By A to Z Sports,Mike Payton
Copyright yardbarker
It’s been two games for the Detroit Lions, and both were wildly different in many ways. But both were also the same in one pretty concerning way. Teams are flat going after Terrion Arnold out there. It’s like opposing offenses are tailoring their game plan around Arnold, and it’s working.
Terrion Arnold is getting targeted a lot
In two games, he’s been targeted 15 times. Of those 15 targets, he’s allowed 10 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown. He’s also allowed some explosives in both games. Against the Packers, it was a 42-yard pass, and on Sunday against the Bears, it was a 37-yard pass. On top of that, he also had a big DPI that wiped out a Bears third-and-15 and put them in the Lions’ territory. The Bears got in the end zone a few plays later. This is pretty similar to what we saw last season from Arnold. He was targeted 98 times in 2024. That’s nearly 20 more times than the next guy, Amik Robertson, who was targeted 81 times. Arnold allowed a reception percentage of 61.2% last year, and right now he’s sitting at 66.7%. It hasn’t been all bad, though, and it’s important that you know that. For example, Arnold did have a nice pass breakup against the Bears, and he had what should have been an interception, too, but it was called back due to a bad roughing the passer call. Arnold also has a fairly good excuse, too. He hurt his groin on the second play of the game in Week 1, and it hurt his ability to get full speed. This is also a pretty good indication that things are going well elsewhere. Teams aren’t targeting D.J. Reed, and they’re not targeting Amik Robertson. In fact, Robertson has yet to be targeted at all this season. Reed’s been targeted eight times and he’s allowed seven catches, but that’s kind of a lie, because these catches are all short yardage and he’s wrapping up on them quickly.The other good thing is that we know that Arnold got better as the season went on, but with a 1-1 start, the team needs to make sure they get these issues cleaned up faster than before, especially since they’re taking on the highest scoring team in the league in Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens this week.
