From the outside looking in, it’s easy to criticize the job that Detroit Lions backup quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Hendon Hooker did against the Los Angeles Chargers. Allen completed 9-of-14 passes for 91 yards and two interceptions. Hooker went just 3-of-6 for 18 yards and a pick. Together, they put together just a single scoring drive in a 34-7 blowout loss.
Not many positives to take out of those performances, right?
Well, Lions coach Dan Campbell actually had a more balanced view of both quarterbacks’ nights. He believed both did some good things and some bad things.
Starting with Allen, Campbell was actually impressed with the way he commanded the offense for much of the night. The problem was his two bad plays—two costly interceptions—are hard to look past.
“The hard thing is, I thought Kyle had two bad plays, but those are two turnovers,” Campbell said. “But I thought, man, he ran the offense. He did so many good things, but it’s hard when those are the two (mistakes).”
On Allen’s first interception, he didn’t drive the ball hard enough to the sideline, allowing Chargers cornerback Nikko Reed to step in front of it and take it 60 yards the other way. On the second throw, Allen led Isaac TeSlaa far too long, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the Lions receiver had his route disrupted by the defensive back.
“But the guy’s a pro,” Campbell said. “He’s played ball, he knows how to run a huddle and communicate—things of that nature. He did make some good throws in there.”
As for Hooker, the offense certainly didn’t run smoothly as a whole. Detroit managed 143 net yards in the first half under Allen, and just 54 with Hooker in the final two quarters. Still, Campbell saw growth in the third-year quarterback.
“Hooker got to a couple of good checks for us,” Campbell said. “He saw it, saw the defense, audibled on his own, which is outstanding. So that was promising. But he was up and down, too.”
Hooker expanded on those thoughts after the game. And while he admitted he was “very disappointed” in himself for failing to lead a scoring drive, he noted that the defense was giving him some challenging cover-0 looks on key downs, and he was able to recognize it and get the offense into the right protection.
“The Chargers—fourth-and-short and third-and-short—they were getting into a lot of cover-0 , so I was getting into my (cover) 0 checks and get into seven-man pro(tection),” Hooker said. “Really just trying to make quick decision out there on the fly, and that was something that we talked about before with taking more control over the line of scrimmage and that’s what I looked to do tonight.”
Campbell also believes the Lions put Hooker in a tough situation. When he entered the game, the team was already down two scores.
“That’s not the easiest thing, either, for him—to get a guy in a rhythm when you’re kind of where we were at,” Campbell said. “But it was up and down. I was encouraged with some of the plays he made. I thought that was kind of some next level stuff for him. Shows he’s grown, so that’s good.”
This training camp, Allen and Hooker have been alternating days with the second-team offense. And with neither quarterback putting any significant distance between each other on Thursday night, it’s fair to believe that will continue moving forward.
