Williams and Ratledge: Defensive lineman Tyleik Williams and offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, Detroit's first two picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, made their preseason debut Friday night. Williams played four series along the interior of Detroit's defensive front and showed his ability to push the pocket at times and play on the other side of the line of scrimmage, even though he didn't record a statistic. Ratledge also played four series and got some good work in. His best play was the last play of the first quarter when he pancaked Falcons defensive tackle Morgan Fox to open a big hole for running back Craig Reynolds. He allowed just one pressure all game pass blocking.
Hooker vs. Allen: The Lions are still figuring out who will be Jared Goff’s backup quarterback. Up to this point, neither Hendon Hooker or Kyle Allen had really separated themselves from the other, but Allen had the better performance Friday night. Allen came in in the second quarter and led an 80-yard scoring drive on his first series and finished the game 7-of-8 passing for 120 yards with two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 158.3 passer rating.
Hooker was 7-for-10 passing for 37 yards (75.8 rating) with no touchdowns, no interceptions and two lost fumbles. He added 27 rushing yards on three carries (9.0 avg.). Allen is a seven-year veteran who's played a lot of football in this league and that showed Friday night.
First TD: Rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa recorded his first NFL touchdown on a nice pass from Allen in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter. TeSlaa went up over a defender and snagged the ball away from his body before tucking it tight and getting his feet inbounds. That's something I've noticed all through camp with TeSlaa. He has terrific hands and always catches the ball out front, away from his body. He uses his big frame and strong hands so well. He's also a terrific blocker, which he showed off in the game.
Edge rush: It was good to see the Lions generate some pressure from the edge early in the contest. Veteran edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad was right in the middle of it. He nearly got a sack on the second play of the game and then got to Falcons quarterback Easton Stick two plays later. He finished with two tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. Muhammad played 255 snaps on defense for Detroit last season with 3.0 sacks and four tackles for loss. Edge rusher Nate Lynn also had a sack vs. Atlanta. He's had a nice camp so far and leads the Lions with seven pressures in two preseason games.
Special teams: Training camp and the preseason are all about cleaning up mistakes and fine-tuning all three phases before the start of the regular season. The Lions need to clean up some things on special teams moving forward. In their first preseason game, the units had two turnovers and two penalties. Friday night they had four more penalties. Some of these young players on the roster bubble are going to make the team based on their special teams play. So far through two games, the special teams units haven't played clean football.
Coming back strong: Undrafted rookie wide receiver Jackson Meeks started Friday's contest with a drop on a third-down play that would have kept one of Hooker's early drives rolling. Meeks rebounded nicely showing off terrific speed getting behind the Falcons' defense for a 68-yard reception and followed that up with a 1-yard touchdown grab. He had three receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown on the night. It was a nice job of finishing strong after a rocky start for a rookie trying to make one of the final receiver spots or the practice squad.
Plenty of reps: The Lions are dealing with some injuries at offensive tackle and that meant second-year left tackle Giovanni Manu got a ton of playing time Friday night. He ended up having 28 pass block reps, allowing three hurries, one hit and no sacks. He's still developing and speed rushers can be a problem at times but he is showing signs of improvement, and Friday wasn't a bad night for him.
Norris update: Safety Morice Norris was taken by ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta Friday night after being injured attempting to make a tackle early in the fourth quarter. Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris agreed the game would not continue after Norris' injury and it was officially suspended. The Lions released a statement Friday evening saying Norris was in stable condition and had movement in all his extremities and was staying in the hospital overnight for observation. Morris provided an update on Instagram Saturday saying, 'I'm all good man.' It's great news to hear given the very scary situation.
