Biggest Takeaways from Detroit Lions' Week 3 Loss

The only takeaway that matters from Sunday night's game is the Detroit Lions' 0-3 start.

Suffice it to say, it doesn't bode well for future success—not with a trip to Seattle and a visit from the NFC's most impressive team, the Arizona Cardinals, following quickly on its heels.

There is now a legitimate chance that this team won't win until Week 6 at the earliest.

But it's not a certainty. So let's take a look back at the biggest lessons learned from Detroit's Week 3 loss and see what challenges are looming.

Detroit Didn't Make the Swing Plays

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Every game that doesn't include a 20-point lead will have swing plays. And whichever team can win those 50-50 battles usually wins the war.

That's exactly what happened Sunday night. The Denver Broncos made the big plays when it mattered, and the Lions too often gave them up.

There's no running away from Darius Slay's two pivotal moments. The much larger Demaryius Thomas snatched the first jump ball for a touchdown and then watched Emmanuel Sanders repeat the feat on Denver's final scoring drive.

Even the blocked extra point was significant, as Detroit would have only been trailing by eight with the game on the line. Granted, it didn't ultimately matter, but only needing one score instead of two might have given the Lions just enough patience to finish that last drive.

Who knows? And that's the point. These Lions could have been in a different place had they made only two to three more plays. It's been that way now for three weeks.

The Defense Actually Played Well

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Save for those couple plays, the defense generally played well.

The Broncos barely averaged over two yards per carry and mostly abandoned the running game, settling for just 41 yards. Instead, Denver took to the air for 324 yards, although 79 of that were on the two bombs on Darius Slay.

The rest of the stats tell a better story for the defense. Denver converted four of its 12 third-down opportunities (same numbers as the Lions) and was held to 14 points until the final 10 minutes.

A grain of sand comes with this compliment, considering the Broncos had the worst offense in football coming into the game. But Denver head coach Gary Kubiak did adjust his scheme a bit to allow Peyton Manning to get out from under center. Thus, this could be a much better offense going forward based on that tweak.

Linebacker Josh Bynes was instrumental in chasing down running backs on flairs and helping Stephen Tulloch control the middle of the field. The two combined for nine defensive stops, per Pro Football Focus, and looked much better than the week prior.

Hopefully for Detroit's sake, this is the start of a trend and not a fluke. The Seattle Seahawks have seemingly realized that the best way to use Jimmy Graham is to throw him the ball. That could spell trouble for a unit that has traditionally struggled against tight end. Detroit allowed the fifth-most catches last year to tight ends, per fftoday.com.

The Offensive Line Needs Immediate Help

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All of the signs were there that LaAdrian Waddle's return wouldn't be the miracle balm fans were hoping for.

He was active last week but didn't play. Then he suffered some sort of ankle injury, and the coaches announced he wouldn't start this week but would be ready to go.

Waddle gave up eight quarterback hurries, along with a sack and a quarterback hit. And those made him so antsy to get off the line quickly that he racked up a pair of false starts, too.

Maybe Waddle isn't healthy yet, in which case he needs to stay on the bench. Or maybe we need to remember that Von Miller can do that to anybody.

Regardless, he wasn't given much help. Rookie Laken Tomlinson struggled in the run game and was easily thrown off balance by veteran players. Riley Reiff gave up four pressures himself, including a pair of sacks.

Former Lion Cliff Avril and Seahawk running mate Michael Bennett have to be excited for this group to come to town. Detroit needs Brandon Pettigrew back to help chip those two defensive ends and should look into changing the blocking schemes to match the personnel on board.

The Running Game Is Impressively Bad

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Denver averages 57 rushing yards a game. That's terrible, and still, the Lions are 12 yards shy of that mark. Washington churns out almost 100 more yards on the ground per game, and Kirk Cousins is the starting quarterback. Opponents know it's coming.

Need more confirmation of Detroit's ineptitude? Joquie Bell had six yards on 10 carries this week.

Of course, the offensive line's struggles are a key issue here but so is Detroit's lack of creativity. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has become so predictable that Denver cornerback Bradley Roby said, "We pretty much knew what they were gonna do, and they did it," per Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News.

When you look at the tape from the Minnesota game, the Vikings always seemed to know where the play was going anytime Detroit lined up in an I formation. This continuation of that theme means that the coaching staff either doesn't realize the other teams are on to them or don't care. Either one should get a coach fired quickly.

One fix would be for Lombardi to take advantage of a defense presuming certain sets will bring certain plays. Go the opposite direction or set up a reverse to Golden Tate. Whatever it is, he must stop telegraphing his intentions on every play.

Another Muddled Matthew Stafford Performance

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

The debate will rage for another year—at least—regarding whether Matthew Stafford is a franchise quarterback.

It's too difficult to fully peg his play. When a quarterback's rushing game would gain more yards by tripping over the line of scrimmage and falling forward, it's tough to get anything done.

That's because a poor ground game turns defensive ends and outside linebackers into puppies. They follow the quarterback everywhere he goes, bathroom etiquette be damned, knowing full well the run isn't coming.

How are we supposed to evaluate Stafford if he rarely gets a chance to set his feet? The pressure excuse is a valid one that has to be taken into account when grading Stafford's play.

But that wasn't the sole cause of his interceptions. The second one was Stafford locking in and not looking for the dime back. The play required an athletic maneuver, but the throw shouldn't have been made.

Despite the 27 quarterback pressures, he still completed 69 percent of his throws, although at an average distance of 6.3 yards, which would be the 26th-worst such average in the league.

Stafford has shown a lot of capabilities over his seven-year career. He can be the reason a team wins, but he can't do it on his own. Until he gets some help, the debate will rage on.

All advanced statistics, grades and positional rankings are courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Brandon Alisoglu is a Detroit Lions Featured Columnist who has written about the Lions on multiple sites. He also co-hosts a Lions-centric podcast, Lions Central Radio. Yell at him on Twitter about how wrong he is @BrandonAlisoglu.