Lions Lowdown

ALLEN PARK >> Tight end Eric Ebron had his lowest percentage of offensive snaps this season in Sunday’s win at the Vikings, while Darren Fells had his most.

Probably smart to not read too much into that. It could change on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers (3-1).

“We’re wrapped in different personnel groupings, they mix and match here and there,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said on Monday. “Next game you may see a few more or the other way around.”

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

Fells, who is 6-foot-7, was in on 73 percent of the offensive snaps, helping out left tackle Greg Robinson on blocking on most of them. He also tied a career single-game high with four catches. All four resulted in first-down conversions.

Fells, a former professional basketball player, was signed as a free agent after spending time with the Arizona Cardinals.

“Once we had him here we had a chance to look at his skill level on the line of scrimmage, and also receiving,’’ Caldwell said. “He’s got talent. You can see he’s a big body, he’s got nice hands and he knows what to do with the ball when he gets it. Those four first downs he was able to get were key, battling for them, driving forward and making a huge difference in the game. You haven’t seen the best of him yet, he’s getting there.’’

Ebron played in just 44 percent of the offensive snaps, finishing with a pair of catches for 27 yards.

“Eric’s doing good, he’s doing well. He made a couple nice catches for us that were huge catches, and a nice catch and run,’’ Caldwell said. “It doesn’t mean he’ll get 10 balls very game or five balls every game. When he gets an opportunity, he’s got to take advantage of it.’’

The previous week — in the loss to the Atlanta Falcons — Ebron was targeted seven times and made only two catches, with at least two drops.

His best game in the first quarter was in the win at the New York Giants in Week 2 when he had five receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.

Rookie tight end Mike Roberts was in for 31 percent of the offensive snaps. He had one catch for 15 yards, his first NFL catch.

About that Lions’ defensive line …

You know, the position group that most everyone thought would be the ruination of these 2017 Lions?

Uhhh, you can rest easy.

The Lions are not perfect but they have bust out of the gate with a 3-1 record.

The coaching staff, who had confidence in the line all along, obviously was right.

The defense has played well in all four games, but in the 14-7 win at the Vikings on Sunday they were something special. They won the game on a day that the offense struggled.

It might be the best Lions’ defense we’re seen in a few years.

And, of course it all starts with the defensive line.

Remember this is a defensive line missing three key players.

Kerry Hyder, the sack leader in 2016, is out for the season with a torn Achilles.

Defensive end Armonty Bryant and defensive tackle Khyri Thornton are both serving NFL suspensions. Thornton will be able to return after six games.

After serving a four-game suspension, Bryant is eligible to return to practice today (Monday).  Bryant had three sacks in five games in 2016.

In his absence, second-year defensive end Anthony Zettel has been huge.

Zettel finished on Sunday with his first career two-sack game. That brings his total to four sacks in four games to lead the defense. He also had three tackles, four quarterback hits and a fumble recovery.

“He’s been outstanding to this point. He’s a high-motor guy that just never stops, he battles through sometimes single and double blocks if he has to. He’s always coming, I love the way he plays,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said after Sunday’s game. “Because of that kind of effort he gives play after play after play, he’s always around the ball.’’

While Ziggy Ansah didn’t own any flashy stats on Sunday, he was a force on the opposite side from Zettel as he routinely was double-covered

It wasn’t just those two guys.

A’Shawn Robinson played well inside, Haloti Ngata too.

It’s early in the season, things could go wrong and probably will.

But the defensive line play is not an issue.

BONUS: In the post-game locker room, Haloti Ngata presented a game ball to linebacker Steve Longa who lost his dad on Thursday in a pedestrian accident in Pennsylvania. Longa had the option to go home and miss the game. Instead he played and was to fly back to Pennsylvania after the game. In his presentation, Ngata said he had lost his parents at a young age.

It was a typical hard-fought, gritty  NFC North game.

Thanks mostly to the Lions’ defense, Detroit topped the Vikings 14-7 at Minneapolis on Sunday.

With a 3-1 record, the Lions are tied with the Green Bay Packers atop the NFC North.

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

The defense deserves most of the credit for the win. Minnesota could not stay on the field. Detroit won the time of possession 35:24 to 22:53 in part due to the defense and also because the offense ran the ball.

“It’s one game, but the guys played hard. We’ve been playing good defense but we had a little hiccup in the last ball game a little bit, other than that our guys have been hanging in there. Taking the ball away I think that’s one of the things that made a tremendous difference there that we were able to cause some havoc with our guys knocking the ball loose that made a big difference in the game,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said.

The Lions host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday with the Panthers (3-1) coming off a big 33-30 win over the New England Patriots.

Matthew Stafford said the Lions haven’t played their best game yet, although he credited the defense and special teams with a high level of play.

“On offense we have to get it going a little bit,’’ Stafford said.

Here are five things to know about the win:

1. Defensive end Anthony Zettel had one of the biggest plays of the game — maybe the biggest — when he sacked Case Keenum for a 10-yard loss on third-and-goal at the Lions’ 4-yard line with 2:31 left in the fourth. It forced a field-goal attempt. The ball bounced off the left upright, so the Lions were able to hold onto a 14-7 lead. He also sacked Keenum in the second quarter. It was his first career two-sack game. Zettel now has four sacks in four games. Caldwell calls him a high motor guy who is always around the ball. It wasn’t all Zettel — the defensive line also had five quarterback pressures.

2. Cornerback Nevin Lawson got away with a few tugs and holds, but still he had a solid game, helping to hold the Vikings offense to 273 yards while their average for the first three games was 400.3 yards. Lawson had three tackles and two pass defenses along with two special teams tackles.

3. Safety Miles Killebrew always seems to find the ball and when he does he hits and he hits hard. Fox Sports Detroit’s Rob Rubick said the Lions haven’t had a safety who hits like that since Bennie Blades. That’s a long time ago. Killebrew had two pass defenses including one in the end zone. He had both hands on the ball but couldn’t hold on for the interception. Killebrew also had three tackles.

4. The Lions’ defense recovered three fumbles. Usually a team that wins the turnover battle wins the game. They won on turnovers last week but lost. Sunday they put things back in their natural order. That gives them 11 takeaways for the season with just two giveaways. It was even more impressive considering they were without starting middle linebacker Jarrad Davis (concussion/neck) and Paul Worrilow left the game early with a knee injury.

5. The offense did score 14 points, enough to win. Wasn’t a great day for Stafford (19-31, 209 yards) but in his defense he was sacked a half-dozen times. He had only been sacked six times in the first three games total. Ameer Abdullah rushed for 94 yards and would have likely hit 100 yards, but he didn’t play in the fourth quarter due to an ankle injury. Caldwell said after the game he could have gone back in. Abdullah scored the only touchdown on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.