The Detroit Lions’ Week 3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens saw significant contributions from players in all three phases.
However, only a couple of rookies really made an impact on what was a back-and-forth, heavyweight matchup on Monday night. For a team in win-now mode, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they’re not relying on too many first-year guys.
Let’s take a look at how the Lions’ rookies fared against the Ravens in primetime:
Tate Ratledge
Rookie guard Tate Ratledge looks to be getting better every week, though he did benefit from the Ravens being down a couple of their top defenders on Monday night.
Ratledge and the rest of the Lions offensive line pushed the Ravens around for much of the night, opening up huge running lanes for David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs much of the night. They also kept Jared Goff clean and able to run the offense effectively, which will always be this team’s recipe for success. No sacks allowed by the line, and Ratledge was a piece of that success.
Grade: A-
Tyleik Williams
Rookie defensive tackle Tyleik Williams had a quiet but solid game on a good night for the Lions defense despite giving up 30 points.
Williams and the rest of the defensive line held up well against the dual-threat rushing attack of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. Williams finished with a solid 64.4 overall initial defensive grade from Pro Football Focus.
Grade: C+
Isaac TeSlaa
It’s the first game of his young career that rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa didn’t have a SportsCenter Top-10-level catch, but I suppose at some point there had to be “regression” if you’d even call it that when you only average one catch per game.
TeSlaa had 14 snaps and two targets but didn’t log any catches, making little impact on the outcome of this game.
Grade: D
Dominic Lovett
Rookie wide receiver Dominic Lovett didn’t see the field on offense on Monday night as the game came down to the final two minutes.
Grade: Incomplete
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Rookie report card from the Lions Week 3 win over Ravens
Reporting by Ryan Love, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
