Canton, Ohio — The ball was kicked, Detroit Lions linebacker Grant Stuard caught it, and thus began a long night of sloppy play from the Detroit Lions at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Stuard fumbled the opening kickoff down in Canton on Thursday night, giving the Chargers a quick lead and kicking off a night of miscues and turnovers as the Lions were steamrolled by the Los Angeles Chargers, 34-7, in the Hall of Fame Game.
Starting quarterback Kyle Allen threw a pair of interceptions, quarterback Hendon Hooker added one of his own, and Detroit coughed it up twice via fumble. Of the Chargers’ six scoring drives, three of them began inside Lions territory.
“First one out of the gate, the story of the game is we turned it over five times and then we didn’t get any takeaways. So that’s hard just from that standpoint,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “When you put your defense in that kind of position, that’s tough.”
The offenses commanded by Allen and quarterback Hendon Hooker were an extreme departure from the ones they’ve led during training camp. Both units struggled to move the ball. The Lions finished with 201 total yards (3.9 per play), 104 passing and 93 rushing, and went one-for-11 on third down.
To top it off, the Lions were penalized eight times for 68 yards.
BOX SCORE: Chargers 34, Lions 7
“You don’t want all those” penalties and turnovers, Campbell said. “You get caught in the — it’s the, alright, 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.
“But like I said, we’re going to learn from it. 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 and I would expect us to play much better next week.”
Allen, who started and played the entire first half, was nine-for-14 passing for 91 yards and two interceptions with a passer rating of 43.2. Hooker was three-for-6 for 18 yards and an interception that occurred on fourth-and-2 with two minutes left in the game.
Hooker and Allen both said they were surprised by the quarterback play Thursday night after both players had strong starts in camp.
“Me and Kyle hold ourselves to a very high standard. Especially him having played at a very high level, as well as me,” Hooker said. “Just competing with each other and pushing each other daily, this is something that we would think we would come out on a gameday setting and really show out. Our expectations weren’t met as a team, or as individuals, me and him.”
Stuard, who’s returned a few kicks in practice, was back deep for Detroit on the opening kickoff. He returned it, fumbled on a tackle from Caleb Murphy and gave the Chargers starting field position at Detroit’s 28-yard line.
“I think it’s one of them things like you work hard all week, all offseason, and in that moment, it’s all about that moment. … It’s all about maintaining control of the football. It’s something that we’ve harped on, talked about, something where coach told me about before I even went out there,” Stuard said.
“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.”
The Chargers found the end zone in five plays, scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Will Disly, who had a step on Lions safety Loren Strickland in the end zone.
The Chargers moved the ball quickly on their second drive by attacking second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, who gave up a 28-yard completion to Chargers receiver DeAndre Lambert-Smith. Edge defender Ahmed Hassanein, a sixth-round draft pick by Detroit, nearly came up with a third-down sack but did enough to force a throwaway, leading to a 52-yard missed field goal from Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker.
Hassanein made four combined tackles in his preseason debut. Stuard had the Lions’ lone sack.
Allen threw an interception on a third-and-9 in Chargers territory. Nikko Reed returned the pick 60 yards to the Detroit 6-yard line, setting up Kimani Vidal for a 4-yard rushing touchdown to put the Chargers up, 14-0, with 5:13 to go in the first quarter.
“Just not clean,” Allen said of his performance. “It’s the first game of the year. That’s not an excuse, but playing a game is a lot different than practice. So, guys are figuring it out. The Chargers were, obviously, a lot more ready for it than we were today. Goes for everybody.”
The Lions’ offense got rolling when Allen completed passes of 24 and 22 yards to rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa on consecutive attempts.
“Definitely (felt) a lot of emotion on that first [catch]. It kinda felt good to drop my shoulder a bit on that DB, definitely got hyped up about that one,” TeSlaa said.
But on a third-and-2 at the Chargers’ 23-yard line, Allen sailed a throw to TeSlaa in the end zone and got intercepted by safety Tony Jefferson.
After the Chargers’ fourth possession, Lions wide receiver Dominic Lovett, a seventh-round pick out of Georgia, returned a punt 19 yards to give Detroit starting field position at its own 40. After the Lions got deep into the red zone, Lovett came up with a critical catch on fourth-and-2 to pave the way for a 3-yard touchdown run by Craig Reynolds.
Reynolds had 10 carries for 38 yards and one touchdown. TeSlaa finished with two catches for 46 yards; Lovett finished with five catches for 31 yards.
Los Angeles added to its lead with a 15-yard touchdown to Lambert-Smith. He fried Lions cornerback Dicaprio Bootle off the line on a slant route and went into the end zone untouched to go up, 21-7, with 1:51 left in the half.
The Lions got a stop out of half, but gave the ball right back when Lions receiver Jakobie Keeney-James, an undrafted free agent, muffed a punt. Los Angeles recovered at the 5-yard line of Detroit, but the Lions’ defense stood tall to force a field goal that made it 24-7, Chargers.
“It’s hard to get in a rhythm when you turn the ball over like that, or you’re getting ready to start a drive and kick off return, punt return [fumbles],” Campbell said. “So, that was kind of the nature of it. We’re excited to watch some of these guys, see how they did, read the tape, learn from it, grow from it. That’s what it’s about.”
Hooker’s first drive was derailed by a holding penalty on UDFA tackle Mason Miller on second-and-7 and concluded when Hooker threw a pass into no-man’s land on third-and-14. The Chargers added another field goal on the ensuing possession.
As much as the offense struggled with the second unit on the field, it looked even worse with the third unit. The pass rush rattled Hooker, allowing him to throw it just six times on four possessions despite trailing by multiple scores.
The Chargers put a cherry on top of their dominating performance with a nine-play, 72-yard drive that was aided by a 27-yard pass interference penalty on Bootle and intercepted Hooker on his final pass of the game.
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