The Good, Bad and Ugly From Detroit Lions Preseason Loss to Bengals

On Thursday, the Detroit Lions saw their first action of the year with the preseason opener. While the Lions sat many of their starters, the loss did not sting any less as they fell 16-14 to the Bengals.

The game featured some hope and plenty of teaching points for the coaches in the upcoming weeks. What went well for Detroit, and what needs improvements? Here was Thursday’s good, bad, and ugly.

The Good

Pass Rush

Despite Aidan Hutchinson, D.J. Wonnum, and Derrick Moore all sitting out on Thursday, the Lions generated plenty of pressure. Ahmed Hassanein made a massive push for a roster spot, getting in on two sacks and generating additional pressure while also hustling to the ball on what was later ruled an incompletion.

Skyler Gill-Howard and Eric O’Neill each added their own pressures on the night, along with a strong night from UDFA Anthony Lucas.

Run Game

The Lions showed a strong push in the run game during the playcalling debut for Drew Petzing in Detroit. Jacob Saylors saw plenty of touches and finished with 55 yards in the first half. Kye Robichaux and Raheem Blackshear took the bulk of snaps in the second half, each finishing with over 30 yards, including a Blackshear 24 yard scamper.

“If we came up with anything positive, he (Saylors) had most of it,” Campbell said when referring to Saylors’ first half effort.

Luke Altmyer added a two-point conversion on a read option to further solidify the solid night.

Additional Lions Insider Analysis: Who Suited Up For Dan Campbell Against Bengals?

The Bad

Turnovers

The Lions met a familiar foe to start the year, with primary quarterback Luke Altmyer committing three turnovers in his first preseason action. Altmyer had an up-and-down night, with more good than bad for the UDFA from Illinois.

A perfect strike to TeSlaa bounced off the Arkansas product’s facemask for a turnover, plus a bad exchange with the ball in the rain gave Altmyer two turnovers. In his later action after calming down, Altmyer led a scoring drive but proceeded to throw an interception on his first chance for a go-ahead drive in his career.

The turnovers do not matter in the scorebooks for preseason, but these issues must be corrected before the games count in the record books in September.

Offensive Line Woes

As good as the offensive line was when rushing the ball, there was a lot to work on. The offensive line had some strong blocks, but a few bad blocks leading to sacks, including a bad block by Larry Borom where the tackle was ran through.

Altmyer held the ball too long a few times, leading to a few sacks late as well. However, the offensive line had multiple bad snaps and penalties, along with the occasional block that needs to be better in time for the season.

The Ugly

Discipline

It was not a pretty night in Cincinnati for the Lions when it came to team discipline. The offensive line saw guards Christian Mahogany and Miles Frazier each whistled for multiple penalties.

On special teams, Thomas Harper had two penalties, both of which severely hurt the field position battle in their situations.

Even on the last offensive play of the game, the Lions had a facemask penalty after the interception. The Lions ended the day with 9 penalties for 84 yards.

Injuries

The Lions already have had their own injury issues in camp, with Derrick Moore, Sione Vaki, Isiah Pacheco, and Cade Mays all being among the players not participating in the preseason contest from injuries.

The first preseason game did not take mercy on the team, either. Ennis Rakestraw Jr. was injured in the first quarter and did not return, although Dan Campbell sounded optimistic about his prognosis for next week's game in his post-game press conference.

Additionally, a few players in contention for roster spot battles exited with their own injuries. Mekhi Wingo and Jacob Saylors each got injured at points, along with Hassanein being slow to get up at one point.

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