The Lions had outscored every team in the NFL by the time their season opener came to a close, every team except the one they were playing. They hung 35 points on the Eagles, who hung 38 on them. Welcome to 2022, where Detroit's offense will have to be perfect to account for an imperfect defense.
"We just left too much stuff out there," said Jared Goff. "There were so many big plays to be made and we left them on the field."
Goff's performance was a microcosm of his first season in Detroit: rotten in the first half, redeeming in the second. After the Lions rode their rushing attack to the end zone on the game's opening drive -- and whipped sold-out Ford Field into a frenzy -- Goff's arm took them nowhere on the three drives that followed. And then his mind made a crucial mistake when he misread a route by T.J. Hockenson and gifted James Bradberry and the Eagles a 21-7 lead.
"Just a poor decision by me and a little miscommunication," Goff said of his pick six. "I can say it’s first-game stuff, but it can’t happen. It’s the NFL and it’s Week 1."
Maybe it jolted the offense back to life. The Lions scored touchdowns on four of their final five drives, though not before falling behind 38-21 late in the third quarter. Goff was more precise in the second half, but not precise enough: he was a tick or two off on a few deep balls that could have changed the game, an inch or two off on a few short routes that cost the Lions momentum and way off on an ill-advised pass to Kalif Raymond that nearly wound up in the hands of Darius Slay and snuffed out Detroit's comeback before it began.
"I should've picked that, for sure," said Slay.
Rookie offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was calling plays for the Lions, and Slay said the Eagles weren't sure what to expect. But they had a good feel for Goff and where he wanted to go with the ball. One interception could have easily been two or three. Slay said they "watched a lot of film on the kind of throws he likes." The Pro Bowl cornerback also said this of the Lions' offense after allowing a touchdown to D.J. Chark on a perfect pass from Goff in the fourth quarter:
"They’re good, man. They got a lot of upside. They got guys that will compete and play at a high level."
The Lions scored 35 points just once last season -- in Week 18 against the Packers' backups. They scored 35 on Sunday, against a top-10 defense from a year ago that added tons of talent in the offseason, despite three straight three-and-outs and a pick-six in the first half.
"We felt like we could’ve scored 50 today," said Goff. "You tip your cap to the Eagles, they’re a damn good team, but we shot ourselves in the foot all day long, specifically during that lull. Felt like if we don’t do that, it’s a different outcome. But that’s what happened and we gotta fix it."
In reality, the Lions have to fix their defense. They allowed over 200 rushing yards, often by losing contain on Jalen Hurts, and four rushing touchdowns. And the only fix, until further notice, is adding more talent. No. 2 pick Aidan Hutchinson did provide a spark up front, and the Lions would have had more to show for it against a different QB. But they remain thin at linebacker and in the secondary, which was badly exposed when cornerback Will Harris entered the game for a cramping Jeff Okudah late in the first half and promptly allowed a 54-yard completion to A.J. Brown -- who otherwise torched top cornerback Amani Oruwariye.
But that's none of the offense's concern. When the Lions have the ball, they have to be ruthless this season. And close to flawless. It starts with D'Andre Swift, who darted through the Eagles defense for nearly 10 yards per carry and often looked like the best player on the field. And it has to end with Goff and his receivers, who found their rhythm a few drives too late. The Lions showed in the second half "who we want to be and what we want to do," said Goff.
"Explosive plays and running the ball downhill. Play action and dropping back and running that stuff we know we can execute, But by all means," he added, "we had plenty of opportunities to do that in the first half and we just didn’t."
Only the Chiefs and the Eagles wound up scoring more points than the Lions on Sunday, when 35 points would have beaten everyone else. The onus is on Detroit's undermanned defense to play better. Until then, it's the offense that has to do more with what it's got.
"We left a lot out there," said Swift. "Too many three and outs. Can’t spot them seven right before the half and play from behind. We let it slip away from us."