Getty ImagesThe good news for the Detroit Lions is that they’ve made it into the red zone in each of their first three offensive possessions of the season. The bad news is that two of those three possessions ended with Matthew Stafford interceptions.
The Lions had first-and-goal inside the 5-yard line on their first possession when Stafford threw a terrible pass right into the hands of Rams rookie cornerback Janoris Jenkins. And the Lions were inside the 20-yard line on their third possession when Stafford threw a terrible pass right into the hands of Rams linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbarr.
Both Jenkins and Dunbarr got long returns, and the Rams kicked field goals on their possessions following both of Stafford’s picks. Fortunately for Detroit, the Lions’ defense has played well, and defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley are both getting a lot of penetration in the middle of the line.
Other than those two baffling interceptions, Stafford has been throwing the ball well, completing 14 of his other 16 passes. But those big mistakes are the reason this game is close.
UPDATE 2:09 p.m. ET: And just as we wrote this, Stafford threw his third interception of the game, this one returned for a touchdown by Cortland Finnegan, giving the Rams a 13-7 lead.
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Killing my fantasy team too. I’ve made a huge mistake.
Trust me when I say that none of us are real worried about it. He’ll be just fine.
I don’t think Stafford is going to be getting an airbrushed t-shirt this week…
Madden Curse. He was trying to throw to Megatron when Finnegan picked it off.
Well 13-10 at the half. Three turnovers for Detroit, none for the rams. Despite all the giveaways, no TDs for the rams offense. As a lions fan, i’m not too worried at the half.
Finnegan should get a $7,500 fine for picking up Megatron’s ear pad and throwing it towards the Rams sideline.
A lot of trolls are going to be talking trash about this first half. All I can say is watch the second half before you post something stupid here so you can avoid embarrassing yourself. You’ll thank me later.
Elite. I think not.
Rams have 90 some yards of offense in the first half. Not too worried.
Back to the cellar Detroit.
Welp, get em out of the way early, matt lol. NFL Week 1 craziness never ceases to amaze.
What’s with Larinitus jaw jackin?
Is he intimidating the receivers?
The lions drive me to drink.
54 years of utter frustration.
Ha, like I said at the half. Not too worried. Hopefully we just played our worst game of the year, escaping with the W?
Read the scoreboard. 1-0!!!
Lions 1-0. Lessons learned.
@whatchutalkinabouthillis
Same here. Even worse so with Matt Ryan sitting on my bench.
Oh well, a W is a W.
Baffling interceptions?? He was throwing straight to his guys, their defense just picked it up. Surprise. Surprise. All those rookies were a little underestimated and got under Matt’s skin. That wasn’t a win of confidence. That was a ” oh thank God” ! And the Rams were missing linemen on both sides of the ball. Got some work to do.
frustrating but they won
Lions were missing 3 starting secondary players (already a weakness), their top 2 rbs (already a weakness), and a couple depth players too. The fact that the only thing we are worrying about are a few interceptions when we know it won’t happen every week should tell you how far this team has come, lol.
suhdidntstompanyone, aren’t you the Lions fan who predicted that the Niners would go 0-2? Your team just barely got by the worst team in the Niners’ division, and at home to boot! And your QB, who just threw three ints against that team, has to go into SF and fact the Niners defense next week. Good luck and have fun watching the Niners o-line blow your man Suh five yards off the line over and over.