The Good, Bad, And Ugly From Detroit Lions Preseason Win Over Colts

On Saturday, the Detroit Lions concluded their preseason with a 25-16 win over Indianapolis that was more one-sided than the score suggested. The Lions fired off strong and ended their preseason with a 2-1 record.

In the last chance for players to offer their game tape before the 53-man roster is finalized, multiple Lions came out with something to prove, while others fell flat and hurt their chance for a roster spot after 6 p.m. EST on Sunday.

What were the good, the bad, and the ugly of Saturday’s win?

The Good

Offense Was Prolific

On Saturday, the Lions struck hard and often against the Colts. After some mistakes put Detroit down by six, the Lions fought back and showed what Drew Petzing’s offense could look like on all cylinders.

During the first half, the Lions ended with three straight touchdown drives over 70 yards. The offense was humming, with pass catchers making plays, namely Lucky Jackson, along with the tight end room having a strong day, with a Jackson Meeks touchdown and multiple Zach Horton catches.

The run game was as spectacular as it has been all preseason, with Jacob Saylors making multiple plays along with Trayveon Williams adding his own solid runs and a touchdown.

The offensive line stayed relatively penalty free, and the few sacks they allowed tended to be from quarterbacks holding the ball too long.

Pass Rush Continued to Impress

The Detroit pass rush made the backfield’s job easy, as multiple Lions were in danger of being charged rent in Indianapolis’s backfield by the end of the game. Myles Adams got home multiple times, including a sack.

Fellow defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard finally got his first preseason sack. Eric O’Neill and Anthony Lucas each had their own pressures, along with blitzes making the Colts quarterbacks uncomfortable, with another excellent Keith Abney pressure.

Ahmad Hassanein got in the backfield during a Colts redzone situation, and it flushed Riley Leonard from the pocket into a panic throw, where he was picked off by Ennis Rakestraw.

The Bad

Quarterback Play Did Not Inspire Confidence

Overall, neither Joshua Dobbs nor Luke Altmyer did enough to secure the backup job, and it is possible that the Lions will look for a trade or the waiver wire for their backup to Jared Goff during the regular season.

Dobbs was better than Altmyer, but a fumbled snap exchange with first-time center Mason Miller meant that it was far from a flawless day. Additionally, he missed a wide open Jacob Saylors for a touchdown when under some pressure.

Altmyer, meanwhile, had the day he could not afford if he wanted to make the 53-man roster. The undrafted free agent had an interception and was sacked hard twice, with the first being a forced fumble that Indianapolis recovered.

The Ugly

Turnovers

While the penalty issues were cleaned up, the offensive mistakes remained, but this time in the form of turnovers. Altmyer had two turnovers, as mentioned above, both of which were direct results of mistakes. His interception came after Lucky Jackson failed to run a route, setting up to block Sauce Gardner in the middle of a passing situation. That threw Gardner into a passing lane, and the rest was history.

Altmyer’s fumble occurred in a situation where he held onto the ball much too long, and then was unable to take the sack or throw the ball away.

Dobbs had his own near-miss with a giveaway, while running backs Roydell Williams and Treyveon Williams were not as lucky. Treyveon Williams ran into Joe Bachie on a kickoff return and coughed the ball up, while recently signed Raydell Williams was stripped from the ball when getting a first down on a short yardage situation.

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