On Thursday night, from Kansas City, America ushered in the 2023 NFL Season. Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year. Football is back. What a way to start the season, a stunning upset from America’s darling Detroit Lions.
Before America fell in love with the Lions on HBO’s Hard Knocks, on the day he was hired, Dan Campbell made a proclamation. Confidently, Campbell told the world that the Lions would “Bite a kneecap.” To start his second season, the Lions did indeed, finally bite that kneecap. (Well benefited from Travis Kelce’s swollen knee.)
After raising the Super Bowl 58 Championship banner, and distributing their Rings, the Chiefs hosted the Detroit Lions. But if this was a Super Bowl celebration, no one told Lions coach Dan Campbell. The lowly, young upstart Lions of Detroit, went into Arrowhead and defeated the Chiefs. With the statement victory, Detroit put the NFL on notice that they are for real.
During the post-game press conference, Dan Campbell told reporters, “We expected to win this game. We came in here, knew what we needed to do, knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and we did that. We won.” While he managed to pull of the upset it wasn’t easy.
Lions on Offense: After a slow first drive, the Lions seemingly went three and out from their own 20 yard line. Then, Dan Campbell reminded us who he is and executed a fake punt. Instead of giving Kansas City the ball back, Detriot’s offense was sparked. Ultimately, Jared Goff connected with Amon-Ra St. Brown for the first touchdown of the NFL Season.
In the second half, after an embarrassing delay of game penalty, the Lions faced a 3rd and 12. Yet while taking a huge hit Jared Goff delivered a strike to Josh Reynolds for a critical third down. Later in the drive, on a third and one, Reynolds gained 33 yards on another big gain from Goff. Eventually, David Montgomery ran in a touchdown, giving the Lions the lead.
Takeaways: While fans of the Detriot Lions are celebrating last night’s win, Jahmyr Gibbs fantasy owners are not feeling the joy. Taken with the 12 overall pick in the 2023 Draft, the rookie from Alabama enters the NFL with sky high expectations. According to many fantasy experts, Gibbs is going to be used like a CMC type of pass catching-running back. Throughout the game, there was flashes of his explosiveness, but notably a huge missed opportunity.
To be fair, that seems like a slip and fall more than anything. Still, fanatasy owners may be confused by Dan Campbell’s use of Gibbs. Former Bears back, David Montgomery got the Lion’s share of carries, taking 21 compared to Gibb’s seven. Thats three times as much!! Furthermore, Gibbs only saw two passing targets, both of which he caught. In total, Montgomery was on the field for 79% of Detroit’s snaps, whereas Gibbs saw only 27%.
Of monumental importance, All-Pro Chris Jones, was in attendance but did not play for the Kansas City Chiefs. While in the midst of a hold-out, AKA asking for a raise, Jones showed up to the game with not one, but two members of the Sopranos. I guess these guys apply the pressure.
Without Jones, the Chiefs were unable to generate pressure on Goff, who has a stellar offensive line. Naturally, when given protection, quarterbacks do their thing. Goff was able to stay in the pocket and complete short passes to Amon-Ra St.Brown and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. Going forward, this offense is going to be fun to watch.
Chiefs on Offense: On Tuesday, news broke that All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, was dealing with a hyperextended knee. If you’re like me (and drafted him in the first round of your home fantasy league), Tuesday and Wednesday were sleepless nights.
Without his top weapon, Patrick Mahomes was facing a challenge. The betting line opened at 6.5 points for the Chiefs, and dropped to 4 by the time of kick off, because of the Kelce news. For Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, the question was simple: Who would step up in Kelce’s abesence?
Answer: No one.
Heading into the game, NFL analysts and Twitter experts alike debated. Contemplating the size of Noah Gray, Kelce’s understudy, against the speed of Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney. Arguing who Chiefs’ trio of running backs would receive the check downs from Mahomes.
As it turned out, Noah Gray, contributed very little in the passing game, but was frequently called upton to block. While playing in 88% of the Chiefs’ plays, Gray saw only five targets, catching three passes for 34 yards. To end the third quarter, Gray mimicked his teammate Travis Kelce, breaking arm tackles, for a 24 yard gain, for. a first down. However, that drive stalled out when the Lions stopped the Chiefs on second and third down, forcing a field goal.
TRIGGER WARNING: Chiefs WRs
Meanwhile, second year receiver, Skyy Moore, did not catch any of the three passes targeted to him. Fun Fact, you reading this have the same amount of receving yards as Skyy Moore this NFL season. Good job, you! 👍
Perhaps more disappointing than Moore, was Kadarius Toney. The former first round pick by the Giants out of Florida, Toney had previously shown the football world that he has speed capable of making big plays. But, the problem for Toney was his hands. Hands are the part of the body designed to catch footballs, and Kadarius’ hands seriously betrayed him.
Clearly, Dan Campball and the Lions made the right adjustments at halftime. The pressure from Detroits’ dominating defensive front seven made Mahomes look mortal. Unfortunately for Patrick Mahomes, he takes credit for the interception that bounced off Kadarius Toney’s hands. The ball landed in the hands of Brian Branch, the Lion’s rookie out of Alabama, who took it to the house for a pick six.
While it was kind of weird that NBC had a microphone on his parents, I must give shoutout to Aiden Hutchinson. The second year standout from pressured Mahomes six times. Perhaps even more impressive, was how uncomfortable the Kansas City line was adjusting to “Hutch.”
Visibly , Chiefs’ right tackle Jawaan Taylor, struggled to keep up with Hutchison. As any competitor would, Taylor was forced to be creative. In other words, Taylor resorted to holding Hutchison and jumping before the snap Naturally, this was pointed out and turned into a meme on Twitter (X?). Even NBC’s Chris Collinsworth and Rules Expert Terry McAulay were baffled at the lack of yellow flags.
Clearly, Dan Campball and the Lions made the right adjustments at halftime. Far more than in the first half, Travis Kelces’ absence was felt. Like right away. Early in the third, Mahomes threw the first pick six of the season. (On a pass Kelce would have caught!)
Unfortunately for Patrick Mahomes, he takes credit for the interception that bounced off Kadarious Toney’s hands. The ball landed in the hands of Brian Branch, the Lions’ other rookie from Alabama, who took it to the house.
Late in the third, the Chiefs gained moment on a huge 41 yard defensive pass interference penalty on Cameron Sutton. Yet, two plays later, on third and two, Kadarius Toney dropped an easy first down ,after getting distracted by teammate Richie James. Ironically, the two receivers were teammates a year ago with the New York Giants.
Lastly, in the fourth, with just over two minutes left in the game, Kadarius Toney had a chance for redemption. Mahomes fired a strike on to a Toney, who had no one near him. With Toney’s speed, a huge gain was likely to ensue. Instead Toney turned around before securing the ball, dropping his third pass of the night.
Takeaways: This is a hard loss for the Chiefs to swallow. At home, opening night, the whole world watching as the banner is raised. Without Kelce and Chandler Jones, however, this is near the finished product for the 2023 Kansas Chiefs. Of course, it’s easier to win with those two superstars, but the Chiefs could have won this game.
Naturally, Mahomes expressed his confidence in the team despite starting 0-1. And he’s right. With Kelce, the offense will be back to its’ full potency. While Chandler Jones is more of a long-term question mark, the Chiefs defense was not the problem on Thursday.
NOT GAMBLING ADVIVE… BUT, now is the best time to bet on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, because it’s probably the only time this season they will have sole possession of the worst record in the NFL.
Final note: At the end of the game, NBC’s Mike Trico claimed that the Lions win should have an asterisk because the Chiefs were missing two of the best players in the NFL. But if that were the case, there would be asterisks on every sporting event ever.
Should the Eagles 2022 NFC Championship title have an asterisk for beating the 49ers without a quarterback? Of course not. Today, Injuries and holdouts are unfortunately part of the NFL today and stars miss games. The job of the coach is to get every player ready to win every game, no matter who, where, when or how. In the opener, Dan Campbell did just that. For Mike Tircio to say anything otherwise is disrespectful.
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