Lions vs. Falcons live score updates, highlights, analysis

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16 hours ago

The Detroit Lions are looking to rebound after an underwhelming preseason opener last week. In the Hall of Fame Game, the Lions looked flat, turnover-prone, and just could not get into a rhythm on either side of the ball. The end result—a 34-7 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers—was just as bad as the score suggests.
But preseason results don't tell you much about the actual talent of a team. In that game, the Lions rested all of their starters (and more). While the same could be said about the Chargers, the Lions are certainly working out some kinks among their depth players.
That will continue again on Friday night, as the Lions face off against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night. Detroit is expected, again, to rest most of their starters, but we could get our first looks at their top-two drafted rookies: Tyleik Williams and Tate Ratledge. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he wanted to see both of those players get some preseason action, but could not fully commit to putting him in action this week. UPDATE: Ratledge and Williams are expected to play.
If you're too preoccupied to watch the Friday night bout between the Lions and Falcons (televised locally on FOX 2 Detroit at 7 p.m. ET), just hang around right here. As the game continues, we'll be providing drive-by-drive analysis, score updates, and embedded highlights of the action right in this post. Just stick around here, hit the refresh button periodically, and enjoy the updates. After the game ends, we'll have a full recap of the action right here, and a bunch more post-game coverage coming later in the night.
First quarter
The Lions defense got off to a very good start. Al-Quadin Muhammad provided a pressure and a sack on the opening drive, while Zach Cunningham had a couple of tackles, including a big run stuff on third-and-4. The Falcons opted to go for it on fourth-and-3, but a deep Easton Stick was overthrown for the turnover on downs.
Unfortunately, the offense continued its struggles under Hendon Hooker. After a short pass on first down, and a second-down throwaway due to immediate pressure, Hooker was loose with the football on a third-down scramble and fumbled it away to Atlanta.
But, again, Detroit's defense held up well. A holding penalty pushed the Falcons back early, eventually setting Atlanta up for a long field goal. The 57-yard kick was good, giving Atlanta an early 3-0 Falcons lead.
The Lions offense was able to pick up a first down thanks to a third-and-10 scramble from Hooker for 23 yards.
But that would be it for the offense. The Lions failed to pick up a third-and-4 after a nice touch pass from Hooker was dropped by Jackson Meeks.
The next defensive series was all about Lions linebacker Grant Stuard. Coming from the opposite end of the field, he picked up an impressive tackle for loss on first down, and then he held tight in coverage on the outside to help force an incomplete pass on second down. Atlanta's third down attempt came up several yards short, resulting in a punt.
Detroit quickly went three-and-out after two runs for -1 yards and a Hooker checkdown on third-and-long.
The Falcons answered with a three-and-out of their own. Lions cornerback Nick Whiteside made a pair of nice plays, including an open-field tackle on first down and a pass breakup on an inaccurate ball to end the drive.
The quarter ended with a nice 6-yard run from Craig Reynolds sprung by a strong block from rookie Tate Ratledge.
Second quarter
The Lions offense finally had some life to it. The run game opened up a little bit, and Hooker connected with Tom Kennedy and Jackson Meeks for gains of 9 and 15 yards, respectively. The drive nearly stalled just outside the red zone, as Hooker's scramble on third-and-6 came up 3 yards short. On the play, backup center Trystan Colon suffered an apparent arm injury.
The Lions opted to go for it on fourth-and-3, and Hooker found rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa for an easy first down on a quick slant. But Hooker turned it over again, eating a big hit he saw coming too late and losing the ball.
The Lions looked to have forced a third-and-long, but Brodric Martin was called for a roughing the passer for contacting the quarterback's head, giving Atlanta 15 free yards. Easton Stick would quickly take advantage, hitting Dylan Drummond for 25 yards, moving the Falcons into Lions territory. Martin would rebound nicely with a pressure and a tackle for loss on the drive, helping set up a third-and-8. Rock Ya-Sin (playing safety) did a great job closing on a crossing route to stop the Falcons 6 yards short of the sticks—setting up another Falcons punt.
Detroit opted to bench Hooker for the rest of the second quarter, allowing Kyle Allen to close out the half. Allen immediately responded with a huge 68-yard pass to Jackson Meeks.
A few plays later, Allen threw a nice ball for TeSlaa to go up and get it, and the rookie receiver came down with it for the 11-yard touchdown and a 7-3 Lions lead.
Atlanta would have their chance to rebuttal with a two-minute drill. Stick did a decent job working with tempo, finding open receivers against Detroit's backup secondary. He particularly picked on Erick Hallett, including on Stick's 13-yard touchdown to Chris Blair. 10-7 Falcons.
The Lions had 34 seconds left and three timeouts to see if they could tie the game up, but a nifty kickoff pinned Detroit inside their 20-yard line. After Allen nearly lost the football on a first-down sack, the Lions just opted to run the rest of the clock.
Third quarter
Allen continued to be the Lions quarterback for the second half and he made a couple of nice plays to move into Falcons territory. He fired a nice ball to Ronnie Bell to convert a third-and-9, and later avoided a sack to keep the drive alive. However, on a third-and-9, his deep shot to Mason Taylor was well overthrown. Still, they were close enough to try a 57-yard field goal, and Jake Bates drilled it. 10-10 tie.
Quarterback Emory Jones took over for the Falcons and was able to move down the field pretty steadily. He drilled a ball into a tight-window to Nick Nash for a third-and-3 conversion. But a sack from Nate Lynn helped end the drive and force a long field goal attempt. This time, the Falcons kicker pushed it wide, keeping the score tied.
Running back Jacob Saylors made a few nice plays to get Detroit into Falcons territory. He found space for an 8-yard gain on a screen pass and added 25 yards on four rushes down to the Falcons' 24-yard line. Allen connected with Bell to set the Lions up first-and-10 from the 12-yard line. But Saylors could not convert on a third down run, setting up a fourth-and-3. They opted to go for it, and this time Saylors bursted forward for the conversion and a first-and-goal opportunity. Michael Niese (at center) and Kingsley Eguakun (right guard) had nice blocks on the fourth-down play. On the next play, Allen hit Meeks on the designed rollout for the 17-10 Lions lead with 42 seconds remaining in the quarter.