On Friday night, the Detroit Lions were in a position to walk away with a victory over the Atlanta Falcons in their first preseason game of the year but a David Blough fumble gave the Falcons a chance and they took it.
When all was said and done, the Falcons escaped Ford Field with a 27-23 come-from-behind win over the Lions.
Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Lions’ first preseason game of the season.
Jared Goff and the offense looked good
To me, the biggest takeaway from the first preseason game was how good Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions’ offense looked. In his only series, Goff was 3-for-4 for 47 yards and he looked very comfortable, thanks to his offensive line, which gave him all day to throw the ball. The drive was capped with a D’Andre Swift 9-yard touchdown run.
Aidan Hutchinson is going to be a problem for opposing offenses
There is no question about it that Aidan Hutchinson will have his ups and downs during his rookie season but if Friday was an indication of what is to come, he is going to be a major problem for opposing defenses. On his second snap of the game, Hutchinson easily broke through the Falcons’ offensive line for a tackle for loss and though he only played in one series, he had two tackles and looked like the Lions’ best defender.
The defense has to be better
In 2021, the Detroit Lions had arguably the worst defense in the NFL and that is going to have to change if they want to win games in 2022. Unfortunately, the defense looked pretty bad in the first half as they allowed the Falcons to do whatever they wanted to do. The biggest problem is that they allowed the Falcons quarterbacks to run for 82 yards and a touchdown on just 9 carries. The defense was better in the second half and I still believe they will be better in 2022 than they were last season.
David Blough outplays Tim Boyle
When it comes to the backup quarterback, there is no doubt that David Blough looked much better than Tim Boyle did against the Falcons. Blough did have the costly fumble late in the game but before that, he did a lot of good things as he completed 18 of 28 passes for 141 yards. Boyle, who was 9-of-16 for 111 yards and a touchdown to go along with an interception, did make a couple of solid throws but outside of that, he was pretty bad. Advantage Blough after one preseason game.
Nation, if you happened to watch Friday’s preseason game between the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons, what was your biggest takeaway?
