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    • Detroit Lions remember they can run the ball down teams’ throats
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    Detroit Lions remember they can run the ball down teams’ throats

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    The Detroit Lions learned a lesson in their season-opening 26-20 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night. When in doubt, trust the most dominant part of your team, give the ball to David Montgomery and get out of the way.

    In other words, do what made everyone like you so much during the Super Bowl.

    Run. Block. Run some more. And keep running.

    Oh, and then run a little further.

    After all, the offensive line is still the best unit on this team. When the Lions were in overtime (can you believe we haven’t mentioned Matthew Stafford yet?) and weren’t quite sure of their offensive rhythm, Ben Johnson simplified the offense.

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    Here’s what the team’s offensive coordination guru came up with when the game was on the line:

    An end-around to wide receiver Kalif Raymond for 12 yards. Montgomery up for 21. Montgomery again for nine. A pass to running back Jahmyr Gibbs for 10. Gibbs on the ground for another 3. Montgomery up the middle for 8. And then Montgomery up the middle again, for 1.

    That’s once, by my count.

    And eight runs.

    How many teams can kick off in overtime and use that ratio to power their way up the pitch?

    A handful, maybe?

    That’s one reason why expectations are so high for these Lions. And another: They can throw the ball a little bit, even though it didn’t always seem that way against the Rams.

    It just took a while to find the right balance. Longer than the standing-room stands at Ford Field expected, no doubt. But it came, and the Lions opened their most anticipated season in years by beating their aging quarterback for the second time this calendar year.

    They’ll have many more days — and nights — like this. This is what it’s like to enter the season as a favorite in a league when the margins are thin, and even thinner when a pair of playoff-caliber teams line up, and one of the teams is looking for revenge and has a quarterback who used to play for the other side.

    Can you believe we haven’t mentioned Matthew Stafford’s name yet?

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    Well, he played well. Stood in the pocket. Threw darts when he got hit. Threw a pick in the end zone. Got his team close… and then watched the other team make a few more plays.

    Does this sound familiar?

    It certainly does for him, at least in this building. But that’s in the past. The Lions have their own story, and it has little to do with Stafford.

    It’s all about surviving — and thriving — under the spotlight, the national spotlight and the expectations. People are coming for it now. And that’s fun, as Lions QB Jared Goff said last week.

    Winning is fun too.

    Things weren’t looking good for a while, but then, just like last season in the playoff game against the Rams, the Lions got a late stop and got the ball back one more time in regulation time.

    Johnson showed patience to start the drive and called for a handoff to Gibbs. He gained 5 yards. After the two-minute warning, Goff hit LaPorta for 18 yards, on a familiar crosser between the hash marks and for a moment it looked like the Lions were cooking with gas.

    Well, until it wasn’t.

    The drive stalled just inside the red zone. Rookie Jake Bates hit a 32-yarder to tie the game, and the Lions sacked Stafford to end regulation.

    A field goal from Campbell? Hey, he’s not That a gambler. He wanted to make it to overtime.

    It probably wouldn’t have had to happen if the Lions had taken care of their side of the margins earlier, which they did occasionally, like when Levi Onwuzurike tackled Stafford and stopped a drive early in the game.

    Or when Jameson Williams fired a fly pattern, hesitated and ran away, leaving his defender floundering. All he had to do was run under Goff’s deep pass. He did, and 52 yards later, he scored.

    If that becomes a regular part of the offense this season, it changes things, especially for Williams, who was the Lions’ leading receiver on Sunday night, starting his third season.

    There were more highlights of course, but there was also plenty to figure out. Mostly the little things.

    Like being on a route a yard away from the first-down marker, as LaPorta did late in the third quarter, leading to a punt. Early missed tackles by sophomore defensive back Brian Branch, and then another — also late in the third quarter — when Tyler Johnson caught a short crosser, stopped it, spun it back and eluded not only Branch but cornerback Carlton Davis III, who also ran the play.

    The play went 63 yards, turned the field — of course — and drew a pass interference call in the end zone. This time, it was corner Terrion Arnold who grabbed Demarcus Robinson; the rookie will have to learn to be less handsy in the NFL.

    Again, the margins. He’ll get there.

    This is where the Lions live now, with this tough schedule, with their body of work, with the league having more tape to study and more tendency to get lost. Campbell talked about it all summer. And then he saw it happen here.

    And on Sunday, Campbell also saw his team respond and survive the margins.

    Contact Shawn Windsor: [email protected]. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

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