‘The Grittiness is Gone” - Rich on the 1-1 Detroit Lions Looking to Regain Their Mojo

The Detroit Lions left Buffalo at 1-1, and Rich had one diagnosis for what he watched on Thursday night. "The grittiness is gone."

It started as an avalanche. Aidan Hutchinson got the ball out on the second snap of the game, and somehow the Bills got it back. "When that happened, I'm like, 'Okay, look out,'" Rich said. Josh Allen "freight trained it from there on out."

Rich joked that the Lions might have been hoping the touchdowns scored in the end zone with an obstructed view at the new Highmark Stadium just didn't count. They did.

The offense is not the problem. Jared Goff now has over 40,000 career passing yards through 153 games, tied with Kirk Cousins and Dan Marino for the fourth fastest to that mark behind only Stafford, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. Goff has thrown a touchdown pass in 25 straight games, the longest active streak in the league and the longest in Lions history. Amon-Ra St. Brown was doing what he does, which Rich knows well, because he had Allen against him in one fantasy league and St. Brown against him in another.

Defense is another story. Detroit has allowed 63 first downs this season, tied with the '85 Colts for the second most all time, two shy of the 2018 Chiefs, who gave up 66 in their first two games. Tyler Shough looked like the second coming against them in Week 1, Rich said, and "Josh Allen looked like Josh Allen." Detroit also needed some breaks to beat the Saints in the opener: a backward pass that Rich believes was really a forward pass, and a stop on a two-point conversion in overtime. "Otherwise, they'd be 0-2 right now."

Then there is the road record. The Lions were an NFL-best 14-3 on the road over the two seasons before last. Since the start of last season they are 4-6. "They have lost that mojo or the grit," Rich said. "That's the problem."

Dan Campbell said after the loss that his team "had a hand in helping them out there a little bit" and that "we kind of know who we are" after two games. Jack Campbell went further, taking the blame on himself. "Played terrible and it starts with me," he said. Rich saw that as exactly the grit he was talking about.

The narratives are loud. One says the Lions are not the same without Ben Johnson, now in Chicago. The other says their Super Bowl window closed after Dan Campbell kept going for it on fourth down in the NFC Championship Game a couple of years ago. Rich pointed to the staff turnover behind that first narrative: a defensive coordinator who took over for Aaron Glenn and is surely hearing it locally, and a new offensive coordinator who replaced the play caller Dan Campbell removed midseason.

Still, Rich is not writing Detroit off. "I think that's unfair," he said of the idea that Campbell is lesser without his old assistants. The schedule is winnable: the Jets at home, then Carolina on a Sunday night, then Arizona, then an early bye before home division games against Green Bay and Minnesota. Win those first three and the Lions are 4-1 at the bye.

The desk pushed back that the Jets could arrive 2-0 and are on fire right now, but agreed the road dates at Carolina and Arizona are winnable. Rich's view was simple. There are 15 games left to push back on the narrative, and the offensive line has a mini bye to fix the communication issues that let too many free runners through.

If the Lions regress and the Bears come into Detroit on Thanksgiving and lay it on them, though, the hard questions start. "Take a breath, take a beat," Rich said. For now.