Early-morning football today as the Detroit Lions faced the New England Patriots in Munich, Germany. Detroit hasn’t played overseas since 2015, and they did a lot better than back then. Instead of losing 45-10, Detroit came out on top, winning 35-10, improving to 7-2. They’re back up above .500 overseas, improving to 2-1 in that regard.
Here are my five takeaways from the Lions’ 35-10 beatdown against the Patriots.
Aidan Hutchinson gives Lions fans PTSD
Let’s get the biggest negative out of the way. EDGE Aidan Hutchinson suffered a knee
injury early in the game while celebrating after sacking Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. It reminded multiple Lions fans of when former linebacker Stephon Tulluch got injured after celebrating as well. Hutchinson didn’t return after it was labeled a knee injury.
After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell didn’t have an update on Hutchinson.
No Hutch? No problem for the Lions’ pass rush
Unlike 2024, the Lions defensive line can still generate pressure without its best player, Hutchinson. Even without him, the line came away with three sacks. Team sack leader EDGE DJ Wonnum got a sack in his return after missing a game due to a concussion. Defensive tackle Alim McNeill is continuing to have a solid season and also got a sack.
With Hutchinson out, rookie EDGE Derrick Moore saw more playing time and stepped up, essentially replacing one Wolverine with another. Moore didn’t just get one sack, but he got two. Back-to-back games with multiple sacks is a good look for the rookie, who has needed time to adjust to the NFL.
The secondary helped out too, giving the defensive line time to get to either quarterback. This team has depth along that defensive line, which is why it can still be a problem even without Hutchinson. Hutchinson is certainly an important piece, but good teams can survive when their stars go down, and this unit didn’t fold without him this morning.
Amon-Ra St. Brown made the most of his return to Germany
All week, Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was talked about in his return to Germany. He has family ties and spent summers in the country, so he was excited to play football in front of their fans. Quickly, St. Brown balled out and made a huge play, scoring the first touchdown and giving Detroit the lead they would never give back.
St. Brown wasn’t done; he got another touchdown on a great play call by Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. St. Brown was due to have a big game in front of the German fans, and the Lions made sure of it. St. Brown finished with four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Gibbs helping case for MVP
While St. Brown dominated through the air, running back Jahmyr Gibbs dominated on the ground and through the air. New England has a strong run defense, allowing an average of 96.7 yards entering Sunday, ninth-lowest in the NFL. Detroit got left guard Christian Mahogany back after suffering an in-team suspension, and his return helped Gibbs too. All that said, Gibbs finished with 22 carries for 153 yards, two rushing touchdowns, and seven catches for 99 yards.
It’s great to see Gibbs play well against a respectable run defense. He’s the best player in the NFL trying to win the MVP trophy who isn’t a quarterback. He’s been dominant this season, with few poor performances, and when he has a solid game, he goes off. This offense was humming, and he was a big factor in it. He deserves the biggest push for the MVP trophy in December, when the focus starts to shift toward awards.
Jared Goff had an up-and-down performance
Despite Gibbs playing well and St. Brown scoring multiple times, quarterback Jared Goff had an up-and-down performance. While he threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns, he threw two interceptions, his first multi-interception game of the year. Goff was in his bag at times, throwing great passes to St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Gibbs. But Goff also made some head-scratching errant throws.
The first interception came off a bad throw to a covered St. Brown, where Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez picked it off as St. Brown fell. Even if St. Brown didn’t fall, he was still covered, and it was the first interception this year solely on Goff. He wasn’t hit as he threw it, and the receiver falling wasn’t a factor.
His second interception was even worse, as Detroit was inside the five on third down with less than 10 seconds left in the first half, a situation where you either score or throw the ball away. Goff instead threw a ball into coverage, where it was picked off, and instead of at least getting a field goal on the drive, the Lions came away empty-handed. Goff had some good throws and some bad ones, a roller coaster game that, luckily, the good outweighed the bad. If Gibbs and the defense didn’t play as well as they did, this game could’ve been closer.
