A troubling trend lingered between the Detroit Lions’ most meaningful game of last season and their first exhibition of 2025.
Turnovers, your honor.
Detroit committed five during Thursday’s lopsided Hall of Fame Game loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Canton, Ohio, matching its total from a season-ending, 45-31 defeat in an NFC divisional playoff game against the visiting Washington Commanders in January.
It’s a trope as tried as it is true: You’ve got to protect the football. And while it’s tempting to call this particular preseason game meaningless given the litany of Lions starters who didn’t play, the contriteness of Detroit’s Grant Stuard suggests otherwise.
Stuard is a Lions linebacker who sacked Chargers quarterback Trey Lance, a starter in name only on Thursday, in one of the team’s few defensive highlights.
Of course, it’s tough for any D to gain traction when the opposition is starting so many scoring drives in plus territory.
That happened early and often in Canton. Stuard, an occasional kick returner during training camp, did the honors on the opening kickoff before promptly fumbling on a tackle from Los Angeles’ Caleb Murphy. The Chargers took over on the Detroit 28-yard line and scored their first of four touchdowns five plays later.
While Stuard kept possession on a later kick return and finished with two for 62 yards, he can’t be sure this part-time, special teams ballhandling thing has a future — and he knows it.
“It’s all about maintaining control of the football,” Stuard said. “It’s something that we’ve harped on, talked about, something where coach told me about before I even went out there.
“It’s something I’ll just continue to work on and improve, and just get more reps, actually taking contact with the football in my hand and being tackled, stuff like that. Hopefully get another opportunity and continue to just capitalize when I get those opportunities.”
Barring the unforeseen, the bearers of the Lions’ airborne miscues won’t be called upon as playmakers in significant spots in 2025 as Detroit aims to match or surpass a franchise-record 15 victories from a season ago.
Quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Hendon Hooker aren’t Jared Goff, as evidenced by a combined 12-for-20, 104-yard, three-interception effort that amounted to a 35.2 rating.
Goff, who had three interceptions and a lost fumble against the Commanders, returns to captain an attack featuring playmakers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, among others.
While none of those marquee names suited up in Canton, Lions coach Dan Campbell was quick to caution that was no excuse. Penalties and turnovers are debilitating no matter the stakes or setting.
“You get caught in the — it’s the, ‘All right, we need to see some of these guys.’ You got to put ’em out there and cut ’em loose and let them go play. You also want to win the game. You also want to play really well, and we didn’t do that. So that’s the frustrating part of it is that.”
The reassuring — heck, even meaningful — part? This merely is preseason.
Exhale, Detroit. You’ve got the first-place Tigers and a Lions team primed to erase the sting of that early postseason out.
“We’re going to be able to coach off of this tape and help some of these guys get better and that’ll serve us well,” Campbell said. “And I would expect us to play much better next week.
