DETROIT >> With the 1-6 start to the season, much of the focus has been on the struggling, sputtering Lions offense, but the defense certainly could have been better on Sunday. Much better.
Like the offense the defense got off to a decent start in the 28-19 loss to the Vikings at Ford Field on Sunday.
Then, ka-boom.
PHOTO GALLERY: LIONS LOSS TO VIKINGS
“We came out good and we just, I don’t know, we just fell off about two quarters,” safety Glover Quin said. “I don’t know, we couldn’t get stops on defense. Broken plays here and there on defense that turned into big plays and we just couldn’t get stops and they were scoring. It’s just tough, and I definitely don’t feel good to be 1-6, but we have to keep playing.’
Running back Adrian Peterson provided a huge challenge and that was hardly a surprise. When the Lions lost at Minnesota in Week Two, Peterson rushed for 134 yards.
In the first quarter, Detroit’s defense held Peterson to 17 yards on two carries. In the remainder of the game, he had 17 carries for 81 yards, including a 75-yard scamper with eight minutes left in the third that led to a field goal giving the Vikings a 25-17 lead.
Quin said he’s not sure what happened after the first quarter.
“Defensively, like I said, we did a good job of stopping the run. AP (Peterson) broke out the one big play on us in the second half. We did a good job, but then all of a sudden we were having the fullback leak out and they found the fullback and everybody else was covering and you look up and the fullback is running down the sideline.
That fullback is Zach Line (Oxford High School), who caught a short pass late in the half and did most of the work in the 49-yard gain. It wasn’t difficult, no defender was around.
The defense seemed to take a step up a week ago in the overtime win over the Bears. It just was not the same on Sunday.
“We still feel like last week is our team,” safety James Ihedigbo said. “That’s the making, that’s the playmakers we have. You even saw it today, even early on, making plays and defensively causing turnovers. That’s our makeup, that’s the team we are but we’ve got to play that 60 minutes.”
Vikings adjust
When the Lions got started hot offensively, the Vikings made defensive adjustments and it worked.
The Lions never countered with adjustments to the Vikings’ pass rush.
“We didn’t do a very good job of it, plain and simple,” coach Jim Caldwell said.
The Vikings coaches did better in that regard.
“We made some adjustments. We had to,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “They double-moved us once and then they snuck the tight end out the back side and we just missed it. They were also doing a lot of the ‘check with me’ things based on our coverages so we had to fix a lot of those things. Once we got them into throwing situations, I felt pretty good about it.”
This and that
Rashean Mathis left the game for concussion tests. No results were released. … The Lions were just 1 of 10 on third-down attempts. … In total net yards the Viking had 425 and Detroit had 274. … The Vikings won time of possession 36:27 to 23:33. … The Lions rushed for 77 yards with Ameer Abdullah pacing them with eight carries for 43 yards. … Joique Bell returned after missing three games and had three carries for 21 yards. … Calvin Johnson had five catches for 86 yards while Eric Ebron had five catches for 89 yards. Each had a touchdown. … Josh Bynes and Stephen Tulloch led all defensemen with eight tackles each. … Ziggy Ansah’s sack was his sixth this season. He also had three quarterback hits and a forced fumble. … Caraun Reid, Haloti Ngata and Kyle Van Noy each also had a sack.
Ins and outs
Josh Wilson, who starts in the slot, was inactive due to a concussion. He had limited practice on Friday and watched the game from the sideline. Rookie Quandre Diggs replaced him, getting his first start. … Rookie defensive tackle Gabe Wright sat out his first game due to Ngata’s return. … Brandon Pettigrew (knee/ankle) and DeAndre Levy (hip surgery) had been declared out on Friday.
