The New York Jets are on the road on Sunday for the 3rd game of their 2026 campaign. They will be facing the Detroit Lions. The Lions are 1-1 on the year. They are coming off a rough 41 -31 loss to the Buffalo Bills last week after squeaking by the New Orleans Saints 31 – 30 the week before.
Previewing this matchup, Ryan Mathews, Senior Editor at Pride of Detroit, was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding the 2026 Detroit Lions.
1. The Lions have had all kinds of problems on defense so far,
ranking 31st in the NFL in both yards allowed and points allowed. Is that just a product of who they’ve faced, or are there deeper underlying problems here? What have been the main issues so far?
There’s certainly something to be said about the quality of opponents they faced in the first two weeks. Buffalo’s offense ranks first in EPA/play this season, and New Orleans had the 11th ranked offense in that same statistic last week against Baltimore. But it would be a bald-faced lie to suggest the Lions defense simply found themselves up against two great offenses and there’s not much they could have done to prevent what happened. The Lions defense looked stout in the first half against the Saints in Week 1, but ever since then, they’ve been taken to task: Detroit has allowed points on 11 of their last 14 drives, 10 of them going for touchdowns.
The underlying problem has been missed assignments and miscommunication plaguing the backend of their defense. Detroit’s secondary is at the center of their issues, but the defense has dramatically underperformed in just about every aspect: defensive penalties to keep drives alive, not getting off the field on third down, allowing bad plays to snowball and lead to further miscues and mistakes. It’s been a nightmare, and a lot of the attention has turned toward Kelvin Sheppard, Detroit’s defensive coordinator who took over last season for Aaron Glenn. Some theories suggest Sheppard needs to simplify things a bit, let his players play without overloading them mentally which seems to be leading to some of these breakdowns in coverage. Time is ticking for the Lions to get these things cleaned up sooner rather than later when the offense is, for the most part, pulling their weight, putting up 31 points in back-to-back weeks.
2. The Lions looked like Super Bowl contenders two years ago before having an off year last year. Of course these things are relative, as a 9-8 season would be a minor miracle for the Jets, but for the Lions it was an off year. Are you expecting a big bounce back year this year? If so, what are the factors which should make a difference to the upside, and if not, why not?
Detroit’s season last year was the first true misstep of the Dan Campbell era. It felt like the first time the team failed to meet preseason expectations. Entering the 2026 season, the expectations are clearly marked as not only a return to the playoffs, but playoff success–something that escaped Detroit in 2024 when the injuries on defense were just too much to overcome. Those are more than fair expectations for a football team with as much top-end talent as this roster holds.
From the look of things to start the season, it’s going to be on the defensive side of the ball to reach their goals. From the coaching staff to the players, they’re going to need to coalesce and find some more consistent play, not putting the brunt of the load on the offense to constantly bail them out.
3. Could you give us a synopsis of what the 2026 Lions draft class has looked like so far, and what you expect from them as the year goes on?
We’ve only seen one week of real, regular season football from Blake Miller, the Lions’ first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Early returns have been very promising, he didn’t look out of place against the Saints in Week 1, but after suffering a knee injury and Detroit having a quick turnaround for “Thursday Night Football” against the Bills, the Lions opted to keep him on the sideline so he’d be ready for Week 3. Reports suggested he could have played last week had Detroit been afforded a full week of practice, so his health seems to be trending in the right direction–and it seems like the Lions are going to need him for this matchup with David Bailey.
As for the rest of this class, second-round pick Derrick Moore, an edge defender from Michigan, missed some time in the preseason with a groin injury, but had really impressed in training camp. He’s been on a bit of a pitch count as Detroit has folded him into the defense, playing limited snaps through the first two weeks of his NFL career–18 against the Saints in Week 1 and 17 the following week against the Bills. He’s got a strong bull rush and plays the run well, a staple amongst Lions’ defensive ends, so it’ll be interesting to see if he sees the field a bit more this week.
Linebacker Jimmy Rolder has been a healthy inactive so far through two weeks, Keith Abney was forced into play when injuries happened in Week 1, but he was a healthy inactive last week. One player who has played a lot is Skyler Gill-Howard, a sixth-round pick and former teammate of David Bailey at Texas Tech. He’s primarily a pass-rusher at this point in his development, effective in getting skinny and knifing through the offensive linemen along the interior. He’s played a healthy dose of snaps so far, more than expected, for sure.
4. Every team has a player or two who may be somewhat unfamiliar to other teams’ fans but is known to be an unsung hero by fans of his own team. Who are the Lions’ unsung heroes? If possible give us one guy on each side of the ball.
Full transparency, there’s only one player who comes to mind: Derrick Barnes. The veteran linebacker is in a contract season and he’s been one of the best players on Detroit’s defense through two weeks. He’s the team’s SAM linebacker, so he wears a lot of hats for this defense. He’s an edge setter, a pass rusher, a coverage guy; he does it all at the second level for Detroit. Barnes has an interception and a couple of sacks on the season so far, and he’s playing a ton in comparison to past seasons.
5. If you were an opposing head coach, how would you attack this Lions team on offense and on defense?
If I’m Aaron Glenn, I’m going to test this Lions’ secondary early and often. Despite Geno Smith being a turnover-prone quarterback, it’s not going to hurt the Jets to try and push the ball downfield with the likes of Garrett Wilson and Kenyon Sadiq lining up for New York. The key for the Jets in this one is to try and get ahead on the scoreboard early. If the Jets can dictate the game script, it can force the Lions to play outside of themselves by throwing the ball more than they’d like to.
In turn, that would give New York’s pass rush a chance to force negative plays and turnovers. It will be key for the Jets to slow down Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions running game, force them into third-and-long situations, and make Detroit feel as uncomfortable as possible in their own home. Jared Goff is at his best when he’s attacking the middle of the field, and while it’s easier said than done, if the Jets can get pressure with four and muddy the area in between the hash marks, it will give New York their best chance at shutting down this potent Lions’ attack on offense.
