Winners and Losers from Lions' Week 1 win over the Rams
Winner: Jameson Williams
Is it finally happening? After a slow two-year start to his career, Williams finally had the game that every Lions fan was waiting for: five catches, 121 catches, and a touchdown that also doubled as the coolest non-game-winning moment from the entire evening.
He looked like a bonafide WR1, which would be pretty wild considering the Lions thought they already had one. Dan Campbell had plenty of good things to say about him after the game, and Williams even got to speak at the main postgame podium for the first time in his career.
When you get asked to speak at the podium, your night either went really, really well or extremely the opposite, so it's nice that Williams got to experience that for the first time on pleasant terms.
Winner: David Montgomery
It's easy to say that the guy who scored the game-winning touchdown is a winner, but that doesn't make it any less true. Montgomery had a game-high 91 rushing yards, and he was basically the Lions' entire offense for all of overtime.
The Lions' run game as a whole – Jahmyr Gibbs had 40 yards with a touchdown, and they ran for 163 yards as a team – was especially impressive over the second half of the game, and Montgomery was a big reason for that. And that final touchdown probably saved a fantasy team or two.
Loser: Amon-Ra St. Brown
There's no point in getting worked up about a quiet night, especially when the Lions win, but St. Brown just wasn't really a part of the game on Sunday night.
He finished with four catches for only 34 yards, though every receiver that wasn't Jameson Williams didn't end up with very good stats. I imagine Lions fans are too happy with the fact that they now might have two WR1s to worry a whole lot about one lackluster game in Week 1, but this is how these things go. Postgame grade blogs are a notoriously unforgiving space.
Loser: The Lions' defensive line
The Rams were missing three starters on the offensive line, and still somehow almost left Detroit with a win. Two of those three missing starters were tackles, and yet the Lions were still only sacked Stafford twice. (And it's not like Stafford's the type of QB that you can rattle by just hitting him after he's gotten the throw off, either. )
Sacks aren't the end all, be all stat for pressure – and the Lions' did have 12 QB hits, according to ESPN – but given how weak the Rams were up front, I imagine Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn aren't super thrilled with those results.