The Lions escaped Week 1 with a 31-30 overtime win over the Saints, but the national reaction was hardly a clean bill of health. Detroit is still winning, still dangerous, and still drawing the same warning label from across the league: the defense, especially the secondary, is a real issue.
That tension showed up all over this week’s power rankings. The Athletic moved Detroit up one spot to No. 8, but only after pointing out that the Lions were “saved when an apparent Jared Goff fumble was ruled an incompletion thanks to a statute many had never heard of before.” The same breakdown noted that New Orleans’ second-half surge exposed “several significant flaws,” even if Detroit remains 1-0 ahead of a big Thursday night matchup.
Yahoo Sports kept the Lions at No. 9 and focused on how close the game came to slipping away. Frank Schwab wrote that Detroit “almost blew a 21-0 lead” and needed to force an incompletion on a 2-point conversion in overtime to survive. He also included Dan Campbell’s postgame explanation, with the head coach saying, “I’m like, man, we’ve got to be more efficient on offense,” before adding, “We kind of spit and sputtered there and then they … had some tempo going.”
Sports Illustrated dropped Detroit to No. 10 from No. 8, while still crediting an offense that was “efficient” even in a slightly more conservative version than usual. Connor Orr also pointed to a wrinkle from new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, noting the move of Penei Sewell back to the right side and the way Detroit used that alignment to keep the Saints off balance. Still, Orr’s main concern was the same one hovering over the whole conversation: “The Lions’ secondary is going to be their cross to bear in 2026, but can the offense be so good it doesn’t matter?”
ESPN slid the Lions to No. 11 from No. 8 and spotlighted Petzing’s debut. Eric Woodyard’s excerpt highlighted an overtime drive that went 10 plays and 70 yards before Amon-Ra St.
Brown finished it with a 4-yard touchdown catch. The piece also noted that Jahmyr Gibbs logged a career-high 34 touches, and Jared Goff said Petzing “adjusted good” and “settled us down when we needed it and got us into the right plays.
USA Today kept Detroit at No. 12, and its comments were even more direct about the personnel losses in the back end. Nate Davis wrote, “If you didn’t think missing starting safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch was a big deal, then you didn’t see Saints QB Tyler Shough raid this defense for 410 yards through the air Sunday.”
Nick Shook also stressed the messiness of the opener, saying the Lions played with “a level of sloppiness typical of Week 1” before letting a big lead vanish and having to claw back for the overtime win. Vinnie Iyer called out “lingering concerns about their defense outside of Aidan Hutchinson,” then pointed to the offensive trio that bailed them out: Jahmyr Gibbs, Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St.
Brown. Pete Prisco was blunt too, saying, “They beat the Saints, but it was a lot tougher than expected.
The secondary is going to be a problem until they get their starting safeties back.”
In Other News...
Jake Bates Just Changed The Lions Conversation In A Big Way
Week 1 brought plenty of strange endings around the league, but none mattered more in Detroit than the way Jake Bates handled his first real test. In a season opener that ended 31-30 in overtime against the Saints, the Lions leaned on their kicker in a game that had to be decided one point at a time, and Bates answered by making all five of his kick attempts while accounting for seven points, including the extra point that finished it.
For a player who came into the season with preseason questions hanging over him, that kind of night changes the tone around the position immediately. The Lions are 1-0, and while the opener did not settle every concern in the building, it gave Detroit a clean look at a kicker who suddenly has a much different place in the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Holmes May Have Found A Lions Rookie They Can't Ignore
Skyler Gill-Howard arrived in Detroit with the kind of profile that usually points to a practice-squad path, not a quick climb into the game plan. But the rookie defensive tackle worked his way onto the 53-man roster and then made his presence felt right away against the New Orleans Saints, turning in the highest PFF defensive grade among rookie defensive tackles in Week 1 with a 71.6 mark.
For a Lions front that leans on depth and disruption, that kind of debut is exactly the sort of thing that gets attention in the building. Gill-Howard has already sounded comfortable with his role, and with Buffalo next on the schedule, the question now is whether his first real impression turns into something the Lions can keep counting on as the matchups get tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen A. Smith Just Turned One Lions Concern Into A Real Debate
The Lions got the season started with an overtime win over the Saints, but the way they arrived there left plenty of room for national second-guessing. On ESPNs First Take, Stephen A. Smith zeroed in on Detroits defense after the team squandered a 21-point lead, pointing to a performance that still looked too shaky for a club trying to build on last seasons momentum.
Smith had no issue with the offense, which again looked like the kind of unit that can carry a team for long stretches. His concern was whether the defense can clean up enough to keep Detroit in the division hunt and make the playoffs, and it is the sort of question that tends to linger until the Lions prove otherwise. [Read more 🡒]