The scoreboard said six points, but there was a lot more separating the Rams and Detroit Lions on Sunday night.
One game into the season and the Rams already are hobbled and hurting. That they not only were able to hang around, but also delivered such a scare to Detroit, was a testament to their experience and resolve.
As for the Lions, they’re finally good enough to start counting style points. Simply winning — as they did with their 26-20 overtime victory — isn’t enough anymore. Their standards have changed.
So there were no ear-to-ear smiles in the Detroit locker room after that game. If anything, the Lions were vaguely dissatisfied, even though they once again rebuffed the Rams — with all the history of quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff — as they did in the NFC wild-card game here in January.
At least some of the Lions thought the game should never have gotten to overtime, that they should have landed the knockout blow much earlier. That said, they loved the way the game was decided, with the Detroit offensive line finally imposing its will on a gassed Rams defense. Eight plays, seven runs, David Montgomery barging into the end zone from a yard out to end it.
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“The whole game was frustrating,” Lions guard Graham Glasgow said. “Things felt a little off, so it was nice to go into overtime there and every play we called worked. It just felt good. The fits were good. It was a satisfying end to a very frustrating game.”
In another era, we’d be peeling the Lions off the ceiling. This is a franchise that has never been to the Super Bowl, and before beating the Rams eight months ago, hadn’t won a playoff game in 32 years.
The Lions got to the NFC title game last season — in a 2024 scheduling twist, they will play all three teams they faced in the 2023 playoffs — and they’ve gotten even better in a few ways.
In Jameson Williams, who had nine catches against the Rams, they have a dangerous complement to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Detroit added defensive end Marcus Davenport, a bookend to Aidan Hutchinson, who can dent a pocket like crushing a beer can. And they have upgraded their secondary with three new starters.
The next test comes Sunday, with a home game against Tampa Bay, a team the Lions beat in the divisional round last season.
The Rams were like Monty Python’s Black Knight — ‘Tis but a scratch! — and somehow continued to move the ball despite losing left tackle Joe Noteboom, left guard Steve Avila and star receiver Puka Nacua. (Their offensive line already was cobbled together before those injuries.) They were surviving on muscle memory, thanks largely to the play of Stafford, who was poised and pinpoint, and the often uncoverable Cooper Kupp, who caught 14 balls.
On defense, the Rams made their share of big plays, including an interception of Goff by safety John Johnson III. It was Johnson, you might remember, who made the game-clinching interception in New Orleans that sent Goff and the Rams to the Super Bowl back in the 2018 season.
That the Rams already are forced to rearrange the offensive line is a bad sign as they head to Arizona on Sunday. The Cardinals are coming of a 34-28 loss at Buffalo, but gave the Bills more problems than many expected. Demarcus Robinson stepped up Sunday night, and Stafford got some solid production from tight end Colby Parkinson and Tyler Johnson, yet the availability of Nacua is critical.
Though they didn’t have robust passer ratings, Goff (85.0) and Stafford (85.2) reminded everyone how valuable it is to have a steady hand at that position. Whereas quarterbacks around the league were all over the map in their performances — half the league seems to be testing newcomers — the two picked up Sunday night where they left off in the playoffs.
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“Those two guys carry themselves in such a great way,” said Lions center Frank Ragnow, who has snapped to both of them. “Both consistent dudes who work their tails off.”
Stafford was beloved by Detroit when he played here, and Goff — once viewed from outside the franchise as a seat holder until somebody better came along — had played his way into the hearts of Lions fans. He’s a rock star in this city.
Lions fans might love him, but Goff wasn’t loving his play against his old team.
“We had some plays there that we could have had,” he said. “I’ve got to be better with the cadence for our guys and be a little smoother on the operational stuff. That alone would solve a lot of our problems. It wasn’t our smoothest, but a win’s a win. We gotta be happy about it.”
Not giddy. Not gaudy. Not satisfied.
Just 1-0.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.