Canton, Ohio — The rain disappeared long before kickoff at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, but that didn’t prevent the Detroit Lions from playing a sloppy game from start to finish in their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Lions linebacker Grant Stuard fumbled the opening kickoff down in Canton on Thursday night, the first of many miscues and turnovers as the Lions were steamrolled by the Chargers, 34-7.
Starting quarterback Kyle Allen threw a pair of interceptions and Detroit coughed it up twice via fumble. Of the Chargers’ six scoring drives, them of them began inside Lions territory.
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.
BOX SCORE: Chargers 34, Lions 7
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.
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. 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.
Lions quarterback Kyle 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.
The Lions’ offense got rolling when Allen completed passes of 24 and 22 yards to rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa on consecutive attempts. 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.
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.
@nolanbianchi
