Free Press sports writer Rainer Sabin highlights the best and worst performances from the Detroit Lions' survival of the New Orleans Saints, 31-30, in overtime in the Week 1 season opener Sunday, Sept. 13, at Ford Field.
Lions winners vs Saints
Derrick Barnes
Within a front seven that features Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Jack Campbell, Barnes is a bit of a forgotten man. But he drew people’s attention Sunday, and the Saints sure felt his presence in the third quarter. On the first play of the second half, Barnes stepped in front of tight end Noah Fant and intercepted Tyler Shough’s pass at the Saints’ 44-yard line.
The takeaway gave the Lions some much-needed momentum and the offense capitalized on it by scoring a touchdown. Not long after the Lions widened their lead to 14
points, Barnes dropped Shough for a 6-yard loss. The sack set up an obvious passing situation on third-and-long. And when Shough dropped back to throw on the ensuing snap, cornerback Roger McCreary slammed into Shough, forcing a fumble that led to another Lions touchdown. The impact Barnes made rippled throughout the quarter.
Jahmyr Gibbs
In the spring, Lions coach Dan Campbell signaled Gibbs’ workload was going to increase when he told reporters the star running back would be the team’s “bell cow.” Most assumed Gibbs would get more touches after his sidekick, David Montgomery, was traded to Houston in March. But it was unclear just how much would be added to his plate.
It turns out, a lot.
Gibbs was the focal point of the Lions’ offense, carrying the ball on 29 of the Lions’ 33 rush attempts and catching five passes. In total, he produced 186 total yards and scored the game's first two touchdowns.
Although Gibbs lost a fumble and had several negative plays, he was consistently the Lions’ biggest threat. They needed him to deliver results – and for the most part he did.
Aidan Hutchinson
The Lions’ best pass rusher came through again Sunday.
Hutchinson recorded two sacks and generated a team-high five pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
In the second quarter, he helped snuff out a Saints drive when he dropped Shough for an eight-yard loss.
Then, with the two-minute warning approaching in the fourth quarter, he toppled Shough 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Hutchinson, who was finalist for AP Defensive Player of Year in 2025, has already started to position himself for the award this season.
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Lions losers vs Saints
Jameson Williams
If there was one skill player who appeared ready to take a big leap this season, it was Williams. He had an outstanding training camp and showed signs he had evolved into a complete receiver.
But on Sunday, Williams struggled. In a span of six plays during the first half, he failed to corral two passes that probably should have been caught. One was a sure drop on a deep post. The other was a throw over the middle that Saints defensive back Quincy Riley appeared to slightly deflect. But it would only get worse for Williams. On the Lions’ next possession, he mishandled a pitch from Goff on an end-around and fumbled. Williams pounced on the ball. But he lost six yards. During an afternoon when he only contributed four receptions for 45 yards, his mistakes stood out.
Drew Petzing
John Morton’s debut as offensive coordinator didn’t inspire much confidence.
Nine weeks after the Lions mustered only 13 points in a loss to Green Bay, Morton was stripped of his play-calling dutie, He was then fired last January. Soon thereafter, Petzing was brought in revive an operation that regressed from an efficiency standpoint.
There was hope Petzing could create a facsimile of the high-octane attack Ben Johnson engineered from 2022 to 2024.
But if Sunday is any indication, he is not close to pulling that off. The Lions rarely looked explosive or dynamic. Their longest play from scrimmage was 22 yards. While Gibbs was consistently productive, Jared Goff authored a rather unexceptional performance. He threw the ball 39 times, completing 26 of those passes or 206 yards and one touchdown. The veteran quarterback averaged just 5.3 yards-per-attempt, which is subpar. Perhaps he was rusty. But Goff wasn’t the only offensive player whose numbers were down. None of Detroit’s talented pass catchers generated more than 67 receiving yards.
Petzing wasn’t able to extract enough production out of Lions’ deep corps of skill players. Like Morton’s first game as play-caller, Petzing’s debut left a lot to be desired.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions winners and losers: Forgotten man clutch, Jameson Williams slumps
