Sunday’s clash pits a strong, deep, and veteran team vying for division, conference, and league championships against a young, developing team that’s likely to finish (again) in the NFC North cellar.
WHAT: Week Three at Detroit Lions
WHEN: 1 p.m. (ET); Sunday, September 26
WHERE: Ford Field; Detroit (65,000)
RECORDS: Ravens, 1-1; Lions, 0-2
LIFETIME SERIES (regular season): Ravens lead, 4-1, having won the last three consecutive head-to-head meetings. In Detroit, the Ravens have split their two meetings with the Lions, losing in 2005 and winning in 2013. The five meetings with the Lions represent the fewest Baltimore has played against any other NFL team since the Ravens were founded in 1996.
TV: Locally, WJZ-TV, Channel 13 (Greg Gumbel, Adam Archuleta, booth; AJ Ross, sidelines)
RADIO: Locally, WIYY-FM, 97.9 (Gerry Sandusky, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, booth)
REFEREE: Scott Novak
About the Lions
—The Lions have had a colorful history, albeit a barren one as far as success is concerned. Their existence began in 1930 as the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans before the franchise moved to Detroit in 1934. Since then, the Lions have made 18 playoff appearances – eighth-fewest in league history and only five more than the Ravens, a much younger franchise – and have won just eight division titles with ten wild cards.
–The team has had no first-place finishes since 1993 – none in the NFC North, which was formed in 2002 — and went through an 11-year playoff drought (2000-10) before notching four of its ten wild-card berths since 2011. However, the Lions have grabbed only 23 wins over the last four full seasons with no playoff berths since 2016.
—In the postseason, the Lions also have a feast-or-famine resume. The franchise has four NFL championships, but none since 1957, which is the second-longest current drought in the league among teams with at least one title (Cardinals, 1947). Since then, Detroit has just one playoff win, a 1991 home Divisional round blowout over Dallas, 38-6. Detroit had made only one NFC Championship Game appearance in 1991, when it lost at Washington, 41-10. The Lions have had 22 Hall of Famers primarily affiliated with them, a total that includes two recent inductees, defensive lineman Alex Karras (Centennial Class of 2020) and wide receiver Calvin Johnson (2021).
—Detroit is the only NFC team in the current lineup of franchises to have never played in a Super Bowl. The Lions join Cleveland, Jacksonville, and Houston on that dubious list. Ironically, the Detroit area has hosted the big game twice; Super Bowl 16 (49ers-Bengals) took place at the now-defunct Pontiac Silverdome; and Super Bowl 40 (Steelers-Seahawks) was held at the Lions’ current home, Ford Field.
–Ford Field has been the home of the Lions since 2002. It replaced the now-demolished Pontiac Silverdome, located north of the city. Ford Field was built in downtown Detroit, next door to Comerica Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers. Voters approved a 1996 referendum to build the stadium, and ground was broken three years later.
–The stadium cost $500 million and opened in 2002 before a 2017 renovation. It has a FieldTurf playing surface and a permanent (non-retractable) roof. Despite plenty of natural light from outdoors, sunlight and shadow obstacles present in other venues are not a problem at Ford Field, where the playing surface is 45 feet below street level.
—The Lions and Baltimore Colts used to be fierce rivals in the league’s Western Conference before the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The teams met a total of 34 times, splitting the series 16-16-2. The present-day Lions have never beaten the Ravens in Baltimore. The franchise’s last win in Charm City was in the season’s penultimate game in 1977, 13-10, at Memorial Stadium against the Colts. The Lions scored when Leonard Thompson scored on a punt he blocked in the game’s final few seconds, running it into the stadium’s south (closed) end zone.
—Detroit started the 2021 season with two home games, including this Sunday’s against Baltimore, in a three-week span. They are working on a short week following last Monday night’s 35-17 loss in Green Bay. Three of the Lions’ next four games are on the road, including a trip to Los Angeles (Rams). Following the team’s November 7 bye are road games against Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Because the Lions are playing the entire AFC North this year, they are hosting Baltimore and Cincinnati, with the latter game set for October 17.
—Detroit is the franchise most associated with Thanksgiving, even though Thanksgiving games had already taken place in the NFL before the Lions began their annual tradition in 1934. The Colts’ only Thanksgiving appearance as a Baltimore team was in 1965 – they tied the Lions, 24-24, at the old Briggs Stadium (which later became Tiger Stadium, now demolished) — and the Ravens have won twice on the holiday, both at home (2011, 2013).
–With the schedule rotation calling for the Ravens to play at Detroit this year, there was a chance this Sunday’s game could have been scheduled for Thanksgiving afternoon, but that did not come to pass. The Lions are scheduled to play at Baltimore next in 2025 unless the new standings-placement interconference rule brings them together before then.
–The Ravens and Lions have met five times, the fewest meetings between the Ravens and any opponent in the NFL. The series isn’t long, but it has had its share of memorable moments, particularly in Detroit. In 2005, the Ravens committed 21 penalties – tied for third-most in any single game in league history and two short of the league record – in a 35-17 loss to the Lions, which saw linebacker Terrell Suggs get ejected.
–On a Monday night at Ford Field in December 2013, Justin Tucker kicked six field goals – the last being a career-long 61-yarder in the final minute – as the Ravens won, 18-16. On the final Sunday of the 1998 campaign, the Lions lost at Baltimore, 19-10, in what turned out to be the last game in the career of Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders, who was held under 50 yards and lost a goal-line fumble just outside the east (tunnel) end zone.
–Detroit has one of the NFL’s youngest rosters, with a league-high 15 rookies and first-year players, along with a co-league-low four players over the age of 30, tied with the New York Jets and Indianapolis. The average age per player on the Week One active roster is 25.13, tied with the New York Jets for the youngest, and the team has a league-low average of three years’ worth of NFL experience per player.
–In its first two games of 2021, Detroit has been outscored 76-50. Offensively, the Lions had tallied only seven points each in the first and third quarters while allowing 31 in the second, which is when their games against San Francisco and Green Bay seemed to get away from them. The Lions have already allowed ten touchdowns through two games, six of them through the air. Opponents have been able to exercise good balance against the Lions, running the ball 59 times and passing it 57 (including four sacks allowed), gaining 6.6 yards per play. For its part, Detroit has run the ball 43 times but thrown it 97 (including four sacks allowed).
—The Lions are already facing an uphill battle in the turnover ratio, playing to a minus-1 figure through two games, the exact figure Baltimore has posted. Detroit is one of seven teams leaguewide to have not intercepted a pass on defense in this early portion of the season. Still, it does have two fumble recoveries to offset the two fumbles it has committed on offense. Last year, the Lions’ ratio was a below-par minus-9, the league’s fourth-worst, partly due to just five fumble recoveries on defense, the league’s second-lowest figure behind New England (four).
—On the penalty front, Detroit committed 95 penalties in 2020, the tenth-most in the league. The Lions began the current season by getting flagged five times in the opener and in Week Two at Green Bay on nine more occasions. Last year, Detroit was called for 16 false starts and 12 holds, both relatively low full-season totals. Individually, tackle Taylor Decker had five false starts among his team-high six penalties last year. Tight end TJ Hockenson was called for holding three times out of his five total infractions.
—First-year head coach Dan Campbell, 45, the 28th head coach in franchise history, replaced former New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, who went 13-29-1 over two seasons and part of a third with the Lions. After Patricia was fired, Darrell Bevell was named interim coach and lost four of the 2021 season’s five games. Campbell played 11 years in the league as a tight end, then joined the Miami Dolphins as a coaching intern in 2010. He then served as a tight ends coach in Miami and New Orleans before getting the lead job in Detroit. —Noteworthy assistant coaches on Campbell’s staff include defensive assistant, Towson University graduate and ex-Towson assistant Brian Duker; quarterbacks coach and ex-Jacksonville starter Mark Brunell; senior defensive assistant, former Baltimore Stars (USFL) assistant and Ravens’ consultant Dom Capers; offensive coordinator and ex-Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn; offensive line coach and Gaithersburg native Hank Fraley; wide receivers coach and ex-Pittsburgh receiver Antwaan Randle El (who threw a trick-play Super Bowl touchdown pass at Ford Field); and running backs coach and former NFL veteran back Duce Staley.
—Through Week Two, Detroit was ranked 12th in total offense (14th rushing, 12th passing, tied for 13th scoring at 25 points per game). The Lions’ 30:01 possession average is the league’s 17th-best, but the 33.3 percent third-down conversion rate is tied for the league’s seventh-worst. Detroit racked up a league-high 31 first downs in the opener against San Francisco and is averaging 25 per game, tied for fourth-best. The Lions are currently ranked 20th in total defense (15th vs. rush, 21st vs. pass, 31st scoring, allowing 38 points per game). The Lions have allowed red-zone touchdowns on every one of their opponents’ opportunities over the first two games.
–Starting quarterback Jared Goff, the top overall pick from Cal-Berkeley in the 2016 draft, is in his first year in Detroit, traded there by the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for longtime Lions starter Matthew Stafford. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018 and has led six comeback wins with eight game-winning drives. He has completed 68.8 percent of his passes in two games with five touchdowns, two interceptions, four sacks, and a 94.5 passer rating.
–Against the Ravens, Goff has played one game, a 45-6 Monday-night home loss in Los Angeles in 2019, where he completed 26 of 37 passes with two interceptions, two sacks, and a passer rating of 62. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson had one of his three five-touchdown games that night. Goff is backed up by third-year Purdue alumnus David Blough.
–Playing against his former Green Bay teammates last week was Lions starting running back Jamaal Williams, a 2017 fourth-round Packer pick (134th overall) from Brigham Young. In two games, he has 79 yards on 16 carries with the Lions’ only rushing touchdown. Through the air, he has 11 catches, the team’s third-most, for a 6.2-yard average. Williams had 95 scrimmage yards when the Packers hosted the Ravens four years ago. He is backed up by second-year Georgia product D’Andre Swift – currently battling a minor groin injury – who has 76 yards on 19 carries in two games and 12 catches, second-most on the team. Both were stifled by the Packer defense last week, leaving Goff as the Lions’ leading ground-gainer.
–Like the Ravens, the Lions depend on plenty of production from their tight end, the dependable TJ Hockenson (Iowa), named to his first Pro Bowl in 2020. The 6-foot-5, 248-pound Hockenson was the eighth overall pick in 2019, and he leads the team through two games with a co-NFL-high 16 receptions, a 10.2-yard average, and two of the team’s five receiving touchdowns. Hockenson is only the third tight end in NFL history to have eight catches and a touchdown in each of his team’s first two games of a season; the other two are current Raven Mark Andrews and ex-Baltimore tight end Ben Coates. Hockenson is backed up by a familiar former AFC North face, ex-Cleveland tight end Darren Fells.
–Outside, the Lions are paced by Tyrell Williams, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound seven-year veteran from Western Oregon. Williams has 23 career touchdowns, but after catching two passes for 14 yards in the opener against San Francisco, he incurred a concussion and left the game. Williams did not play Monday night against Green Bay. Instead, the wideouts were led by Wisconsin product Quintez Cephus (seven catches, two touchdowns) and return specialist Kalif Raymond, a 5-foot-8 speedster from Holy Cross, who has five receptions far, as does teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown.
–Detroit’s offensive line is spearheaded by monstrous rookie left tackle Penei Sewell, the team’s first-round pick (seventh overall). At age 20, the 6-foot-5, 331-pounder is the youngest left tackle to ever start in the league; he will turn 21 early next month. The American Samoa native was the Outland Trophy winner at Oregon in 2019, and the same year he was a unanimous All-America pick. Second-year Iowa product Matt Nelson, undrafted in 2019, is the right tackle. Second-year player Jonah Jackson (Ohio State) is at left guard, with former Philadelphia starter Halapoulivaati Vaital, in his sixth NFL season, handling the right side and 2018 first-round pick Frank Ragnow (Wisconsin) at center. Ragnow was selected 20th overall.
–Last week against Green Bay, the Lions’ priority was to improve a run defense that allowed 131 yards to San Francisco in the opener. It yielded 96 to the Packers. The usual three-person defensive line started last week’s game with only two up-front players, defensive tackles Michael Brockers and Nick Williams. Brockers, a longtime Los Angeles Ram who was nearly traded to Baltimore two years ago before the deal fell through due to a failed physical, has nine tackles and one of the team’s four sacks so far. Brockers also sacked Lamar Jackson when the teams met in 2019. Williams has a half-sack and four quarterback hits. In the middle is nose tackle Alim McNeill (seven tackles), a rookie from NC State.
–Despite the team’s youth, the Lions went outside to shore up their linebacking corps, acquiring former New Orleans inside player Alex Anzalone, a 2017 third-rounder (76th overall), who has a team-high 14 tackles so far. He had a career-high ten last week. He is partnered inside by former Cleveland and New England starter Jamie Collins (ten tackles), a nine-year NFL veteran in his second year in Detroit. Collins has 42 tackles, five tackles for loss, and three sacks in his last five games against Baltimore. From the edges, the Ravens will see Trey Flowers (nine tackles, half-sack), a two-time Super Bowl champion from New England, and Romeo Okwara (two quarterback hits), a Notre Dame product and former New York Giant.
–After facing quarterbacks such as Jimmy Garoppolo and Aaron Rodgers, Detroit’s secondary has only three pass breakups and no interceptions through two games and will indeed feel the loss of top corner and 2020 first-round pick Jeff Okudah, out for the year with a ruptured Achilles tendon. The Lions’ starting safety tandem, Will Harris and Tracy Walker are second and third on the team with 13 and 11 tackles; Walker also has a sack. Harris (Boston College) was a 2019 third-round pick (81st overall), while Walker was also a third-rounder (82nd overall) the previous year from Louisiana-Lafayette.
–The nickel back is Kansas State rookie AJ Parker, with Amani Oruwariye, a 2019 fifth-rounder from Penn State (181st overall), and Syracuse rookie Ifeatu Melifonwu serving as the starting cover tandem with Okudah out. However, the cornerback contingent is being stretched even thinner, as Melifonwu had to leave Monday’s game at Green Bay with a left thigh injury that seemed serious at the time. Former safety Bobby Price, street-free agent Corey Ballentine, and rookie Jerry Jacobs could all be called into action.
–Backup wideout Kalif Raymond is the Lions’ main return specialist. Still, on kickoffs, second-year Northwestern product Godwin Igwebuike, a backup running back at six feet and 212 pounds, has gotten his chances with six runbacks for an 18.2-yard average. On punts, Raymond has just one ten-yard runback so far and has one fair catch. The coverage teams have allowed 6.7 yards per punt runback and 21.7 for each kickoff return, both average figures.
–Veteran NFL kicker Austin Seibert is in his third season out of Oklahoma but is already on his third team (Cleveland, Cincinnati). He is two-for-three on field-goal tries through two games and has not attempted any kick inside 40 yards so far, a statement that the Lions aren’t getting good drive penetration with their offense. Seibert has missed eight field goals and six conversions in his career.
–The punter is second-year Rice product Jack Fox, already one of the league’s better punters. He has put 29 of 64 career attempts inside the coffin corner while grossing over 50 yards per punt and netting 46.3 for each attempt. His 2021 net average of 47.8 is tied for first in the league.
–Like the Ravens, the Lions cut loose a long-snapping stalwart, Don Muhlbach, who had been with the team for 17 years after breaking into the league with Baltimore as an undrafted free agent and camp relief snapper. After his release from Detroit, Muhlbach retired and joined the Lions’ front office, serving as special assistant to the team president. Muhlbach’s long-snapping role has been assumed by Scott Daly, a Notre Dame graduate who played for the New York Guardians of the XFL.
Prediction
The Ravens got a much-needed jolt of adrenalin with last week’s thrilling Sunday Night win over the Chiefs. Detroit fell the following day on the road against the Packers on Monday Night Football. On Sunday, these two teams will meet for only the sixth time in history. Baltimore has too much on the line to relax, and it has superior talent to a Lions team that always seems to be finding its way without hardly ever finding it. It’s a clash that pits a strong, deep, and veteran team vying for division, conference, and league championships against a young, developing team that’s likely to finish (again) in the NFC North cellar.
Baltimore 33, Detroit 10
