Lions Survive New Orleans 31-30 in OT
The scoreboard and W-L record reads differently than after Week 1 in 2025, but it sure feels like the Detroit Lions lost their initial game of the 2026 season. After playing fantastic on defense for a half, and the offense seemingly two to three mistakes away from cruising to a blowout win, the wheels absolutely came off the defense in the second half.
The offense played well for most of the game, keeping Goff mostly clean (8 QB Hits, but only 1 sack) and letting the running game thrive against a defense that will likely en dup in the top 15 by seasons end. However, there were too many bad sequences where the play calls were head scratching when it felt like they could pretty much get what they wanted on certain plays at any time. Goff had a decent game with a 66.6% completion percentage and 2 TDs with no INTs, but there weren't many connections downfield and too many drops by WRs. I was encouraged by the OL play, which gave up some hurries and pressures, but only one official sack and gave him the space to step up in the pocket, something that was missing all last season. Regardless, the offense was below par mainly due to self-inflicted mistakes including several dropped passes in key situations (at least 3 would have been 1st downs), penalties and unforced errors (Vaki hitting Sewell, Opening KKR muffed, etc.)
As far as the defense, they looked great ion the 1st half, and like a leaky sieve in the second half. Shepp through the kitchen sink in blitzes and pressure at Shough and Kellen Morre and had them thoroughly confused, but when the Saints made their adjustments at half, Shepp stuck with his guns and almost let this one slip away by not making counter adjustments, or at least ones that worked. It wasn't all bad, as the front seven played their hearts out with only a few issues here and there, but the defensive back needs some serious work this week to get ready for what the Bills will bring into Highmark o Thursday night. One has to wonder if this is just like last year, where the Lions refused to play their starters in the preseason, allowing some rust and lack of cohesion to find its way into Week 1 game.
The Good
Aidan Hutchinson - Hutch was his usual dominant self, notching 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL and 4 QB hits and constantly forcing Shough out of the pocket
Kelvin Shepphard (1st Half) - Shepps aggressive blitz-heavy scheme was confusing Tyler SHough and Kellen Moore to the tune of 10-22 85 yards and 1 INT for a 37.1rating in the first half and the Lins were well on their way to fulfilling Dan's prophecy of a Top 5 defense by years end. At the start of the second half, Gibbs had 105 yards on his own, and Saints had a total of 111 yards.
Jahmyr Gibbs - He was paid like a workhorse this offseason and used like a workhorse in this game. Amassing a total of 29 carries for 156 rush yards with 2 rushing TDs and another 5 receptions for another 30 yards he ended up with 186 total scrimmage yards on 34 touches. While those stats are nice, that is way too many touches going forward.
Lions LB play - Both Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes had good days against the Saints, with Barnes notching an INT, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 Passes defended and a 1 QB hit. He seemed to fill the Anzalone role quite well today and stuffed the stat sheet against the Saints. Campbell's day was a little quieter, but he ended up with 7 tackles and 1 TFL, Devin White chipped in 3 tackles and Malcolm Rodrtiguez 4 tackles and a QB hit. Most importantly, they held the Saints to 91 yards and 3.6 YPC, although Campbell did get beat by Noah Fant on the potential game tying TD by a perfectly thrown ball.
Special teams - Bates was perfect on the day (1/1 FG and 4/4 on XP) and the Punt and Kick Coverage were stellar due to Tay Martin and Erick O'Neil. Jack Fox also boomed 7 punts for an Avg of 48 yards with 1 Tb and 3 inside the 20. However, the Return game helped flip the field in this one. Tom Kennedy averaged 11.7 yards on 3 PRs (NO avg 5.3 on 4) and he and Saylors combined for 21 yards on KR (TK 29.5, Saylors 12.5) while the Saints avg 18.5, netting the Lions an additional 6 yard after punts and 2.5 on Kickoffs.
The Bad
Jameson Williams - Williams had a very poor game with two catches that were 1st down conversions clank off his hands, and another knocked away. Throw in the botched end around (that looked like it was poised to gain double-digit yards) and he just needs to be...better. He did have a small redemption in OT, but being consistently good is the expectation and this game likely would have been put away with some better execution on his part.
Kelvin Shepphard (Second Half) - The Saints offense made some serious adjustments to overcome the blitz package that Shepp unleased against them in the game. In the first half, Shough was terrible and had no confidence and was panicking. In the second half, he played like an All-Pro and brought his team back with some desperation heaves and great catches by his receivers. However, Shepp did not make adjustments to what Saints did, and the DBs were constantly leaving large holes in the gaps and giving up chunk plays on the blitzing side that allowed the Saints to get back and almost win the game.
Backup RBs - Sione Vaki was the #2 RB and while he had a few decent plays, he also about cost Jared Goff a life by chipping Sewell and allowing Chase Young to destroy Goff from the blindside. His two carries were nothing special, notching a total of 7 yards and 3.5 YPC. Jacob Sayloirs didn't get many, if any offensive snaps, but his KR issues form last season flared up and are not ideal, especially when compared to Tom Kennedy. TK averaged almost 30 yards on each of his returns, then the Saints started kicking it to Saylors, and that avg plummeted to 12.5 (mainly due to the muffed opening kickoff). Either way, he has to be more explosive here and if he gets offensive snaps.
The Ugly
Lions CB play - Any time you give up 410 yards to an opposing QB and your top two tacklers are your starting outside CBs; there are some issues. The main problem was the CBs getting caught a step or two behind the receivers on these busted plays (SHough scrambles) and leaving huge holes in the zones for Olave to exploit along with penalties for DPI on Ya-Sin. There is much to clean up here, including figuring out by Shep how not to expose these guys when they are on an island and the Pass Rush isn't getting home. At this point, we have who we have, and its unlikely reinforcements are coming, but Rakestraw and Nick Whiteside being active against the Bill may be more beneficial in the long run.
Secondary - Tyler Shough had a miserable first half, with 87 yards 10-22 (and a 37.1 rating. In the second half, he threw for 410 yards and completed 73.5% of his passes with two TDs, but he was picked off two times and sacked five times, Chris Olave pretty much had whatever he wanted when they wanted and when Shough scrambled the DBs gave up a lot of yards by being constantly a step or two behind the Saints receivers. The Lions got away with this today, but against some of the WR on the schedule and in the playoffs, this won't fly going forward.
Rookie Report
Blake Miller - Played pretty well, and I base that on not hearing his name called out much. His one gaff was getting out of his stance late and giving up the lone sack of Goff to Granderson in the 4th quarter
Derrick Moore - Moore likely had some snaps, but he did not record a stat or have his name called during the telecast
Skyle Gill-Howard - Gill-Howard was on the field on the third defensive snap of the game and ended up with three total tackles.
Erik O'Neil - O'Neil had three tackles and was on the field on defense several times, but his biggest impact was on special teams. Between he and WR Tay Martin, they pretty much had almost every Kick and Punt return tackles.
Keith Abney II - Ended up with two tackles, 1 tackle for loss and came in during the Saints final drive for injury relief. Don't recall him getting victimized by anyone on the Saints.
Jimmy Rolder - Inactive
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