Alex Anzalone is fresh off a measly contract adjustment this offseason, still looking down the barrel of a highly interesting free agency period in 2026. The Detroit Lions' best linebacker looked great in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers despite the huge loss that the team suffered, but it's one that even he isn't taking as a sign of worse things to come.
Anzalone told reporters on Monday morning following the 27-13 dismantling of the Lions' offense that the overreactions to Week 1 are "not highly intelligent."
"After Week 1? Well, whoever’s saying that is not highly intelligent. This isn’t a situation where anyone’s panicking. It’s just, we’re on the road, we got our ass beat and we gotta move on," said Anzalone according to Will Burchfield of 97.1 The Ticket.
Anzalone is completely right.From takes involving the future of Aidan Hutchinson to question marks around Detroit's offense in general looking shaky, the reactions to this Week 1 loss - we repeat, Week 1 - have been quite a lot to digest over the last 12 hours.
Anzalone shuts down speculation about Lions' future success after Week 1
The only thing that fans could likely take away from this week's loss is that Detroit might be without Terrion Arnold for a huge home opener against the Chicago Bears in Week 2. He injured his groin early on in the contest against the Packers, and was ruled out of the game shortly after leaving the field in the first half.
Otherwise, everything we saw that was bad from Detroit are things that are fixable. Either through internal work or external solutions, the Lions can address the poor O-line play that plagued Jared Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs all game long.
Graham Glasgow, who turned out to be the lowest-graded player for the Lions per PFF from the contest, didn't look right at center. There were some obvious growing pains from Tate Ratledge. And, Christian Mahogany and Penei Sewell put the bow on a terrible day for the line with respectively bad performances.
Again, all fixable. Offensive coordinator John Morton shouldn't be fired today, but he has to prove his mettle by getting the line fixed up, and quickly. Without solid protection for Goff moving forward, the team is in for a long year considering their upcoming competition features some great D-line play from the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns, and the Kansas City Chiefs.
