The Detroit Lions executed when the game hung in the balance, mounting a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to break a deadlock in overtime.
Once they breached the end zone, they exceeded their scoring average from a season ago.
Then, minutes later, they prevailed 31-30 over the New Orleans Saints in their season opener Sunday, Sept. 13, at Ford Field.
The Lions’ offensive players should have been satisfied in the aftermath of their thrilling victory. But listen to them.
“I just feel like overall … we all could have been better, me included,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said.
“We had good stretches of plays,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “It just wasn’t all game. And that’s where we hurt ourselves.”
“We gotta clean things up and learn from them,”
right guard Tate Ratledge said.
They all seemed to agree they didn’t operate at an optimal level in their 2026 debut. The statistical evidence supported that assessment. Seven drives ended with a punt. Four possessions spanned just three plays.
The Lions’ longest gain was a 22-yard catch by Jameson Williams in overtime. Their third-down conversion rate was below 40%.
The offense wasn’t that efficient, it didn’t have much pop and it really wasn’t that balanced.
Running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 34 touches – 24 more than any of his teammates. Lions coach Dan Campbell declared in the spring Gibbs would be the team’s “bell cow,” and he wasn’t lying.
New coordinator Drew Petzing kept calling Gibbs’ number. The urge to make Gibbs the main vehicle for his strategy was understandable. Gibbs is one of the most dynamic players in the NFL and has the power to change a game in an instant.
But when the Lions’ offense has been at its best, it has showcased its versatility.
In 2024, during his final year as the play-caller, Ben Johnson gave the ball to Gibbs a lot. But he made sure St. Brown, Williams, Sam LaPorta and former Lions running back David Montgomery got their hands on it plenty of times, too. Gibbs handled 32% of the Lions’ total touches that season.
On Sunday, he accounted for 58% of them. Twenty-nine of the Lions’ 33 rush attempts went to Gibbs – and four more carries by Gibbs were negated by penalty. He also caught five of Goff’s 26 completions.
By the end, he netted 186 yards from scrimmage.
“That guy's our hot hand,” Campbell said.
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The Lions didn’t want to let go of it, and in turn, they became dependent on him.
It seemed no coincidence then that on four of the Lions’ five scoring drives, Gibbs ripped off a run longer than 10 yards. It’s also not surprising Gibbs either wasn’t involved or didn’t make much of a positive impact on the nine possessions that yielded no points.
In fact, Gibbs was solely responsible for the negative outcome of the Lions' fifth drive. On the first snap of the possession, he lost a fumble after Vernon Broughton yanked the ball from his grasp.
As Gibbs went, so did the offense.
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“It was Jahmyr, Jahmyr, Jahmyr, Jahmyr, [Jameson Williams], me,” St. Brown said.
St. Brown, a two-time first-team All-Pro, must have felt like a supporting actor.
Although he made 10 catches for 67 yards and scored two touchdowns, the ever-reliable receiver took a backseat to Gibbs. So did everyone else.
But Petzing’s desire to lean on Gibbs may have had a deleterious effect by preventing the Lions from opening other parts of their offense. The downfield passing game, for instance, never materialized.
Goff unleashed only two passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air, according to Pro Football Focus. He spent most of the time throwing the ball underneath the Saints’ two-high safety shell. As a result, Goff generated only 206 yards through the air – a meager total considering he had 39 attempts.
He later told reporters New Orleans wasn’t “allowing” him to go deep.
“They had a good plan,” Goff said.
But Petzing struggled to dismantle it because he didn’t do much schematically to create space for his most dangerous skill players.
Consequently, his plan left a lot to be desired. So did the execution of it. The players, at times, dropped the ball literally and figuratively. Williams let one of the two downfield throws Goff made slip through his fingers and fumbled a pitch on an end-around in the first half.
The Lions also committed four offensive penalties, including two holding infractions that caused them to stall. At times, the pass protection failed.
One drive died in the second quarter, when Chase Young beat left tackle Penei Sewell and walloped Goff from the blindside – the Lions were fortunate a fumble return touchdown on the play was overturned. It was one of eight quarterback hits New Orleans recorded during an afternoon when Goff was sacked once.
“Jared was on the ground too much,” Ratledge said. "We want to keep him up as much as we can.”
But the leaks in the offensive line or unforced errors shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering the team’s top starters didn’t play in the preseason. For Goff, Gibbs, Sewell, St. Brown, Williams and LaPorta, this was the first time they faced outside competition since January in Chicago in Week 17. At times, they looked out of sync.
“But that’s Week 1,” said St. Brown. “I think that’s expected, kind of going complete, full live against another team for the first time. It’s kind of like that.”
The rust was evident.
So were the kinks.
Petzing will have to untangle them rather quickly. A road matchup Thursday with the Buffalo Bills awaits.
For one night at least, though, Petzing can rest easy. The Lions are 1-0 after he was able to get Goff and Co. across the finish line in overtime.
“It's his first game of the year too, like for all of us,” Goff said of his first-year offensive coordinator. “We're all kind of feeling it and feeling what's best, where to go.”
On Sunday, Petzing went to Gibbs over and over again. But in the future, he should consider tapping into the Lions’ other sources of production more frequently.
Otherwise, the offense won't reach its full potential and will instead have more days like this one – where it does just enough to allow the Lions to squeak by.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions' offense didn't come close to reaching full potential vs Saints
