On Thursday night, the Detroit Lions lost an ugly and wet preseason opener to the New York Giants, 14-3.
As we’ll do every week throughout the season for this Lions team, we have some data we can comb through courtesy of Pro Football Focus that better helps us understand the football the Lions have played thus far—and what to look forward to in the coming weeks. Let’s take a closer look at the Lions by the numbers after their loss to the New York Giants in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL preseason.
Detroit rested nearly all of their starters in their preseason opener against the Giants, but there were a few defensive backs who suited up despite them slated to have big roles for the Lions defense this season. Terrion Arnold, the Lions’ first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and presumed starter opposite of Carlton Davis, played 13 snaps. Ennis Rakestraw, vying for the nickel corner spot and the first man off the bench for more help at outside cornerback, received an extended look with 37 defensive snaps (64%) and 11 snaps on special teams (50%).
Taking nothing away from the solid debut from Arnold, but it was Amik Robertson and Ennis Rakestraw playing some very encouraging football. Robertson played perfect in coverage. No, really, he was perfect.
Robertson played just 18 snaps on defense—interestingly enough, according to PFF, all 18 were in the slot—but was targeted twice in coverage. Not only did he not allow any completions, he was credited with two forced incompletions for a pristine 100% forced incompletion rate. The ball skills were evident and the veteran poise distinguished Robertson from the rest of the group. Robertson was splitting first-team reps at nickel corner with the now-injured Emmanuel Moseley to start training camp, and with the way he played on Thursday, it looks like he’s not interested in sharing any of those reps going forward.
