Detroit — Kyle Allen took a commanding lead for the Detroit Lions‘ backup quarterback job in Saturday’s 24-17 preseason loss to the Miami Dolphins at Ford Field.
Allen finished 14-for-17 passing for 124 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 136.3, leading Lions coach Dan Campbell to essentially confirm his standing as the team’s No. 2 quarterback.
“He’s playing better (of the two quarterbacks),” Campbell said. “I would say that right now, if you … had to go in with a (No.) 2 right now, who would you trust more? Yeah, I would trust Kyle more, because he’s proven more after these two games.”
Allen got the start on Saturday, and while he had some early misfires, he finished strong, including a two-minute drill in which he went 6-for-6 passing for 70 yards to give the Lions a 14-7 lead before halftime. Allen connected with rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa, who ran a stop-and-go before leaping to catch a back-shoulder throw, on an 18-yard score.
“We knew we could move it on them, and we were just kind of hurting ourselves and missing a little bit,” Allen said. “It wasn’t anything crazy, we didn’t have turnovers or anything. It was just settling in a little bit. You get one first down here, a first down there, you start moving it, and you get in a rhythm.”
BOX SCORE: Dolphins 24, Lions 17
Allen also threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Meeks to tie the game at 7 with 7:00 left in the second quarter. Meeks caught seven passes for 93 yards — a week after catching three balls for 78 yards with a touchdown against Atlanta — including a 27-yard reception to ignite the drive before halftime. TeSlaa finished with four catches for 41 yards.
Quarterback Hendon Hooker, meanwhile, went 6-for-13 passing for 61 yards. He completed four of those passes (for 47 yards) on the final possession, when the Lions were trailing 24-17 with a chance to tie or win after taking over at their own 39-yard line with 1:42 remaining.
Hooker moved the Lions to Miami’s 13-yard line with 28 seconds left, but he was intercepted by a blitzing defender on second-and-10 to make the game’s result final.
On Saturday, Hooker was sacked twice officially (and once unofficially) and had an 11-yard rushing touchdown nullified by a holding penalty on offensive tackle Giovanni Manu.
Over the last two weeks, Allen has gone 21-for-25 passing (84% completion percentage) for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Hooker has 117 yards and no touchdowns on 16-for-29 passing (55.2%) in three preseason appearances.
Campbell said he anticipates Hooker getting most of the workload in next week’s preseason finale against the Houston Texans at Ford Field.
“This is the second week in a row, in a competitive setting, that (Allen has) moved the football for us and made critical throws at critical times. I thought the two-minute drill at the end was awesome, right before half,” Campbell said.
“He’s got really good command of the offense. He communicates very clearly. He doesn’t get frazzled, he doesn’t worry about anything. If he does something that isn’t quite right or if he makes a mistake, he doesn’t get frazzled. He’s on to the next play, which, all of us appreciate that. He’s done a good job. I do have faith in him.”
Safety Erick Hallett II recorded his third pass breakup of the game to force a Dolphins field goal with 1:50 remaining, giving the Lions a chance to tie or win on the final possession. Running back Jacob Saylors had a 37-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, giving Detroit great starting field position.
“We had an opportunity to win there at the end, we just weren’t able to finish it out,” Campbell said.
The Lions and Dolphins combined for 146 penalty yards on 22 accepted penalties. Ultimately, it was Miami who outlasted the myriad setbacks.
“Really, the story for us, as far as the loss goes, is too many penalties,” Campbell said. “There were way too many penalties that we had to clean up.”
The Lions’ first drive was derailed by a holding penalty on Tom Kennedy on third-and-1, which wiped out a 32-yard run by Craig Reynolds, and a delay-of-game penalty. Running back Sione Vaki forced a fumble on the ensuing punt, but the Dolphins maintained possession with a recovery at the 29-yard line.
The Dolphins took a 7-0 lead with 1:18 left in the first quarter. After Dolphins receiver Dee Eskridge took a third-down screen pass for 27 yards, Miami punched it in two plays later with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Eskridge.
The Dolphins threatened to regain the lead as the second quarter neared a close. After Lions edge rusher Isaac Ukwu had a sack wiped off the board because of a facemask penalty on linebacker Grant Stuard, Ukwu got his lick back and sacked Zach Wilson on fourth-and-4 in the red zone.
Isaac TeSlaa had four catches for 41 yards and one touchdown vs. Miami at Ford Field on Saturday.
Isaac TeSlaa had four catches for 41 yards and one touchdown vs. Miami at Ford Field on Saturday.
The Dolphins tied the game at 14 with 11:10 in the first quarter. Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers found Theo Wease Jr., who beat the coverage of Lions cornerback Tyson Russell, in the end zone for a touchdown. One play earlier, Lions rookie edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein was taken to the locker room with an apparent upper-body injury.
Hooker went three-and-out on his first two possessions but was given new life after the second when Dolphins return man AJ Henning muffed the punt, which was recovered by Lions gunner and receiver Dominic Lovett.
Hooker escaped the pocket on third-and-6 for a 10-yard touchdown run later in the drive, but it was called back for a holding penalty on Manu. Kicker Jake Bates added a 33-yard field goal to put Detroit up, 17-14, with 4:53 remaining in the third quarter. It was the first time Hooker had led a scoring drive this preseason.
The Dolphins took a 21-17 lead at 12:16 in the fourth after Lions defensive tackle Brodric Martin kicked off the possession with a neutral-zone infraction. Miami travelled 60 yards in six plays, in part thanks to a 23-yard completion to Wease and a 15-yard run by Ollie Gordon, before Wease capped the drive with his second touchdown of the day, this one from 8 yards out.
More observations
▶ Several players whose status was up in the air ended up playing: Vaki, Lovett, Manu and defensive lineman Pat O’Connor were all active.
Vaki forced a fumble on punt return and had 30 rushing yards on five carries. Lovett handled first-half punt return duties and had two receptions for 14 yards; he also recovered a muffed punt in the second half, leading to a scoring drive.
▶ Undrafted safety Ian Kennelly got the nod to start at safety over Loren Strickland, a positive sign for Kennelly’s standing on the roster. Kennelly also started the last game against Atlanta. Rock Ya-Sin was Detroit’s other starting safety.
▶ Stuard, who was once again handled kick returns for Detroit — his two returns went for a total of 50 yards with a long of 27 — forced a fumble against Miami running back Jaylen Wright with 2:18 to go in the first quarter. The ball was recovered by Miami before the Eskridge touchdown.
▶ Several Lions players combined to have 10 pass breakups on the day: Zach Cunningham, Hallett (three), Nick Whiteside, D.J. Miller (two), Allan George and Luq Barcoo (two).
▶ Five players had tackles-for-loss: Miller, linebacker DaRon Gilbert, linebacker Ezekiel Turner, defensive end Nate Lynn, and Ukwu. Turner had a team-high nine tackles.
▶ Defensive tackle Keith Cooper Jr., a UDFA who’s firmly on the roster bubble, had a run stop for no gain and pressured Wilson on a third-down red-zone pass.
▶ Hooker’s pocket presence has been extremely poor in his last two showings. He was strip-sacked against the Falcons because he simply didn’t see the pressure coming from his right. On his second drive of Saturday’s game, he was sacked because he failed to move off his spot and was brought down easily by Zeek Biggers.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi
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