It wasn't the stage that surprised Tate Ratledge, who played in plenty of loud environments during his time at Georgia.
"I think it’s just, you’re going against a good player every single snap," Ratledge said after the Lions' 27-13 season-opening loss to the Packers. "That’s probably the biggest difference from what I’m used to."
For Ratledge and the Lions' new-look offensive line, Week 1 was a day to forget. Pass protection was leaky. Run blocking was sloppy. The absences of Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler were glaring, 20 years of experience out the window. The entire unit lacked cohesion against a dynamic defensive line. For so long the engine of this team, Detroit's People Movers sputtered out of the station.
"Starting with myself, I gotta go out there and be better," said Ratledge, the second-round pick at right guard. "I did not have my best game that I needed to play. Did not play to this team’s, especially not this offensive line room’s standards."
It's not just that the Lions lost a pair of proven vets in Ragnow and Zeitler. It's that they replaced them with essentially two rookies in Ratledge and Christian Mahogany, while moving guard Graham Glasgow to center, where he hasn't seen significant action since 2022. That's how it looked Sunday in Green Bay, where the Packers' defensive front won frequently on the interior. They posed particular problems for the Lions by being able to create penetration with four and drop seven in coverage.
"They did a good job of changing up the look pre-snap and we’re in the silent cadence, Graham’s got his head between his legs, so them moving around pre-snap, it messes up a lot of communication," Ratledge said. "But that’s no excuse. We just gotta lock in on that and be better at it."
The Lions averaged just 3.8 yards per play, their fewest since early in the 2021 season and second fewest of the Dan Campbell era. They averaged just 2.1 yards per carry, their fewest since Week 2 of last season and third fewest of the Campbell era. Most jarring of all, Detroit's ball-carriers were hit behind the line of scrimmage on 16 of their 21 rushing attempts, per Next Gen Stats, the highest rate of the Campbell era.
"We gotta come out and run the ball better, be more physical up front, have better communication and get to our best spots," said Ratledge.
The Packers set the tone by forcing a three-and-out on the Lions' first drive. They shut down a run to the left by Jahmyr Gibbs, then forced Goff into two checkdowns to Gibbs that went nowhere. It was how it looked for the Lions for most of the day. Even when they were able to move the ball between the 20's, it rarely felt easy. Goff dumped off so many going-nowhere throws to his running backs that Jahmyr Gibbs' 31 receiving yards marked the fewest in NFL history for a player who had at least 10 catches.
Goff was pressured 16 times by the Packers, hit nine times and sacked four. The two lowest pass-blocking grades for the Lions, per Pro Football Focus, went to Ratledge and Mahogany. Ratledge was charged with allowing three pressures and a sack, Mahogany with four pressures and two sacks. Their youth was magnified playing on either side of Glasgow, who allowed two pressures and had the Lions' lowest offensive grade overall.
Ratledge has the physical tools to succeed as a rookie, which he displayed at times in the run game, but "I did not have my best game mentally," he said.
"I had a few missed assignments that I wish I could have back. A lot of that was just miscommunication from me," he said. "And credit to them, they did a good job, their fans did a great job making it loud."
Ratledge and Mahogany, both 24 years old, will only get better. They'd both probably tell you that Sunday couldn't have gone much worse. Their jobs should be a little easier at home next week, against a defense that isn't as dangerous as Green Bay's. And to aid their growth, Glasgow will need to be more of a stabilizer between them.
But after a rocky NFL debut, Ratledge wasn't looking at anyone but himself.
"I just know that I have to come out with a better showing in weeks to come," he said. "That’s not our standard, not my standard as a player. So I gotta get into this film and see what I can fix."