Detrroit Lions photo by Jeff Nguyen
Ok, the 16-9 score wasn’t that lopsided, but it was the third time this year that the Detroit Lions looked horrible. The previous two times were against teams in the same division: Green Bay on the first day of the season and Minnesota just the other week.
This time, it was really all on the offense. The defense did a great job in the 16-9 loss Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Here's what sports writers had to say about the loss.
Bob Wojnowkski, The Detroit News:
This was a painful, punishing lesson for the Lions. Sometimes you can’t just do what you do, no matter how successful you’ve been. Sometimes the other team does it better, stronger, unrelentingly.
This has always been the Lions’ nagging fear, turned into crunching, disturbing reality. If they can’t protect their quarterback, their offense gets suffocated. The Eagles attacked like they knew it, unleashing their loaded defense. The defending Super Bowl champs pummeled Jared Goff and turned Detroit’s offense to mush, hammering out a 16-9 victory Sunday night.
It was a bigger mismatch than the score suggested, and the Lions have some soul-searching – and wound-healing – to do. Once the Eagles’ ferocious front dismantled the Lions’ offensive line, Dan Campbell couldn’t rely on his weapons of aggressiveness, and couldn’t find any other answers.
Richard Silva, The Detroit News:
This was Jared Goff's least efficient outing from a statistical standpoint, and the eye test matched the numbers. Goff, who completed a career-worst 37.8% of his passes for 255 yards, was erratic. The quarterback and his No. 1 option, Amon-Ra St. Brown, could never find their rhythm. Goff targeted St. Brown seven times on third or fourth downs, and they never connected once in those pivotal moments. Goff did, however, nicely layer a 34-yard pass to St. Brown, and his touchdown toss to Jameson Williams was a laser over the middle. He also protected the ball, as his one turnover was the result of a tipped pass. Grade: D
Shawn Windsor, The Detroit Free Press:
It’s possible for Campbell to honor his "Gamblin' Dan" DNA on fourth down for much of a season – and even parts of a playoff run – and still go against that DNA when a “conversative” decision gives the team a better chance to win.
Above all, he is a coach, and, above all, coaches want to win. He wants to win – for the franchise, for Detroit – as much as any coach the Lions have had in recent years.
Equilibrium is attainable. It starts with self-awareness. Whatever else we say about Campbell, he has that. Sometimes, you have to punt. Sometimes, you have to take the points. The good news for Campbell is that he knows when to do both.
Coulton Pouncy, The Athletic:
Campbell’s aggression is usually a strength. Five years of data back that up, as his never-ending belief in his offense is typically rewarded with touchdowns. But the week-to-week consistency we’ve come to expect from this unit has been MIA this season. It’s one of the reasons Campbell took the play-calling reins from OC John Morton — to find a spark. But on Sunday night, he extinguished the one his defense provided.
Many assumed this would be a get-right game for the Eagles. They were going to feed A.J. Brown against a secondary down three starters, leading to his best game of the season. They were going to move the ball regularly against a defense that plays a high rate of man coverage, with a quarterback known to punish man coverage. Kinda like the last time these teams met in 2022 — a 38-35 Eagles win.
Matt Verderame, Sports Illustrated:
For the past three years, the Lions have dreamt of a Super Bowl victory. And in the past two seasons, those dreams have become January nightmares, buried under an avalanche of ill-timed, poor quarterback play and fourth-down aggressiveness run amok.
On Sunday, we got a good look at why those two problems might be nightmares once again.
In its 16–9 loss to the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, Detroit put forth an offensive horror show. The Lions were 0-for-5 on fourth downs, consistently allowing Philadelphia to either start with excellent field position or avoid a makeable field goal, even with the wind whipping.
Olivia Reiner, The Philadelphia Inquirer:
The NFC North hates to see Vic Fangio’s defense coming.
One week after limiting the Green Bay Packers to seven points on the road, the Eagles defense stifled the Detroit Lions on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field, handing the league’s second-ranked scoring offense a 16-9 loss.
The Eagles defense dominated on fourth down, as the Lions went 0-for-5. But the offense failed to capitalize on those opportunities too often, scoring just six points off turnovers on downs in another quiet overall performance.