1. We start with the difference: It looked like the Lions were on the way to a big game game when they scored on their first possession — a one-yard run by Jamaal Williams to finish off a 75-yard drive – for a 7-0 lead.
But their biggest problem surfaced immediately. The defense had no answer for quarterback Jalen Hurts.
As head coach Dan Campbell put it without trying to be funny, “Hurts hurt us.” He rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown. He was especially effective on third down, keeping possessions alive when it looked like the Lions had him stopped.
The Eagles answered back after the Lions had scored on their possession with a 13-play, 75-yard drive to a tying TD. Hurts scored it on a one-yard run around right end that fooled the Lions’ defense to such a point that Hurts literally walked into the end zone.
He completed 18 of 32 passes for 243 yards, with no TDs or interceptions. The Eagles piled up 455 yards against a Lions’ defense that was supposed to be better but showed, instead, there’s a lot of work to do.
That first possession was the start of a chain of three touchdowns that gave the Eagles a 21-7 lead.
“I think about what mistakes they made,” Campbell said. “They really didn’t (make any). They executed well. We struggled with their quarterback. Hurts hurt us.
“We had a lot of ‘almost in position.’ We just couldn’t close it out.”
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