Detroit Lions

Lions' biggest weakness exposed in Ravens rout, but there's no reason to panic

Published Oct. 22, 2023 4:44 p.m. ET

Every NFL team, even a good team, is usually good for one each season.

A poor matchup, a showdown that renders the game plan useless and gets so out of hand that it makes you rack your brain for what could have possibly happened.

The Detroit Lions' 38-6 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore was that game.

We've already seen this happen to good teams around the league this season. The Cowboys suffered an embarrassing loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3 — the Cardinals' only win of the season so far. The Miami Dolphins got dominated 48-20 by a good Buffalo Bills team in Week 4. Heck, the Bills have suffered multiple head-scratching losses this year, starting with Week 1 against the mostly Rodgers-less Jets — and extending into Sunday, when they inexplicably lost to the New England Patriots.

Does it mean the Lions aren't actually a good team? No. Baltimore was a tough matchup and a playoff-caliber team. Does it mean Detroit's performance should start regressing? No. It likely could mean the opposite.

All of those aforementioned teams bounced back from those losses a week later. The Lions should do the same. They get the Las Vegas Raiders next week, who just lost to a Tyson Bagent-led Chicago Bears team. Detroit then has their bye in Week 9. They'll come back from that to play the Chargers, the Bears, the Packers and the Saints. The Lions finish the season with the Bears again, the Broncos, the Cowboys and the Vikings on either side of Dallas.

That all means the Lions should be fine — or they definitely aren't the team we all thought they were. Given that schedule, the No. 1 seed in the NFC still isn't out of the question.

Sunday was just an example of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson's ability to play at an MVP level. The way he was able to extend plays for 10-12 seconds and escape any sort of pressure would have given any defense fits.

And while this Baltimore loss was just one game, the bad news for Detroit is that it did show other teams exactly what their greatest weakness still is: if you get quarterback Jared Goff out of rhythm, or never let him get into one in the first place, he won't be able to recover.

The Ravens won the trench battle with the Lions on offense; that much is clear. Right tackle Penei Sewell, one of the best players at his position, was goaded into multiple uncharacteristic holding penalties that killed a promising drive before the half. The stunts and twists Baltimore's front was running proved to be entirely too much for Detroit's offensive line to handle. As a result, Goff got hit, pressured and sacked more times than he has been all season. He was sacked a total of five times. He was hit another seven times.

Goff finished the day completing 33 of 53 pass attempts with running back David Montgomery out, for 284 yards and an interception.

The Lions ended up going four of 14 on third-down attempts on the day. They had just four first downs at the halfway point in the game. It meant they had just 25 net yards at halftime. Goff was 11 of 18 for 99 yards and the Lions' leading receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, had hauled in just four of his eight targets for only 32 yards.

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The second half didn't prove to be much better. Detroit got their only score of the game in garbage time on an impressive run by rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, marking his first NFL touchdown. The Lions' offensive tackles provided multiple downfield blocks to make it happen, but it was too little, too late. Playing from behind and missing Montgomery made the Lions' offense completely one-dimensional, which added to the pressure Baltimore was able to generate and added to Goff never getting into a rhythm.

The Ravens pulled Lamar Jackson with five minutes to go in the game. The Lions accepted their fate of having a bad game.

But that's all it has to be.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.