After waiting all day for “Sunday Night Football,” the Detroit Lions faced and lost to the Carolina Panthers 32-26. These games are always worse when you’re waiting all day for your team to put in a tough performance. Detroit falls to 2-2 and faces plenty of questions after just one month of football.
Here are my seven takeaways from the Lions’ Week 4 loss to the Panthers.
Detroit’s (lack of) discipline is worrying
Penalties have been an issue for the Lions this season, primarily on offense, as they continue to kill successful drives. Of the nine penalties imposed on Detroit, seven were offensive. While the defense struggles to get stops, the offense keeps things going backwards and makes life more difficult for itself.
The defense had a nearly flawless game with just one penalty, and the special teams took one for a better punt opportunity, but the offense can’t seem to get out of its way. With a defense playing as poorly as it has, the offense can’t make life difficult and fall back. I understand that the offense shouldn’t play perfectly, but some of them are simple and come at the worst times.
With just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Detroit was called for delay of game and false start penalty. So now, down 13 and needing a touchdown, it takes 20 yards to move the chains and keep hope alive. Detroit failed in this attempt on a hook and ladder game. If none of these penalties, or perhaps just one, are called, Detroit has a better chance of getting a first down and scoring.
Same thing, different week for the Lions secondary
It’s not a good thing when Panthers quarterback Bryce Young starts the game 11 of 11, the most consecutive completions to start a game in his career. The Panthers were without their leading receiver, Jalen Coker, and their third wide receiver, Xavier Legettue. Despite trailing two of three starters, Young and his passing game were successful with the Lions secondary.
Young was on fire, finding wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan for 14 catches, 192 yards and two touchdowns. Detroit’s secondary couldn’t keep up as Young threw for 329 yards, with a completion percentage of 70.7 percent. The RPO and quick passing game killed them over and over again.
I’m not sure the return of safety Brian Branch will solve all the secondary issues, as he won’t instantly play every snap or be the same player right away. It will take a few weeks for him to return as a full-time starter, so if the Lions hold on and believe he will be the saving grace, it could be another tough season for the defense. The trade deadline is November 10, so time is of the essence.
At least the tight ends were slowed down
Even though the Panthers’ receivers were successful, the tight ends weren’t as dangerous as expected. Tommy Tremble had four catches for 12 yards, while Darren Waller was the top tight end with three catches for 36 yards, and even third-stringer Mitchell Evans caught one for 8 yards. The Lions were struggling against tight ends before Sunday night, so not having them as a factor helped the defense. Detroit better take this good film against tight ends and prepare for Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride next week.
Gibbs is not used as much as he should have been
Entering the game, the Panthers’ run defense ranked last in yards allowed and yards per carry allowed, and tied for most touchdowns allowed. So, Detroit ran the ball a lot, right? How about 15 runs while throwing the ball 52 times? Sure, the Panthers secondary is missing both starting cornerbacks, but how can we not attack the run more?
The game went to a shootout, and with Detroit trailing by double digits in the second half, I understand why you need to slow down the running game, but abandoning it completely just didn’t feel right. Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs is one of the best running backs in the NFL; it needs to be used more.
Although the offense didn’t do itself any favors with some drives stalled due to penalties, it seemed to want to focus more on the passing attack ultimately. I understand why, but when you have someone as good as Gibbs, you can’t put him aside. Goff threw for over 400 yards and in the end, it wasn’t enough.
Chuba Hubbard has Detroit’s number
It seems that some players are having the best games of their career against Detroit. Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard is one of them. He rushed for 125 yards against Detroit in 2022, his third best game ever. On Sunday night, Hubbard rushed for 122 yards, the fourth best game of his career, scoring twice and averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Hubbard is a solid running back, but it’s troubling that he continues to have these types of games against the Lions, who are known for stopping the run. The secondary is already struggling with issues, so if teams can run and throw on Detroit, every game is poised to be a shootout.
When do the changes come for the defense?
The team is one week away from the bye week; Do they wait until then to address anything, or should they be aggressive and make changes immediately? I think if you sign or trade for a player, you do it as soon as possible. This gives them a week to learn a few things and a week off to study and prepare for more playing time.
For coaching, I say you make these changes during the bye week. There’s no point changing everything a week before you have a week off, and players have to come back trying to remember what changed. I think it would be better to present the team with new changes after the bye week to show what will change and start fresh.
Should someone be fired? Maybe. WHO? I couldn’t tell you, but I don’t think firing defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will instantly solve all of this defense’s problems.
I think it’s too early to make such a drastic change, and Lions coach Dan Campbell has never fired a coordinator mid-season. Could Sheppard lose his defensive play calling duties? Maybe, but I don’t know who would get the green light to take over that part of his job, as Campbell is more of an offensive mind. This kind of change could also harm the culture and the locker room, so whatever happens needs to be done carefully.
Even though the Lions offense often couldn’t find the end zone, kicker Jake Bates did his job when asked to do so. He made all four field goals, including the longest at 54 yards, and made his extra point attempt. Unlike Carolina, Detroit doesn’t have this problem.
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