Every week during the regular season Tim Twentyman will answer 10 good questions from his Twitter account @ttwentyman in a feature we call "10 Questions with Twentyman."
20man: When I watched the Week 1 Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills matchup, I thought Buffalo really exploited Baltimore's secondary, especially when Bills quarterback Josh Allen had time to throw or extended plays with his legs.
The latter isn't a big part of Jared Goff’s game, but he's one of the best in the NFL navigating within the pocket. If Detroit's offensive line gives him as much time to throw as they did last week against the Chicago Bears, there should be plays to make as the Ravens' defense gave up nearly 400 passing yards in that Week 1 loss to Buffalo.
20man: That's why it's important to have good people managing the cap and the Lions do in chief operating officer Mike Disner and senior director of football administration Charlie Adkins. Both are very well respected around the league.
I'll admit I'm not an expert on the cap, but there are creative ways to manage it in terms of void years added to new contracts to lower yearly cap impact or transforming base salary into signing bonus, which is then prorated and spread out evenly over the remaining years of the contract to lower yearly cap impact.
The NFL is experiencing unprecedented revenue growth that could continue to accelerate the salary cap number. The cap jumped $23.8 million alone from 2024 to 2025 going from $255.4 million to $279.2. If that number keeps tracking like that, it will be easier.
There's always ways teams can get under the cap if they really want to keep or add elite players. They would have to give up something in return somewhere else and that usually comes at the expense of depth.
20man: Completely on board with rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa. I think he'll steadily be worked more into the offense and that will be fun to watch because the youngster has a lot of potential. I'd have a ton of confidence if I was Goff throwing a 50-50 ball up to him in one-on-one coverage based on him making plays when given the opportunity.
Second-year cornerback Terrion Arnold is someone the Lions need to play better moving forward. He's been targeted 16 times in two weeks and allowed 11 receptions (68.8 percentage) for 176 yards and a touchdown. Opposing passers have a 126.0 passer rating when throwing at Arnold. He did have an interception taken away because of a penalty, but overall he'd probably be the first to admit he needs to be more consistent moving forward.
20man: I think it's a good point mentioning the importance of Alim McNeill’s impending return to the lineup, which could potentially come as early as next month. Ask anyone who's ever played the quarterback position and they'll tell you the most disruptive pass rush is the one that comes right up the middle.
McNeill was graded top 10 among all defensive linemen by Pro Football Focus last year and had 45 quarterback pressures despite missing three games plus the playoff loss. His impact is so huge for this defense because his disruption doesn't allow quarterbacks to step up to escape the edges. McNeill's return will have a big impact on the pass rush.
I'm glad you brought up rookie defensive lineman Tyleik Williams too. I stopped by his locker and chatted with him last week about his debut against the Green Bay Packers and he thought he played a little too timid. He said the plan Week 2 was to go out and just play ball and I noticed it. He had a couple passes defended and was more disruptive overall. He'll just continue to get better.
Once McNeill returns and gets up to speed, just watch the impact he has from the middle and how it impacts everyone else around him. Not many people talk about that. Good observation.
20man: I tend to agree with you that there are no moral victories for a team with Super Bowl aspirations like Detroit. My only caveat to that is it's Week 3. Teams are still trying to figure out what they do well, what their weaknesses are and what they can hang their hat on the rest of the year.
If this was Week 10, I'd say it's win or bust. But going on the road, especially with how Detroit played in Green Bay in their first road test Week 1, playing a good team and playing them toe-to-toe and coming up just short, there's something to be gained from that early in the year.
It's all about building and getting better every week early in the season. Come midseason, it's go time, and teams expect to be playing consistent football with the goal to be playing their best football come December and January. There will be things learned and gained no matter the outcome Monday because we're so early in the season.
20man:
1. Detroit wins the turnover battle. Baltimore is too tough of an opponent on the road to lose the turnover battle and expect to win.
2. Goff must stay hot. Goff completed 23-of-28 passes (82.1 percent) for 334 yards and tied a career-high with five touchdown passes with a 156.0 passer rating in leading the Lions to an NFL-high 52 points in their Week 2 victory over Chicago. Baltimore gave up nearly 400 passing yards Week 1 to Buffalo. They're also dealing with some injuries on defense. Detroit needs to protect Goff and let him do what he does best.
3. Rally to the football defensively. Third down and red zone will be key stats Monday, but so are yards after catch and yards after contact in a game like this with so many explosive weapons on both sides. Which defense rallies to the football and limits the explosive plays after contact and after the catch? That will go a long way in determining the winner.
20man: We talked to Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard on Friday and he admitted there's no easy way to make Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson one-dimensional, no matter how defenses try to do so week in and week out. The plan is to try to keep him bottled up in the pocket as much as possible and limit his playmaking in space. Easier said than done.
Sheppard also talked about two things he thinks are going to be important Monday night. First, rally to the football and tackle well. Like I talked about above, it's imperative to limit Ravens running back Derrick Henry's yards after contact. Second, Sheppard is putting a big emphasis on third down. He thought they allowed too many plays on third down to Chicago last week, especially a few third and longs. He knows that they can't let Baltimore extend drives by converting a lot of third downs Monday.
Keep Jackson in the pocket, rally to the football and be better on third down. Those are the keys Monday for Detroit's defense.
20man: I do believe it's setting up that way for TeSlaa to be a bigger part of the game plan offensively in Baltimore. Whether that results in more targets/receptions is really up to TeSlaa and how the Ravens' secondary decides to play him.
I get a sense that TeSlaa has gained Goff's confidence after the plays he's made the first two weeks. I don't think there would be any hesitation from Goff to give TeSlaa a 50-50 ball, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see one of those in the red zone Monday night. Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said TeSlaa is getting better each and every week and gaining more trust from everyone around him.
20man: This game is a great test for Detroit's defensive front. Can Sheppard come up with a good rush plan to limit Jackson's explosiveness outside the pocket? Can the front impact the run game and limit Henry like Cleveland did so well last week? Can they speed up Jackson's clock and force a key mistake or two? This is a huge contest for Detroit's defensive front.
20man: I might be the only one on the beat with quarterback experience, but that was a long time and many pounds ago in my high school days.
I'd probably go with Will Burchfield. He's still got those young legs and he's active playing hockey. Admittedly, there aren't many good options in the room. Dave Birkett could have some elusiveness to him as a basketball player, but I'm going with Burchfield.
