Week 1: SNF Los Angeles Rams @ Detroit Lions

[Louis Friend]

Just now, Miblue said:

Monty gets gameball, 

jamo hypetrain is real and chugging along.

arnold held his own

Levi was disruptive

Goff was off……still played well enough to help this team beat another playoff team.

we might have the best RB combo in the game right now

 

To be fair to Goff, outside of Tua, no offense played well this week. Need to adjust though. Can’t have that two weeks in a row. 

[nagahide13]

On 8/31/2024 at 3:45 PM, nagahide13 said:

I have legitimately zero idea what to expect. Last year I felt like we were a season away. This year I still worry we have huge holes in important areas, (specifically pass rush and WR depth). I haven't seen the 1st team play together yet. DJ Reader might not be in game shape yet. I have no idea what our revamped secondary is capable of. I have no idea what strides Jamo has taken.

I think this game is a 2 score win, but wouldn't be surprised if we got blown out.

Pass rush was pretty great. Run defense was stout and Reader didn't even play. Levi played pretty well. Hutch played well minus some penalty stuff. McNeil was stout. Davenport was everywhere in the backfield but didn't get the sacks. He was very disruptive. Linebackers were pretty solid. I feel pretty darn good about our front 7 after that game.

Jamo ran great routes and seems to have arrived as a real WR instead of a gimmicky weapon. Not just the long TD either, he was great in general. He has taken big strides. I'm still pretty worried about depth though.

Our secondary was really, really improved. Arnold had some penalties but they weren't bad and I certainly am willing to accept some growing pains if his coverage is that good. One of his PI calls he sort of reached out and pushed the receivers hand away; it seemed like he was testing the limits of what he can get away with in the league. Carlton Davis played really well. He and Branch missed some tackles but both also made some huge plays when it mattered. Robertson was solid when I noticed. I only saw Rakestraw ruin that punt, but I'm not making any harsh judgements about a rookie being aggressive on special teams in his first NFL game. Kerby with the INT.

*Importantly, we didn't give up any passes over 20 yards in the air. I think they had two or three plays go over 20 with YAC, and obviously you don't want that... But there was nothing downfield all game. The umbrella was really, really solid. The pass rush also never really allowed things to develop deep. It was great to see.

Obviously the offensive line and running game were top notch. That was never in question. Monty is underrated and we might have the best line in the NFL. Gibbs is electric and has great vision, speed and awareness.

Goff was pretty meh. He didn't miss the easy stuff but made some pretty bad mistakes and even got away with a few more. ARSB was pretty invisible. Gibbs and LaPorta were utilized and were fine but they weren't leaned on and come away unscathed and presumably fresh. I'm not worried about any of them, especially ARSB.

If we can beat a good Rams team with Goff playing like that we're going to be nasty when he's clicking. We were physical all night and absolutely dominated the trenches. The Rams took a ton of damage (you don't want injuries, but you do want the other team to wake up sore for a while, yunnow?) and Detroit came away relatively unscathed.

I'm coming away from this game WAY more confident than the score would suggest. Almost everything I was worried about before the game now seems like a strength. The things that went poorly tonight are things that we already know are strengths... Goff, ARSB, etc. Just want some WR depth. 😄

[nagahide13]

8 minutes ago, Louis Friend said:

To be fair to Goff, outside of Tua, no offense played well this week. Need to adjust though. Can’t have that two weeks in a row. 

You forgot Post-week-one-superbowl-favorite Derek Carr and the Saints

[Superduperman]

1 minute ago, nagahide13 said:

You forgot Post-week-one-superbowl-favorite Derek Carr and the Saints

Disqualified. Panthers

[El Ramster]

29 minutes ago, Louis Friend said:

Nail biter until OT. 
 

Got some things to clean up before next week. 
 

1-0 😎🫣

Ggs seems like it’ll always be a one score game lol. That Oline just decided to take over. It was like watching a 100’ton snow plow mow down a 1 foot of snow. ⛄️ 

[detfan782004]

Man that was hard to watch. NFL needs to figure out how to get these holds and trips against Hutchinson under control. Some of them were so blatant it was disgusting.

A win is a win but those sorta non obvious calls are detrimental. 
 

I felt like Arnold was hit and miss but he can tackle in open field.

Offense seemed a bit vanilla compared to what we have witnessed in past.

 

Overall though can't hate walking away with the W 

[Just Want A Title]

This was a great game to watch as a football fan.  Dan Campbell and Sean McVay are two of the brightest coaches in the NFL.  You could see it was a real chess match for most of the game.  The Lions didn't play their best game on offense and showed some of the same flaws we watched last year on defense but they pulled out a tough win in overtime.  Good teams find a way to win even when they aren't playing well and the Lions did that today.  That said.

MCDC:  As mentioned above, this was a real chess match with one of the smartest coaches in the NFL in Sean McVay but he got the win.  I think we can put to rest all of the talk about Dan Campbell not being a high-level game manager as well his problems with clock management.  He was excellent in both areas today.  

Ben Johnson:  The offense was out-of-sync most of the game but when it mattered most, the Lions put together a signature drive.  Surprisingly, the Rams really limited out passing game outside of Jameson Williams.  The Rams took away the middle of the field and Ben Johnson didn't really have an answer until later in the game.  There is a lot to clean up but it is a good win that can be built upon

Aaron Glenn:  He did a good job of not giving the Rams a lot of explosive plays.  Even though it is week 1, the D-Line wasn't great at finishing and getting home for sacks.  It was a solid job with making sure the players were prepared and making the right calls though.  Much like the offense, there is some stuff to clean up but it was a good win on which to build. 

Dave Fipp:  Kudos to Dave Fipp for having Jake Bates ready for this game.  

Offense:

Jared Goff--He had a very up and down game.  He showed better mobility by being able to get a somewhat contested 7-yard 1st down.  He is starting to show some chemistry with Jamo.  His pre-snap reads were pretty good.  He struggled more in the 2nd half but was a stone-cold assassin in overtime.

David Montgomery--He was solid early but was a beast in overtime.  He made some fantastic runs and showed he can be a viable part of the passing game as well.  He had a really good day.

Jahmyr Gibbs--He had a solid game.  He made some good runs but didn't show too much in the passing game.  

Sam LaPorta--The Rams kept him bottled up until late in the game.  His catch over the middle while taking the helmet to the face was awesome.

Jameson Williams--He had his best day as a professional despite the offense being out-of-synch.  His double-move on Tre'Davious White, even though it could be better, showed how dangerous he can be.  You have to be happy for a young player who finds success after so much adversity.

O-Line--As a group, they had a so-so game for the first four quarters.  In overtime, they took over and pushed the Rams all over the field.  It was kind of shocking to see such a dramatic change but it man it was fun to watch.

ARSB--He had a really quiet game.  I suspect the Rams schemed to shut him and Sam LaPorta down.  He will see better days now that Jameson Williams is showing he will make teams pay

Defense:

Aidan Hutchinson:  He got tripped, face masked, held wrestled and still impacted the game a lot.  The officiating with him needs to change.  There was no excuse for some of the no-calls.  

Levi Onwuzurike:  It was great to see him on the field.  He was very disruptive in the first half but had a quiet second half.  Still, seeing him create havoc in the backfield after spending so much time getting healthy was fun to watch

Alim McNeill:  Where was he?  He had a really quiet game.  I don't know if it is the D-Line schemes or Alim McNeill but he is becoming an enigma.  We keep waiting for him to become this Christian Wilkins type of DT but it just doesn't happen.  I know it is week one but he needs to be more impactful.

Marcus Davenport:  He had a solid game in his debut with the Lions.  He has to get better at finishing when he gets close to the QB but was a solid contributor.

Josh Pascal and James Houston:  Neither one had much impact.  I don't recall seeing James Houston at all.

Alex Anzalone:  He had a heck of a game, especially early.  He needs to make the plays he was making early in the game in all four quarters.

Brian Branch:  He had a very up-and-down game.  He had some missed tackles early and his over-pursuit led to one of the few explosive plays by the Rams.  He also had a big play late, stopping Kyren Williams at the goal line.  He has a lot to clean up.  Hopefully he will be more consistent.

Kerby Joseph:  His Red Zone pick on Stafford was really good.  He seemed assignment sound for the most part.  I didn't notice his tacklingone way or the other so maybe that is still a work in-progress

Terrion Arnold:  He had his ups and downs as you might expect.  He was solid early and showed pretty tight coverage.  He got burned on a PI call that was legit.  He needs to understand that grabbing like that will almost always get a flag in the NFL.  He battled throughout the game though.  He has a bright future.

Ennis Rakestraw:  He quietly had a pretty solid debut.  He made a couple of nice tackles to limit passes for short yardage.  He muffed a really good Jack Fox punt placement but at least he was in a position to make a play.  He should get that cleaned up as the season progresses. 

Amik Robertson:  He had a pretty solid game making some good plays in the slot against a very good Rams WR corps

Special Teams:

Jake Bates:  I don't know what his future holds but deserves a ton of credit for nailing the game-tying FG in his first NFL game and went 2-2 for the game.  

This was a typical week one football game.  The Lions didn't allow the Rams to surprise them with anything.  There is a lot they need to clean up but this was a great game and a great way to start the season.

 

[Louis Friend]

James Houston was inactive. Saw him once on the sideline in street clothes. 

[idoubtit]

9 hours ago, nagahide13 said:

*Importantly, we didn't give up any passes over 20 yards in the air. I think they had two or three plays go over 20 with YAC, and obviously you don't want that... But there was nothing downfield all game. The umbrella was really, really solid. The pass rush also never really allowed things to develop deep. It was great to see.

I actually think this is a problem that the Lions need to figure out. I don't like relying on allowing a team to move the ball that well and then pull out the victory at the end as a strategy. Seattle did the same thing to us last year. We just can't seem to stop quick passes. They aren't usually check downs either. It is option 1 and designed to get the ball out quick. I'm not panicked about it or anything. I'm just noting that this seems to be the formula offenses are trying to develop to beat us so we need to be ready for it. Any time a QB starts to complete 70% of their passes I don't like it.

[Just Want A Title]

1 hour ago, idoubtit said:

I actually think this is a problem that the Lions need to figure out. I don't like relying on allowing a team to move the ball that well and then pull out the victory at the end as a strategy. Seattle did the same thing to us last year. We just can't seem to stop quick passes. They aren't usually check downs either. It is option 1 and designed to get the ball out quick. I'm not panicked about it or anything. I'm just noting that this seems to be the formula offenses are trying to develop to beat us so we need to be ready for it. Any time a QB starts to complete 70% of their passes I don't like it.

Some of that will come from film work.  We added two new coaches in Deshea Townsend in Jim O'Neil along with two rookie CBs and two new veteran CBs.  Still, Matthew Stafford had to go 35 of 49 to get his 317 yards.  If not for the one busted play that gained 60-plus years, it would have been a much better night.  I don't know what stats would measure their performance in the Red Zone but they seemed to do a really good job in that area of the field.

[Sllim Pickens]

Overall I was happy with the outcome, however the game was not the smoothest.  Both sides played well overall but had moments of slip ups that cost us.  

The LA drive before half makes me nervous.  Obviously the Kerby INT helped but the two minute defense is pretty sketchy.  

The offense fell off in the second half and it was annoying that we changed our gameplan.  We hit Jamo deep at the beginning of the second half and didnt try again the rest of the game.  Also never got ARSB involved much which could be how they were covering him but also Goff didn't seem to be looking for him much.  Seems like given our lack of WR depth, ARSB should be getting 10 targets a game.  That also seems to be when Goff is at his best and in rhythm.  That being said we ran the ball a ton so there were not a ton of targets to go around.

The D played pretty well overall.  The Rams gameplan was short quick hitters which negates the pass rush and makes zone coverage tough.  But the DBs tackled well and covered well for the most part not allowing huge plays downfield.  Arnold looked very good and the PI was fine with me because he was at least there in position to make the play.  Anzalone played well too.  Holding Williams to 2.8 ypc and Kupp although he accumulated stats, averaged 7.5 yards per catch which is solid.  LA threw the ball 48 times so the DBs were under pressure and we held our own. 

A win is a win in this league and getting a W when Goff is off and we are working a lot of young guys into the defense is a great W.  I think the Rams will be battling for the playoffs so getting a big win to start the year is huge.  Plus the odds of making the playoffs and going to the Super Bowl is significantly higher when you win week 1.  On to another playoff rematch next week.  

[Louis Friend]

Some nuggets that almost went unnoticed:

- This was the first Home Opener win of the Dan Campbell era. 

- This was the first OT win since 2016. 

Not exactly a 32 year playoff win drought broken, but nice to see these losing streaks crumble one by one 

[Just Want A Title]

The Rams lost the game and three important players.  Puka Nacua, Steve Avila and Joe Noteboom were all placed on IR.