Week 3 has been weird as hell. The Bills almost shut out the Vikings, the Browns got their first win since 2016, and Tennessee beat Jacksonville at home in a game where Marcus Mariota didn’t have full feeling in his right hand.
How the Lions beat the Patriots to cap off a weird-ass NFL Sunday
The Lions ran the ball (!) and kept the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands to get their first win of the season.
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Sunday night brought more wackiness as the Lions beat the Patriots by a score of 26-10. Detroit’s struggling defense somehow shut down Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, holding the Patriots to 5.1 yards per pass attempt.
Matt Patricia was finally able to get his first win as a head coach, and against his old team. The Lions and Patriots both sit at 1-2, an unfamiliar record for the Patriots. They now have a worse record than the Browns and are two games behind the 3-0 Miami Dolphins in the AFC East.
Here’s how the Lions were able to knock off New England.
Detroit got some help from their running game!
Kerryon Johnson became the first running back to run for 100 yards in a Lions uniform since Reggie Bush did on Thanksgiving Day in 2013. Johnson barely got over the 100-yard mark as he finished the day with 101 yards on 16 carries.
Detroit should consider giving him a lifetime contract just for this feat.
His teammates were extremely excited for him — Detroit didn’t risk his day by putting him back in after he eclipsed 100 yards.
The second-round rookie ran hard and was efficient with his carries, and he wasn’t the only one. LeGarrette Blount also had some tough runs up the gut, wearing out the Patriots defense. Surprisingly, Blount also contributed as a receiver catching two passes for 17 yards — against his old team, no less.
Matthew Stafford bounced back with a strong performance
Stafford has had an up-and-down start to the season, but he was fantastic against New England. He was accurate all night as he completed 27 of his 36 pass attempts for 262 yards, two touchdowns, and threw just one interception. Most notably, Stafford had a great throw down the field to Marvin Jones for a touchdown:
Detroit’s defense came to play
The Lions knew what they had to do to win this game: keep the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands. First, they threw everything they had at Rob Gronkowski, and it worked. They held Gronkowski to four catches on give targets for 51 yards. They double teamed him relentlessly and forced Brady to throw to their other receivers, which didn’t work.
Without Gronkowski really being in the picture, the Lions corners were able to smother the Patriots. Outside of Gronkowski, the leading receiver was Chris Hogan, who had three catches for 31 yards.
It’s easy to see why the Patriots felt the need to trade for Josh Gordon after watching this game. Building a dominant passing game with Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, and Cordarrelle Patterson as the top three wideouts is difficult. The passing game will get a big boost when Gordon, who was inactive Sunday night, gets up to speed and Julian Edelman returns from his four-game suspension.
Detroit’s defensive line was fantastic tonight as well. They sacked Brady twice on 28 dropbacks and had six quarterback hits. This was especially surprising considering the fact that Detroit has had an inconsistent pass rush this year — it could be a sign of things to come for them this season.
Brady ended up completing just 14 of 26 passes for just 133 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
The game between the Lions and the Patriots was a fitting way to end an NFL Sunday that didn’t make much sense. But hey, any given Sunday.
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