RealGM

http://football.realgm.com/src_teamarticle/663/20100816/detroit_lions_season_preview_2010/

3 Keys to the season

1. Don’t Stop Believing. There is tangible optimism all over this team, stemming from Head Coach Schwartz and guys like Delmas, Suh, and Stafford. That optimism figures to be tested hard with an early schedule that features 4 of the first 6 games on the road, including all three NFC North rivals. Staying focused, positive, and mentally strong after what looks like nothing better than a 2-4 start (if that) will be critical.

2. Take it on the Run, Baby. The Lions must run the ball better and also show major improvement at stopping the run. The offseason additions on both sides of the ball should help, but it’s a long climb up from as dreadful as Detroit has consistently fared in both areas in recent years.

3. Youth Gone Wild. There is a lot of very good young talent sprinkled on this roster, more than at any time in at least 15 years. The developmental progress of Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, Louis Delmas, DeAndre Levy, Ndamukong Suh, and Jahvid Best must be first and foremost, even if costs an extra couple of wins in the growing pains.

Great extensive team preview as always, Icness. I think the Lions can win 5, maybe 6 this year. They really need to go after some OL next offseason.

^ I agree, great article Jeff.

I also agree, when I look at the schedule I can see 6 wins. Give or take one.

I think the FO has done a very good job providing weapons on offense for Stafford, shoring up the LG position, and creating an actual NFL Dline. Throughout this season and next off season, they need to focus on the secondary, linebackers and getting some depth on Oline to take over soon.

Still not a contender, but we're getting close to an actual team. Before the 2009 draft, I said on this board that I wanted us to draft a QB (Matt Stafford) and then spend the next two years building the team around him. I'm still sticking to that.

Look how far we'vecome in 1.5 years

QB: Matthew Stafford/Shaun Hll
WR: Calvin Johnson/Derrick Williams
LT: Jeff Backus/Jason Fox
LG: Rob Sims
C: Dominic Raiola
RG: Stephen Peterman
RT: Gosder Cherilus/Jon Jansen
TE: Brandon Pettigrew/Tony Scheffler/Will Heller
WR: Nate Burleson/Bryant Johnson
FB: Jerome Felton
RB: Jahvid Best/Kevin Smith/Aaron Brown

DE: Clff Avril
DT: Ndamukong Suh
DT: Corey Williams/Sammie Hill
DE: Kyle Vanden Bosch
LB: Julian Peterson
LB: DeAndre Levy
LB: Zach Follett
CB: Chris Houston/Amari Spievey
S: Randy Phillips/Jonathan Hefney
S: Louis Delmas
CB: Jonathan Wade/Dre Bly

I will take the high road lions over achive end up at 10 wins and 6 losses.they will win a lot of games in the last 2 min.

kellmellus50 wrote:I will take the high road lions over achive end up at 10 wins and 6 losses.they will win a lot of games in the last 2 min.

10 wins? Have you seen the schedule? And i thought you hated Stafford....i like the optimism but man 10 wins is crazy talk

I like us to win 4 or 5 and have some flashes of brilliance. The offense will really click i think, but our DBs are going to get routinely roasted.

This is the transition year in my opinion. The year where everything starts to come together and you see the final plan starting to take shape. Another few high picks to grab hopefully a CB, SS and LT, with development from the young guys, and 2011 is the year we can start even thinking of a run at the division title.

I never said i hated stafford ,my wins is mostly based on the rest of the team and how they perform.I also believe stafford will get injured early in the season and shaun hill will be the quarterback to lead the lions at the end of the season to 10 wins.

I hav the Lions at 6 wins for the season. 6-10.

We have a good young QB who's has his first full offseason. He and Calvin have worked all offseason on building chemsitry. We added weapons to help catch the ball. Burleson, Scheffler, Best are better than Northcutt, Smith and Bryant Johnson. Although BJ will make a nice 3/4 WR. Our Oline should help keep Stafford upright now that Rob Sims is at LG allowing Raiola and Backus to play more one on one. Also adding Scheffler allows Pettigrew to spend more time on the line blocking.

On defense, we have a honest to goodness D-Line. A real Dline who will pressure the opposing QBs and not only shrink the field, but speed things up for our secondary so they don't have to cover for 7-8 seconds any longer.

I still think we're a solid LB oorp, improved secondary and O-line depth away from a winning season.... but we should win a few of the games that we lost late in games last year.

Thanks for the kind words guys

I do think 6 wins is realistic, maybe 7 or 8 if the Bears and Vikings fall flat.

The Lawrence Jackson trade today is interesting because the Titans very nearly drafted him when Schwartz was their DC. They saw him as a Vandenbosch type of player, and now he gets to learn from him. IMO it won't make much of an impact this year other than improving depth, but I think it could pay off in 2011 if Jackson wants it bad enough.

^ Schwartz talked about how disappointed he was hen our starters came out of that Steelers game and how our backups did squat. He talked repeatedly about depth in ever interview since. Adding a young DE who is a more of a 4-3 pass rusher than Seattle would like was a solid move.

Cliff Avril/Lawrence Jackson
Corey Williams/Sammie Hill
Ndamukong Suh/Landon Cohen
Kyle Vanden Bosch/Willie Young??

It's getting there. Our starters are fine and Jackson & Hill should be solid backups... still needs work though. Maybe Willie Young will pan out.

I'd still like to see Mayhew address a few more areas. Mostly LB and DB. Although word is that LT Marcus McNeill in SD could be traded.... I wouldn't mind bringing him in here and moving Backus to RT, reducing Cherilus to a backup role, if not trade bait.