Reports of the demise of the Detroit Lions after a Week 1 loss were greatly exaggerated. (Detroit Lions)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Browns v. Detroit Lions
Sunday, 1 p.m., in Ford Field, Detroit, MI
Record: 2-1.
Last game: Defeated Baltimore Ravens, 38-30, September 22, in Baltimore.
Coach: Dan Campbell, 43-31-1, fifth year; 46-36-1 overall.
Series record: Lions lead, 19-6 (counting postseason).
Last meeting: Browns won, 13-10, November 21, 2021, in Cleveland.
League rankings: Offense is third overall (fourth rushing, eighth passing), defense is 13th overall (11th rushing, 15th passing) and turnover differential is plus-2.
Things to watch
1. The overreaction of a 27-13 Week 1 loss in Green Bay was that the Lions would badly miss departed coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, and that their revamped offensive line wouldn’t remain a team strength. After two successive convincing wins, those issues have proved unfounded. New OC John Morton helped Johnson write the Lions’ offensive playbook in his previous role and new DC Kelvin Shepherd was Glenn’s protégé, so both schemes are flourishing virtually unchanged. The revamped interior offensive line of left guard Christian Mahogany, center Graham Glasgow and right guard Tate Ratledge have ironed out the communication issues of Game 1.
2. No coach takes more chances than Dan Campbell, and his players seem to feed off his confidence and daring. Campbell’s 159 fourth-down conversion attempts since 2021 rank first in the league, as do his 91 successes. They were 3-for-3 in the win in Baltimore on Monday night, leading to three touchdowns. Incidentally, the Browns’ 81 fourth-down successes rank second in that time.
3. The offense does not have a weakness. Few teams can keep up with their scoring assault (34.3 points per game). They have the best backfield combination in Jahmyr Gibbs (4.2 average, 3 TD) and David Montgomery (6.9 average, 3 TD), a super accurate quarterback in Jared Goff (.779 completion percentage with a 9.0 average yards per attempt) who can execute the play-action passing game as well as anyone, a perfect blend of receivers in prolific Amon-Ra St. Brown (20 of 25 targets with 4 TD) and speedster Jameson Williams (league-best 21.8 yards per catch), and a dependable tight end in Sam LaPorta. Plus, their offensive tackles – Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell – might be second only to that of the Eagles.
4. You’d never know it after they registered seven sacks of Lamar Jackson on Monday night, but there is some concern about whether the Lions have enough firepower in their pass rush. Edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has a higher pass rush win rate (32.6) than Myles Garrett (23.9) since 2024, per Pro Football Focus. But after Hutchinson missed 12 games last year after breaking two bones in a leg – he was leading the NFL with 7.5 sacks through five games – the Lions failed to add any edge rushers this year. Instead, they beefed up their interior by adding ex-OSU star Tyleik Williams in the draft. The revelation so far this year has been DE3 Al-Quadin Muhammad, a practice squad pickup in 2024, who leads the team with 3.5 sacks.
5. Another Lions tandem that ranks among the league’s best is their safeties, Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch. Joseph leads all players with 18 interceptions since 2022, and the tandem’s 62 passes broken up since 2022 also lead the NFL.
Did you know … ?
1. The Browns have won one game in Detroit in their franchise history. The Lions were Paul Brown’s nemesis in the 1950s, defeating the Browns in the NFL Championship in 1952, ’53 and ’57. The Browns prevailed in 1954. The Browns’ 1-10 record in Detroit is by far their worst record in any NFL venue. Their overall regular-season record of 5-16 (.238) against the Lions is their second-worst to the Broncos (7-23, .233).
2. Under Dan Campbell, the Lions’ 1,906 points rank third in the NFL and their 77 offensive turnovers rank fourth-fewest. That’s why they win.
3. Since the Lions’ epic trade in 2021 of quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Rams for quarterback Jared Goff, three first-round picks and one third-round pick, Stafford has a record of 36-24 with a Super Bowl championship for the Rams and Goff has a record of 41-26-1 with the Lions. In five years with the Rams, Goff’s record was 42-27.
4. Kalif Raymond led NFL punt returners in 2024 with 413 yards. His 13.8 average ranked third and he scored on a 90-yard return. Raymond is averaging only 6.3 on six returns this year.
5. Kicker Jack Bates tried a 67-yard field goal against Baltimore. It would have been an NFL record, but he missed it wide left.
Small world: Senior personnel executive John Dorsey was Browns general manager 2018-19 … offensive line coach/run game coordinator Hank Fraley played center for the Browns from 2006-09 … offensive assistant Bruce Gradkowski played quarterback for the Browns in 2008 … safeties coach Jim O’Neil was Browns defensive coordinator 2014-15.