Three reasons Detroit Lions fans should panic, and three reasons they should not.

The young defensive tackle

There was optimism that a return to two gap defense would revitalize Robinson’s somewhat anemic career to this point. He played that style of defense in college and was dominant. It turns out that the SEC is still nowhere near the same level as the NFL.

Robinson did not start against the Giants. The Lions will rotate their defensive linemen at fairly regular intervals, but the sub packages the Lions tried out also had one common feature: they lacked Robinson. The Lions ran primarily four-man fronts, and they were doing a lot of stunting, neither of which are factors that favor Robinson.

The Lions were trying something different defensively, but it may have been because Robinson wasn’t looking better than Sylvester Williams. Williams is not exactly an All-Pro and Robinson was expected to be a better option for the team in the middle.

This is Robinson’s last opportunity to show that he deserves a spot in the Lions future plans. His preseason performance will not be the determining factor, but this is where Matt Patricia will set players identities in his mind.

Robinson did play, but it was not during the pars of the game that featured a lot of well thought of players on either team. We will find out whether Robinson’s seeming demotion was indicative of a greater issue, or simply that Robinson doesn’t do what the Lions were trying to master very well. Bu we will not find that out for a couple more weeks.