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DETROIT — It  was the Cam Newton show most of the afternoon at Ford Field on Sunday.

The Panthers quarterback wasn’t perfect but he was close as Carolina defeated the Lions, 27-24.

The Lions, who  dropped to 3-2, play at New Orleans on Sunday.

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

Detroit’s defense, which has been its backbone in the first four games, didn’t have an answer for Newton.

Detroit’s offense was out of kilter too. And, that’s being nice.

Here are five reasons the Lions lost:

1. The Lions’ defense missed tackles and alignments consistently. Panthers wide receiver Ed Dickson tore them up with five catches for 175 yards. Newton finished 26 of 33 for 355 yards, that’s by far the most Detroit’s defense has given up this season. Coming in second was holding Atlanta’s Matt Ryan to 277 yards. “It just comes with preparation the way you prepare for a game, the way you set yourself up during the week,’’ rookie linebacker Jarrad Davis said. “You have to make sure you’re putting yourself in the best position in the game to where it’s second nature. it’s almost automatic you think about coming in flush and hitting a guy and cleaning up a guy without thinking about it. It’s muscle memory and repetition that’s going to create that.’’

2. The Lions offense didn’t find a rhythm until the fourth quarter and by then it was too late. “I wish I would have played better earlier in the game but I appreciate the effort our guys had, great battle. It’s a really good football team we just faced. We’ve got to find a way to play a little better on offense, especially early on,’’ said Matthew Stafford who was 23 of 35 for 229 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Tight end Darren Fells had two touchdown catches and Zach Zenner had a one-yard touchdown run.

3. Stafford blew off questions about his protection. Still, everyone at Ford Field could see that it was an issue. He was sacked six times which matches the same number against the Vikings in the win a week ago. It is an issue. One time he might not get up. In fact, he came up hobbling late in the game with a wonky right ankle. He wouldn’t address the injury situation after the game. The protection is not all on left tackle Greg Robinson, but part of it is. “I think that’s one of the things that we have to do is No. 1 for us, is protection for our quarterback. We got to be able to do well there,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said. “And now, here’s the thing, you’ll look at it and you’ll see some plays, but you may not know exactly what’s going on. It’s not just the offensive line. It’s not just – there’s a lot of people involved in protections, so we got to get that straightened out, all the people that are involved in that.”

4. The Lions were just 5 of 13 on third-down conversions. In other words, not enough. “There were a couple of third downs that were pretty manageable, you have to get those to stay on the field, those are big downs,’’ Zenner said. Tight End Eric Ebron dropped a pass in the end zone on a third-and-10 in the first quarter. In the third quarter on a third-and-1 Stafford couldn’t connect with Ebron. They went for it on fourth-and-1 on the next play and Zenner was stuffed by Julius Peppers for a 4-yard loss. “Those conversions, if you don’t get those, they’re going to catch up to you. Third down is a big down in this league and I think it’s one thing that showed today,’’ Zenner said. The Panthers converted seven of 16 third-down attempts.

5. In the first four games the Lions defense have 11 takeaways (seven interceptions, four fumbles recovered). On Sunday they had zero. “You get them where you can. We’d like to have them. We gave up one, we didn’t get any, but you still have to win ball games. That’s not how you strictly win by the turnover margin, you still have to execute as well. We just didn’t execute as well,’’ Caldwell said. The Lions lost a fumble to the Panthers so they’re plus-8 for the season on the takeaway/giveaway ratio. And, as Stafford said: “You don’t go into a game thinking the other team is going to make a bunch of mistakes, you go into a game trying to execute as well as you can.’’ The LIons didn’t execute and they know it.

BONUS: The loss is not all on Ebron but the tight end did not have a good game once again. He is a different type of tight end than Darren Fells (Ebron is faster, Fells is taller and bigger) but once again Fells had a better game. Fells, a former professional basketball player, had just two catches (24 yards) but both were for touchdowns.”It just doesn’t boil down to one player. We had a number of things go wrong,’’ Caldwell said when asked about Ebron.

 

DETROIT — Lions middle linebacker Jarrad Davis returns today to face the Carolina Panthers at Ford Field.  The rookie missed two games with a concussion and knee injury. He had been listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report.

No other surprises among the inactives. All Lions starters are a go.

Ziggy Ansah, Travis Swanson, Rick Wagner, Tahir Whitehead and Don Carey were listed as questionable on Friday but all are active.

Wide receiver Kenny Golladay (hamstring), running back Dwayne Washington (quad) and linebacker Paul Worrilow (knee) were ruled out on Friday. It’s the second straight game that Golladay has been out. It’s the third for Washington and the first for Worrilow.

Other inactives: Cornerback Teez Tabor, running back Tion Green, linebacker Thurston Armbrister and guard Tim Lelito.

Panthers inactives: DT Vernon Butler, C Ryan Kalil, QB Brad Kaaya, OT John Theus, CB LaDarius Gunter, S Demetrius Cox and S Kurt Coleman.

Cam Newton made headlines this week for all of the wrong reasons. But don’t expect that it will be a distraction when his Carolina Panthers play the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday.

Just expect two 3-1 teams going about their business.

No doubt, the mobile Newton can be a challenge for defenses. But the Panthers haven’t played this year’s version of the Lions’ defense.

Five Lions to watch:

1. Matthew Stafford ha thrown 137 passes without an interception. He’s coming off a win at the Vikings in which the Lions’ offense wasn’t all of that. In his defense, he was sacked six times. “Let’s say I’m not referring to the streak that he’s on right now. I’m just going to say that obviously he’s done a nice job in terms of navigating some very difficult terrain with a lot of people around you, getting the ball down field, making the proper decisions,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said. “There may have been a time or two that he maybe had to take a sack as opposed to throwing it up in the air. But I think he’s done a really nice job at that. But I think he’s been doing that for a while now when you look at just his trajectory over the years, he’s been improving in that area consistently.

“And we constantly preach that that’s the most important part of what we do is to win that turnover battle and so I think everybody’s kind of bought into it at this point in time. But we haven’t had any of those freaky interceptions. Sometimes it happened where there’s nothing you can do about it. You throw, it bounces off a guy’s hands and up in the air of another guy, and all you see is on the stats sheet, there was an interception but a quarterback there’s a lot of other factors involved,’’ Caldwell added.

2. Ameer Abdullah ran for 94 yards at Minnesota. Part of what makes the running back special is that h finds yards when it appears there is nowhere for him to go. “Really good runner, makes some plays, puts it where it needs to be a lot of times and then creates a lot, which is what you want out of a running back,’’ offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. “So, he made some nice runs last game, really high effort runs, kept fighting for yards and some of those ended up being really huge runs for our team. So, Ameer’s a good player, hope he keeps improving, getting better and let’s keep this thing going.”

3. Theo Riddick has not had a breakout game in the first quarter. “I think he gets attention. Whether that’s more than the past, it probably is a little bit, I mean I’m sure guys have their scouting reports and No. 25’s on there,’’ Cooter said. “He’s run a lot of routes over the years where he’s beaten guys and gotten open. I wouldn’t say defenses are drastically changing their structure, but every now and then might be a vital call, where Theo may have been one-on-one in the past and now he’s sort of doubled. There’s also been a time or two where he’s gotten open and we hadn’t hit the pass or whatever. It hasn’t been these things all happen during the year, especially for games like this. So, Theo’s still doing a really nice job, Theo’s going to be really productive for us.’’

4. Quietly TJ Jones has been quietly productive averaging 16 yards per catch with eight catches for 128 yards. “TJ’s extremely reliable. Good quickness, gets open a lot, catches the ball, versatile, can play multiple positions at receiver. Intelligent, can handle a pretty heavy workload mentally,” Cooter said. “Sometimes we put a lot on certain guys and he’s one of those guys. He’s been around here awhile, he’s been in a spot where he’s sort of playing every spot or maybe backing up every spot. Now, he’s in a spot where he’s sort of playing a bunch of reps, but he’s still expected to be able to play every other spot in the offense, and sort of handle the week-to-week mental challenge of different defensive looks, and who do I block on this play, and how are we running this route, is it a little different than last week, and all that stuff. He’s really good at that, the quarterback trusts him, where he’s going to be and I think that’s really valuable. TJ’s done a nice job, he’s got to keep coming, he’s not a finished product either, but we’re happy with TJ, he’s having a good year so far.”

5. Tahir Whitehead moved to the outside linebacker position after Jarrad Davis was drafted. “I think Tahir has embraced every time he’s moved. I don’t think he has to embrace anything. He likes playing football and he just wants to help our team win. So, I think that’s the big thing. He’s played well,’’ defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “He’s bounced around a little bit in terms of position but everywhere he’s been, he’s been productive for us. He just really has – again, he’s playing well this year. He’s playing probably more confident than ever. I guess that comes with being in the same system for a while. You kind of know the ins and outs. He kind of knows me, knows what I’m going to call maybe at certain times. So, I think that’s been good for him, and he’s played really well. I’m really happy for him.’’

PREDICTION: Lions 27, Panthers 17