Visits: 4
“I’ve been watching that formation since like July. Jamal called it out, I called it out,” Lee said, referring to safety Jamal Adams. “Just sit on that formation — it was either going to be a snag route or a ram route. He ran a ram route. It was right there.”
Roberts, who also had a 43-yard punt return in the first quarter, would take punter Sam Martin’s kick all the way to the end zone a few minutes later, tiptoeing down the sideline as he eluded Lions defenders. The first game for Detroit’s new coach, Matt Patricia, looked eerily familiar to the porous performance in last year’s Super Bowl by the New England Patriots, where Patricia was the defensive coordinator.
But it turned into Darnold’s night after he rebounded to complete his first N.F.L. pass, on a slant to tight end Neal Sterling. After he converted his first four third-down conversions. After he delivered a teardrop throw to Robby Anderson for 41 yards, and his first career touchdown pass, in the second quarter.
By then that first horrendous interception was long forgotten.
“I think the biggest thing for me was letting the game come to me,” said Darnold, who finished with 198 yards on 16 of 21 passing with two touchdowns. “I knew if I’d do that, we would have a chance.”
His first throw came on a curious play call. On first down at the 25, Darnold faked the handoff to running back Bilal Powell and then rolled out to his right. He was chased by a defender. Then he looked all the way left, where Powell had leaked out down the sideline, and that’s where Darnold threw.
But his pass floated in the air for what seemed an eternity.
“Right when I released it, I saw the defender,” Darnold said. “I just thought, ‘Oh shoot.’”
A throw back across the full width of the field is rarely a wise choice. In this case, it was a disaster. Safety Quandre Diggs picked it off with ease and raced into the end zone.