GREEN BAY, Wis. – The lack of execution by Detroit's offense Sunday in their 27-13 loss to Green Bay in the regular season opener caught head coach Dan Campbell a little bit by surprise.
"I thought we'd be cleaner than we were," Campbell said after the game.
Detroit generated just 246 yards of offense and only 46 yards rushing on the ground, significantly lower than their 409.5 and 146.4 total offense and rushing averages from last year.
Detroit is breaking in a new offensive coordinator in John Morton and three new starters along their offensive line. Sunday looked like a case of the growing pains.
To be fair, Green Bay's defense played a heck of a game. The Packers played a lot of Cover 2 and 3 Buzz and tried to keep everything in front of them and make Detroit's offense drive the football. When a defense plays that way, there's a level of execution that must take place to score points and to be successful. Detroit was just 5-for-15 on third down, 1-for-4 in the red zone and generated just one explosive play of 20-plus yards.
That's not the standard this offense has set in Detroit under the last two and half years under Campbell, even with some of the new pieces in place.
"Not even close to good enough, right?" Lions quarterback Jared Goff said after the game. "There needs to be an urgency of improvement. There has to be. Today wasn't even close to good enough offensively.
"I'm not worried about (the red zone). I am moreso just urgent about getting details fixed and making sure that everyone is on the same page and that our communication is better and getting lined up correctly and all that stuff. Ultimately, a lot of it falls on me. So, there are some things that I can do better."
Goff said he plans to take the lead this week on fixing a number of the issues that plagued the Lions' offense against the Packers in hopes of a much better showing at home next week against another division opponent in Chicago.
ROOKIE TOUCHDOWN
Rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa had a magnificent one-handed catch over his head while getting two feet inbounds to make sure the Lions didn't go without a touchdown in a game for the first time since Week 7 off the 2022 season vs. Dallas.
TeSlaa, Detroit's third-round pick in this year's NFL Draft, didn't a play a ton of snaps on offense as he was mostly on spot red zone duty. He made the most of the opportunity, becoming just the 10th player in franchise history to record a touchdown catch in his first-career game and the first since T.J. Hockenson in 2019.
TeSlaa recorded three touchdown receptions in the preseason and now starts the regular season with another. I wouldn't be surprised if we see his reps tick up on offense next week vs. Chicago.
PLAYING SMARTER
Third-year safety Brian Branch, one of Detroit's most versatile players on defense, was flagged 15 yards for an unsportsmanlike penalty on Green Bay's first offensive series of the game after pulling off an opponent's helmet and tossing it toward the sideline.
The 15-yard penalty moved the ball from the Lions' 31-yard line to their 16 in what was an eventual touchdown drive for the Packers.
"Yeah, he's better than that," Campbell said of Branch. "He knows better. That was the message. You know, he knows better than that man. It's one of the things we talked about, keeping your head. So, he knows better."
Branch is too important to this defense to put himself in a position where he could be disqualified from the game for such a penalty.
INJURY UPDATE
Cornerback Terrion Arnold left the game in the second quarter with a groin injury and is scheduled to have an MRI Monday.
