We SHOULD have been able to point up some major points on Green Bay today too. So I honestly do not know what to expect us to do on offense vs Detroit. I suspect our defense to keep Megatron in check but like we saw today if our offense can't even generate a single point we won't win. Prediction Jets 23 Lions 16
Howdy all... Lions fan invading from Motownsports.com. We'd love to have some of y'all post thoughts from a Jets perspective over there if you can. As for the Lions perspective: Over all, when they are being honest, most Lions fans do not anticipate a win against the Jets. The Jets are clearly a better team than the Lions right now. The Lions have improved... we seem to be on the right track, but we aren't there yet. That said, there is hope... ya never know what will happen when you play the game, and it is in Detroit. If the Lions play well and get the crowd fired up it could be an interesting game. On OFFENSE: Stafford is back. He showed some rust in the first half of the Washington game, but was looking good by the end of the game. He's got a good arm and is pretty accurate. He also has a lot of weapons around him. CJ is of course the big guy, but you can't focus too much on him. Nate Burleson has helped keep defenses a little more honest. Our OC loves the 2-TE set and we've got a pair of good TEs in Pettigrew and Schefler. Finally Best can be dangerous running. Last few games he's been bottled up pretty good though. If our less than stellar OL can just pop open a hole and he gets a bit of space he can do good things with it, but he doesn't seem the type of be able to power through and create holes. And as I mentioned, our less than stellar OL isn't doing a good job opening them for him. The OL is okay at pass blocked, but bad at run blocking. On DEFENSE: It all comes down to the line. Detroit as a VERY GOOD defensive line. Now, to be sure, the Redskins OL isn't that great, but still, six sacks? That's a lot for one game. Vanden Bosch has been playing just lights out, and Suh is everything he was advertised to be. Now, once you get back the DL, well... that's a whole different story. Our LBs are below average at best. Peterson is okay, but he's getting long in the tooth. Levy just came back as MLB and there is high hopes for him after a pretty good year in 2009, but he's very much unproven right now. I don't even know who'll be starting on the other side. Follett was our stater, but he wasn't very good and he's out on IR now. Delmas hit hard from the Safety spot, but that's about it for the secondary. When the DL dominates (see the RedSkins game) then the defense looks good. But if they aren't applying constant pressure on the QB or stuffing the run, then the problems with the rest of the defense show up, big time. On Special Teams: Well, our ST are better than they have been. We used to just stink on special teams. We had good kickers, but the coverage teams were awful and we could never had good returns. This is changing. In fact, our coverage has been pretty good, up until last week. The Redskins were running back kicks for huge gains. One for a TD (and a second for a TD that got called back). A few interesting notes... Over on MotownSports we have a thread comparing Sanchez and Stafford that's been around for over a year now. Because they were both drafted high in the '09 draft they will be always linked. Sanchez has certainly had more success than Stafford to-date. It hasn't helped that Stafford has been hurt so much. Still, most Lions fans say they'd take Stafford over Sanchez and that Sanchez's success has just been tied to being with a better team. CJ vs. Revis should prove to be an interesting matchup.
Don't worry, we won't focus too much on CJ....we have one guy to do that job. Good post though, although it's obvious the Jets are a better team, I know the Lions are much improved and we can't overlook them.
I'm not saying Best is Sanders, but the kid is fucking explosive. He's the type of back that can make the first guy miss and them outrun everyone the next 70 yards. With our very agressive D it would not supprise me if he broke at least one big run next week. we often do not have deep help past the point of attack. We better win this fucking game, but the Lions are a lot better than 2-5 would make it seem. They are a young team on the rise.
Our D is very aggressive, but since Rex has been here we've allowed a lot less big plays than you'd expect from that type of defense.
It happened against Green Bay, and the same is going to happen against the Lions: the opposing defense is going to put 8 in the box and play press coverage. We might be able to muscle for a few first downs with our running game, but unless our passing game picks up, we're screwed. That means that Sanchez will have to make some accurate medium and deep throws. Sanchez is fully capable of doing that. I think he'll play better in a dome than outside. The entire offense had their wakeup call. There's going to be some motivated players this Sunday. I'm expecting a game similar to the one against Tampa Bay last year. Stafford struggles against 3-4's, and he's never faced a defense with this much trickery (btw, it's funny that our fans praise Rex for the defense's trickery but kill Schotty when he wants to run a more complex offense. smh). Stafford is going to have several plays where he looks like a deer in headlights. He won't have the time to hold the ball and let plays develop. It's comparable to how Matt Schaub likes to let plays develop and goes for big plays. Any defense that can get to Schaub quickly can stop the Texans (ex: Jets and Giants). Best is scary, but we'll be able to contain him. Revis and Cromartie will rotate on and off of Megatron. We'll win this game by 6+.
Lions Defense doesn't compare to an even banged up Packers defense.... Their front 4 are pretty good, but outside of that and alphonso smith (who still gets burned, but he can pick it) their defense is pretty bad. they definitely don't have an AJ hawk or Clay matthews running around in the middle. their linebackers are atrocious we'll get yards on this team. they give up about 350 yards a game. we have to limit their pass rush up front and turnovers. i'm pretty confident about this one. after laying that egg offensively, this team comes back focused and relentless. pretty sure rex drills ground and pound into schotty's head this week. we can probably run against their 8 in the box
In the two games where the defense has looked its most complex - they give up 19 points. In the two games where the offense couldn't execute the complex bullshit - 9 points total. That's plenty of evidence for the double standard.
Lets stop giving Sanchez 40 passing attempts and starting giving Greene more carries and get back to balanced football. The Lions are not a push over this year and if we don't jump on them its going to be a long game. Its funny the Packers game I thought was a lock for a win and this game was a lock for a loss..... Hope I'm wrong.
There's nothing wrong with passing when the defense is stacking the box daring us to pass. We just need to execute.
The offense needs to be more balanced this year. We don't have a rookie QB anymore and we need to be able to take advantage of teams that sell out to stop the run. Our run game wasn't very effective against them stacking the box so we went after what they were giving us. You can't keep smashing your head into a brick wall hoping it breaks before you do. The players didn't execute. It was a bad game, shit happens.
I agree we have to be more balanced but the fact is since holmes return we haven't been. We are passing almost 20 times more than we are running. Its typically been 35-45 pass 20-25 run since the Vikings game but we won those two games so no one says anything. Even if we won this game vs the Pack and Cotch makes those catches I'd still be asking where is the run game? We averaged 4.1 YPC vs the Pack and yet we only run 21 times. Greene got six carries... Him and LT should both be getting 15-20 a game EACH.
Offense, KISS- Run the ball, pass to Keller until they stop him sprinkle in a few deep balls to Braylon. Defense, Get in Stafford's face, I expect to get a few sacks this game and a couple of picks, 1 at the very least. Special teams, Detroit is at the bottom of the league in kick and punt returns. Would not be surprised to see Brad Smith take one to the house. Detroit is without a doubt a team that can not be overlooked, that being said there is no reason we should lose this game.
You're counting the punters 17 yard gain and Sanchez' 20 yard run at the end into that 4.1 average. We were not very effective running the ball Sunday because the Packers sold out to stop the run and dared Sanchez to beat them. We NEED to be able to take advantage of that or we aren't going far.
