Lions vs. Patriots live score updates, highlights, drive-by-drive analysis

Week 5 NFL live updates, highlights, news from Lions vs. Patriots.

For the Detroit Lions, Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots has a ton of stakes. A 1-4 start at the bye week would have many questioning whether this rebuild is really headed in the right direction. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn would continue to feel the heat underneath his seat rise if he can’t slow a mediocre Patriots offense with a fourth-round rookie quarterback making his first career start.

And, of course, Lions fans have nightmares of watching a victorious Matt Patricia lift his arms over his head after defeating the team he drove into the ground with 2.5 years of poor leadership and questionable schematic choices.

Detroit, too, will be severely shorthanded in this game. While it looks like star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will try to give it a go, Detroit will be missing offensive weapons DJ Chark and D’Andre Swift. On the defensive side of the ball, Charles Harris was a late-week injury and won’t play, while John Cominsky, Tracy Walker, and Romeo Okwara remain out.

If you’re not able to watch or listen, we’ll be providing live updates during the game right here. We’ll have highlights, drive-by-drive analysis, and any injury updates that happen throughout the game. Just hang around here, occasionally refresh the page, and enjoy.

At the end of the game, this post will turn into the full recap of the game—a handy resource to remind you how the game played out, with video of the most pivotal moments.

Pregame

The Lions lived up to their promise that there would be shakeups on the defensive roster. Not only was starting cornerback Amani Oruwariye a healthy scratch, but based on warmups the Lions also are benching nickel corner Mike Hughes for AJ Parker and starting safety DeShon Elliott for Saivion Smith.

Those are some drastic changes to the secondary against a rookie quarterback in his first start. We’ll see if those moves end up paying off.

First quarter

The Patriots won the toss and deferred, giving the Lions offense a chance to take the lead early. Detroit got to their own 45-yard line and faced a fourth-and-less-than-1. Dan Campbell opted to go for it, and a fullback run with Jamaal Williams was stuffed for no gain, giving New England the ball on the Lions side of the field.

Bailey Zappe quickly connected with tight end Hunter Henry for 23 yards after Saivion Smith immediately fell down with what appeared to be a serious injury on just the second defensive play of the game. Medics brought out a backboard and an ambulance for Smith, who was transported to a local hospital for a neck injury.

After a long, scary scene, the two teams resumed play. The Patriots were unable to get another first down, but the play to Henry got them close enough to kick a 37-yard field goal. 3-0 Patriots.

Detroit was able to move the ball deep into Patriots territory thanks to a couple of nice runs from Craig Reynolds, but on a first-and-10 play from New England’s 18-yard line, Jared Goff stared down T.J. Hockenson, which allowed Jack Jones to anticipate the throw and step in front of it for the interception.

The Patriots were backed up in their own zone, but not for long. Rhamondre Stevenson ripped off a 49-yard run after breaking several tackles.

New England continued to pound the Lions defense on the ground, moving into the red zone as the game moved into the second quarter.