There were quite a few silver linings on the stormy clouds that flew over, and often inside, Ford Field in Sunday’s 38-35 season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. When viewed through the prism of last year’s 44-6 drubbing on Halloween in the same matchup, it’s impossible to not see the growth in Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions.
Detroit did a lot of very good things. They ran for 181 yards on 28 carries, with D’Andre Swift going off for 144 yards on 15 carries. The Lions kept the chains moving with nine conversions on 14 third-down attempts. When the Eagles scored in the second half, Detroit answered each time with a touchdown of its own.
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