Tag: Tate Ratledge

Five things to watch as the Lions face the Browns and their top-rated defense

Coach Dan Campbell thinks the Cleveland Browns’ defense is the best the Lions have faced so far this season.

The Browns (1-2) are coming off a big comeback win against the Packers, while the Lions (2-1) decidedly beat the Ravens on Monday night. The two teams meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field.

Both must guard against a letdown after big wins.

“What we talk about is our standards. We have to play to what we – the way we practice, the way we prepare, the way we play, it’s about our standards. Nothing else matters,’’ Campbell said.”And we’re very aware of what’s coming in here. That’s a big win those guys got. They had to fight their way back to get that W and they did everything right at the end of the game to get it done. And they willed that to happen, so they’ve got the fight in them.’’

The Browns overall defense and rushing defense are both rated tops in the NFL.

“This defense, I’ve already mentioned, I think is the best that we will have faced. Green Bay was damn good, but this defense is really good,’’ Campbell said. “So, we’ve got our hands full over there. And offensively, they’re going to ball control, (AB Joe) Flacco’s seen every look you could see, they’re going to lean on (RB Quinshon Judkins) the rookie. And so, we know what’s coming in here.”

Five things to watch:

ONE: Cutting through DE Myles Garrett and the Browns defense has allowed just 290 yards per game. Cleveland is also top ranked in rushing defense giving up just 57.3 yards per game. Impressive numbers but something will have to give since the Lions have the League’s third-best total offense with 394.3 yards per game and tied for second with 34.3 points per game. Detroit’s numbers might be higher if they had issues in  the opening loss at Green Bay. “They’re sound, they play hard, they rush hard. Obviously Myles (Garrett) is a big part of that,’’ Goff said about the Browns defense. “They’re good in the backend too, they’re really good in the backend. They’re good at every spot and that’s what these good defenses typically are. And they’re no different.”

TWO: As always, winning in the trenches will be key. Detroit’s offensive line has improved each week with rookie right guard Tate Ratledge coming on strong. “Yeah, it’s been great. And it’s just reps, it really is. For any of these young guys, it’s just more reps he gets, the better he’s going to be. And I think he’s played great,’’ Goff said of Ratledge. Last week the defense sacked Lamar Jackson seven times. Seven. Something for Joe Flacco and the Browns’ offensive line to think about.

THREE:  The Lions offensive versatility can’t be underrated. “With the personnel that we have we can pretty much do anything we want. There’s a lot of weapons, you saw the different personnel grouping and all the different formations,’’ offensive coordinator John Morton said. “We’re all trying to create mismatches, that’s the way I was taught.’’

FOUR: Look for Amik Robertson to take more snaps at corner instead of Terrion Arnold. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said he’s not down on Arnold, calling him a very young player (he’s 22) who is going through growing pains. “Amik has always earned his keep with me,’’ defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said. Joe Flacco has thrown just two touchdowns against four interceptions. 

FIVE: Good starts are key on both sides of the ball. The Lions scored on their opening drive in Baltimore but the defense gave up a touchdown on the Ravens’ opening drive. That’s not good enough for Sheppard. “I want to start the game with a 3-and-out,’’ he said.

PREDICTION: Lions 27, Browns 17

UP NEXT: Lions at Cincinnati Bengals, 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5.

Five thoughts from Lions Dan Campbell on day after loss to Packers

ALLEN PARK — A day after a 27-13 loss at Green Bay, Lions coach Dan Campbell said it’s back to basics for his defending NFC North champs.

“We had a lot of things where fundamentally we were off. We have to get our fundamentals back, we have to go back to work because it really is that simple,’’ Campbell said on Monday.  “Nothing is easy about it, but it is that simple to diagnose. The way you do it is to go back to work.’’

His list of deficiencies included not being good enough on third down on either side of the ball; digging themselves a hole early that they weren’t able to get out of; costly miscommunications at the worse times; and a few penalties that bit them;

“It wasn’t clean. We didn’t play well,’’ Campbell said. “We have to score 7 when we get in the Red Zone. We have to be able to run the ball.’’

FIVE THOUGHTS FROM CAMPBELL ON MONDAY:

ONE: Missed assignments (MAs) may have been expected from younger players but the number was over the top. “Youth played a part in it, we had some young guys that struggled yesterday. You don’t think it will be — I certainly didn’t go in thinking it would be the best performance that we would have all year — but it wasn’t good enough,’’ Campbell said. “The good news is there’s nowhere to go but up and up we will go.‘’

TWO: The Lions averaged just 2.1 yards per carry, down significantly from 4.7 ypc last season. Running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery returned, but the offensive line had two new faces in Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany and, of course, a new coordinator in John Morton. Everything starts with the run so no surprise the offense had its struggles and no gadget or fancy plays like last year. “We have to master bread and butter before you get to the other stuff. The other stuff won’t matter if we can’t find a way to run the football more than 2.1 per carry,’’ Campbell said. “That’s where everything starts for us. If we can’t, you’re out of play action, you’re out of everything.’’

THREE: The miscommunication on the revamped offensive line certainly was partially responsible for the run game issues. Ratledge is a rookie, Mahogany had only started 3 games previously and veteran Graham Glasgow had made the move from guard to center. “A couple times it’s like one guy doesn’t hear the kill or the check and everyone else gets it. Really there’s no excuse for that,’’ Campbell said. “It starts there so we have to make sure we’re as loud as possible passing it down and everybody’s got to get it. We have to make sure everybody gets it.’’

FOUR: Rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa was only on the field for three offensive plays but on one of them he hauled in a beauty of a touchdown catch. TeSlaa missed a day of practice last week with an illness which put him behind. “So it was going to be very limited, but certainly we’d like to use him more. Looks like he’s back and feels pretty good,’’ Campbell said. “It was good to see him make a play. He was only in three plays on offense but he did a good job on those three — made that big catch. We’re going to start trying to get him some reps.’’

FIVE: Continuity is big with Campbell and he is confident it will come. “It just takes a minute — real bullets, full speed, real opponents, working together, then you find your groove, you find your rhythm,’’ Campbell said. “All I’m concerned about is that I want to get significantly better than last week. I want to cut our MAs in half, I want to be much more efficient and productive, find a way to get some takeaways and protect the football. Then we’ll go from there and get better the next week.’’

UP NEXT: Chicago Bears at Lions, 1 p.m.. on Sunday at Ford Field.

Lions’ critical, untimely errors costly in opening loss to Green Bay Packers

A breakdown of 5 main reasons for the disappointing opener

Carrying big expectations and back-to-back NFC North titles, the Detroit Lions opened the season with a thud, a big one.

Detroit snapped a 3-game win streak at Lambeau Field with a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

“We didn’t play good enough, we didn’t coach good enough, including me, and we didn’t play good enough,’’ coach Dan Campbell said.

The coach told the team it’s tough to go in and certainly not play close to your best game.

“You hate starting the season out with a loss and as bad as that is, it’s not what it appears to be,’’ Campbell said. “So like I told them, let’s clean up the tape. We made some critical errors at the worst times possible. You don’t do those, you take those out of the equation; it looks different . you feel like it’s going to be a totally different scenario but we did make those critical errors at the worst time.’’

The offense, which didn’t score a touchdown until the waning minutes, could not get in gear.

“We never really got in a rhythm. We did for a couple of drives where we got it down there, then we didn’t finish. We weren’t able to finish with 7. We had to settle for 3, then we had an interception,’’ Campbell said. “Other than that we never got into a rhythm.”

The coach said he thought they would play cleaner but the mistakes are all correctable.

“Our players are accountable, they’re ready. Nobody takes it worse than they do,’’ Campbell said. “That’s the good news, we’ve got the right dudes.’’

FIVE REASONS FOR THE LOSS:

ONE: The new-look offensive line did not get the job done. Not only is the standard high for this unit, but they faced newest Packer Micah Parsons who moved along the line when he was in the game. As expected, he was a huge presence. It was a lot to handle for rookie right guard Tate Ratledge and left guard Christian Mahogany. Center Graham Glasgow was adjusting to taking over at center too. The line’s play was a big reason the run game could not get in a rhythm, averaging just 2.1 yards per rush. “When your run game is not quite clicking the way you want it to, that affects your play pass and then your’re down two scores then those guys are going to pin their ears back and that’s hard on any offensive line,’’ Campbell said.

TWO: On the other side, the Lions defensive pass rush was not effective and the secondary gave up too many big plays. Aidan Hutchinson was in the mix at times but did not record a sack or tackle. In his defense, he is always double-teamed but last season he had 7.5 sacks in five games. Linebacker Derrick Barnes’ pick-six was negated by a holding penalty.

THREE: Jared Goff has had better games, but he’s used to having better protection and more time to throw. He was sacked four times — including a late one by Parsons — and pressured early and often. Goff actually passed for more yards (31-38 for 225 yards) than Jordan Love (16-22 for 188) but Love threw a pair of TD passes. Goff had a late TD pass, but also a critical interception. 

FOUR: The offense did move the ball at times and ate up the clock, but couldn’t finish when they got to the Red Zone. New coordinator John Morton can certainly take part of the blame but the players need to look in the mirror.. They were just 1-of-4 in the Red Zone which is not good enough and, worse yet, they were 5-of-15 on third downs. “I thought they had a good plan but that doesn’t take away from us doing what we needed to do,’’ Campbell said.

FIVE: Before the game, Campbell said mistakes were key to the outcome. Six penalties were costly. Mistakes made on both sides of the ball. More was expected. He mentioned “critical errors” several times in his post-game presser but was confident they are correctable.

BONUS: Lions rookie  WR Isaac TeSlaa made an amazing touchdown catch late in the game. It was the offensive highlight and a sign of things to come from the Pride of Hudsonville. If you haven’t seen the video, check it out. 

UP NEXT: Chicago Bears at Lions, 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14 at Ford Field. The Bears face the Vikings on Monday Night Football in their season opener.