After two consecutive losses to open the season, most figured the Detroit Lions were going to get routed at home by the New England Patriots Sunday night.
New England itself was coming off a Week 2 loss to Jacksonville. Meanwhile, we all know Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wanted to stick it to his former defensive coordinator, current Lions head coach Matt Patricia.
Given what we saw earlier on Sunday with Buffalo taking out the Vikings in Minnesota, anything was seemingly possible at Ford Field. And like clockwork, Detroit jumped out of the gate big time.
The Lions opened up a 13-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the second quarter. That very same span of action saw the home team rack up 196 yards and 14 first downs. The Patriots? Well, 13 yards and exactly zero first downs.
Needless to say, Twitter had its reactions to this early-game domination by Detroit.
This is the flattest, deadest first half I’ve seen the Patriots play in my entire adult life.
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) September 24, 2018
Think about this: The same Lions that got embarrassed at home by the Jets on opening night now have 14 first downs to the Patriots' 0.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) September 24, 2018
Patriots fans right now pic.twitter.com/fxA8sTHtkl
— Jon Kilmer (@JonKilmer) September 24, 2018
Who is this team and what have they done with my Lions?
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) September 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/PatsGazette/status/1044032219399016449
Are the Patriots wearing Lions uniforms tonight?
— HUGE (@Hugeshow) September 24, 2018
Keep searching for impact guys on either side of the ball and they are just hard to find on the 2018 Patriots … where are they?
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 24, 2018
Lions dominating this game. Converting every third down and keeping New England off the field. Much like the Jags last week, excellent start, controlling the game
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) September 24, 2018
The reality is the @Patriots defense is not that good. They have one pass rusher(Flowers who is not playing) and one true m/m defender(Gilmore) Bortles and Foles each threw for 370 + yards. Both are not elite QB’s @lions @nflnetwork
— Charley Casserly (@CharleyCasserly) September 24, 2018
yeah…
I def don't recognize this Patriots team… 🧐 pic.twitter.com/ma0pafwwfb— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) September 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/WorldofIsaac/status/1044029513158586379