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For general talk with the hope of generating more traffic on the board. Lots to talk about after some hope due to a 3-1 start getting dashed with a disgusting loss at home against the Bills. Defense is obviously legit though.

BL, can you please sticky this?

I didn't get around to starting a Week 5 thread, so I'll drop my reaction here I suppose.

I came into this game expecting a win. I didn't expect anything fancy, I think this offense is a disaster considering the talent on that side of the ball, but a win by a touchdown or so seemed reasonable.


So much for bringing in an offensive minded coach, and a whiz-kid in Lombardi to fix the problems this team has on offense. Sure, this loss can easily be blamed on the kicker. And a good portion of the blame falls on Henerey. 3 missed field goals is atrocious. But we've known the kicking game was an issue since the pre-season. It should have never become an issue because we have so many weapons on offense, that we should rarely need a kicker to hit a 51 yarder.

The O-Line sucks. Plain and simple. Linehan knew it, and gameplanned accordingly, making sure the ball was out of Stafford's hands quickly. Lombardi refuses to adjust to that fact, and continues to try and run passing routes that take too long to develop.

Stafford will never be anything more than an inconsistent, average NFL quarterback. He's our own Tony Romo. He doesn't go through progressions, he goes from his #1 option to his bail out option ignoring everything in between. A lot of that has to do with having Linehan as his coordinator for so long I'm sure, because he never had time to run through progressions with the way the offense was gameplanned. Freaking Eli Manning was able to learn a new offensive system over the course of a few weeks. Stafford simply isn't capable. He overthrew on most of his misses today, and that was the reason for his interception. People keep defending him, tossing out excuses that it was the receivers fault for running the wrong route, or stopping, etc. It's one thing if it happens once or twice a season. But that's how he throws 75% of his picks!! At some point you have to realize the one constant on all of those throws is Stafford!

I can't say anything about the defense. Sure there were some mistakes made towards the end of the game. But how can you expect a defense to continually go out and shut down the opponent, only to see your offense give you NOTHING. This defense contributed as much to the scoreboard as the offense did. That's freaking ridiculous when you consider how much has been put into the offense while the Front Office ignores the defense come draft day.

WHY WAS CALVIN EVEN ON THE FIELD? I said this last week after the win, and I'll repeat myself today. If he's not completely healthy, and is simply going to be used as a decoy, rest him until he's healthy. This offense has enough weapons that it shouldn't be as much of an issue if he has to miss a week or two as it was a year or two ago. But, they trotted him out there, to get a whooping 1 target, and aggravate an ankle injury that wasn't even close to being healed in the first place.

Our best player is a weekly member of the injury report, our QB can't find an open receiver to save his life, and the O-Line seems to be taking lessons from our D-Line on how to beat their man at the line.

This offense is a joke. The defense completely legit, but I bet we don't hold on to Austin for very long before he gets a HC job somewhere, and then we're right back where we started.

And I honestly don't care who they bring in at kicker at this point. Why Henerey's kicks were turning sideways through the air is bewildering. I'm sure we'll hear all about Matt Prater this week, but even his numbers were inflated by kicking in Denver.

14-0 first quarter. 17 unanswered points. Good ole Lions LOSS.

Some interesting stats on stafford:

Career W-L against team with a winning record 2-28

This season he is 30th in QB rating in the 4th quarter.

Those two things speak volumes IMO.

Just last season they had a lead in the 4th quarter in every game. All 16. Even the 9 losses.


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epheisey wrote:Some interesting stats on stafford:

Career W-L against team with a winning record 2-28

This season he is 30th in QB rating in the 4th quarter.

Those two things speak volumes IMO.

Just last season they had a lead in the 4th quarter in every game. All 16. Even the 9 losses.


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Yeah, I heard that on the Ticket yesterday. That 2-28 record against winning teams is utterly astounding. Like Mike Valenti said, given 30 chances you're going to stumble into at least 3 wins.

is iceness no longer a member of this board?

He replied to a post I made on the general board. He's out there somewhere haha.


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Blkbrd671 wrote:is iceness no longer a member of this board?

He's a friend on Facebook (and in real life although I haven't seen him in a couple/few years) and he's pretty busy with all the NFL stuff he's doing, wife, kids, etc.

Wow. I don't even know what to say about that win. Combination of unlucky breaks, lucky breaks, terrible play, and great play...these Lions really now how to temper any belief that a fan could have in them.


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epheisey wrote:Wow. I don't even know what to say about that win. Combination of unlucky breaks, lucky breaks, terrible play, and great play...these Lions really now how to temper any belief that a fan could have in them.


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The good teams find ways to win. Dare i say we are a good team. I didn't get a chance to watch this game but wow, i can only imagine the atmosphere at ford field. Still concerns about our offense, but i think it'll eventually come around by the end of the year

That's what we always hear though. This team has yet to stand out as different from other Lions teams yet. Sure they're winning late in games and playing great defense. But we've seen it all before. The Lions defense kept them in games last year all season long. The offense struggled to put up points despite being filled with playmakers. They even had a string of huge comebacks in 2011, where we set the record for most 21 pt comebacks in a season. This team's problems have always been consistency.

So far, the defense is providing that. But I feel like this team is relying too heavily on that. If we didn't get a generous PI call there on 4th down...game over. If we get called for PI on a close play the last saints 4th down, likely game over. I want to see this team dominate and really leave their mark. They did it in week 1, but since then, I've seen just as many negatives as positives in their subsequent wins.


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Clearly "good" is the highest compliment this team deserves right now. If I was Caldwell I'd be crawling all over Lombardi saying, "Get this offense straightened out NOW." Consistent offense is the only thing standing between this team being middle tier "good" and top tier contender.

Yes, they won, but a lot of people were looking to the Saints game as a defining moment between "SOL" and "hey, maybe we've got something special here." I can't think that anyone would come away from the game thinking the Lions have showed they're something special overall. Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Minnesota are train wrecks, Miami and Chicago are inconsistent, and the Lions could use wins where expected to make the playoffs. But this game was Drew Brees and the Saints; what happens when the Lions offense has to keep up with the likes of Arizona, New England and Green Bay on the road, much less a Seattle or Denver in the playoffs? Great defense and poor offense is not going to translate to wins against those teams like it could in their other games.

Awesome glimpse into Lions london preparation and stay

http://espn.go.com/blog/detroit-lions/p ... for-london

Great article on Mayhew and how he actually is a really good GM.

MM i owe you a apology

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/l ... /17698903/

We are 6-2 and great article on how much we overcame to get here with backups.

http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2014/10/2 ... lions-2014

Take away

QB:
Matthew looked great when he had time, and when he didn't he made plays with his feet to buy time. He hit multiple receivers, we even had a broyles sighting. First half was typical Matt, where a awesome pass was followed up by a horrible pass. This was mostly due to the line, however in the 2nd half, he was more good than bad. Tate's TD, was soley created by matty's feet, and he threw a perfect ball to tate in stride in the air. The pass was sexy. I'd give matt a B- first half and A in the second. Lead us to a win


RB:
Theo Riddick , less injury, is the real deal. He definitely a change of pace back, but he's got the ability to turn 5 yards into 20 in the open field. Absolute gem of a pick up from Mayhew. Bell is bell, a good solid RB. Our run game may be the worst in the league, but we can run the ball when we need to and we have dynamic running backs. Bell turned a couple 5 yard runs into 11-12yard helping us move the chains. Idk what the stats say, but i'd give our run game a "A".

WR:
I think i'm giving everyone a "A" today. Fuller has been mighty impressive, considering where he was at last year. He did slip on Matts throw, but that was more turf. He made a couple catches to move the change and overall, was bothersome to atl secondary. Tate,.................just wow, Sea payed the wrong receiver. The kid is a huge target for how small he is. can make almost any catch, and if you don't rap him up immediately, he can take it too the whole or get at very least 5-10YAC.

TE:
Okay not everyones getting a "A". Kellen davis had one makeable catch and didn't make it, while Staffords accuracy didn't help. This is the NFL, difference between TE on teams and TE on streets is they make those catches. Considering that the only reason we signed Davis is cuz he had a passport ready to go, was not encouraging. I think film will show that the TE postition was mostly for helping protect stafford

OL:
First half they were back pedaling, 2nd half , not as much and they seem'd to create a better pocket for matt to throw out off. Also Run game started going. I think we don't give the OL enough credit when it comes to adjusting to a new offense. The OL, blocking scheme is a whole lote different than last year, and even they need time to adjust. I think they are improving or at least blocking when they need to in late game situations

DL:
Beast. i am calling it right now Fairley is dont with a MCL/ACL tear or detattachment. If you watch the replay, Suh actually holds fairley's knee in place because its dangling. This is major concern as CJ mosely may not be on the team or is on a short leash, and fairley is a large part of why teams can't run on the lions. Cauran reid your number is goign to be called. i don't think they got enough pressure on Ryan considering the OL issues in ATL, however when they needed to they forced Ryan into some poor throws.

Secondary:

LB's were struggling with coverage, the first half we got owned by Ryan and jackson. Blitz's weren't hitting home enough and Ryan was making us pay. In the 2nd half, our Play makers showed up. Screen passes where played a lot better, the run d stepped up, and when catches where made by ATL, there was very little time if at all after the catch before being wrapped up. Vaughn's interception was wierd. Pressure got to ryan and he was looking to throw the ball away, however where he threw it was right to Vaughn, literally. The fact that ATL didn't score in the 2nd half, is very encouraging and they deserve credit

Yet again, the Lions find a way to win a game, and leave me disappointed all at the same time.

QB: Stafford is incredibly frustrating. He looks phenomenal sometimes, and then other times makes the same mistakes that he's always made. The pass to Tate was amazing. But then there were other times, like the flea-flicker, the last past to Riddick, and a couple others throughout the game, that were off target. This game could have ended with Stafford being the reason we lost if Riddick hadn't made that great catch. I'll give him a B for this game. A win is still a win, and the pick he threw wasn't his fault.

RB: Riddick is becoming a personal favorite. His catch was the play of the game. Bell is also frustrating. He makes some great plays, even little things like getting back the the line after the O=line gets destroyed. But then he makes mistakes, like the handoff that he screwed up. Overall, I think this is also a B.

WR: Can we please get Calvin back?! I want to see this Tate/Calvin combo for real! Stafford finally trusts Tate, so hopefully when Calvin returns, this offense will explode. Fuller is really starting to impress me, and Broyles finally saw the ball. Tate makes some extremely smart plays. His catch on the last drive, where he curled up and ran backwards for 8 yards is the type of thing I love to see. And he's always doing little things like that.

TE: Not worth grading. They'll all be gone in a couple weeks, thankfully they didn't play a big role this week or last.

O-Line: They gave Stafford time, didn't give up a sack, and the run game was reasonable. No complaints here, for the first time. B+

DL: The beginning of the game, they struggled. Not sure if that was the defense as a whole, more because the secondary gave too much space, or if it was actually the d-line not creating pressure. But they weren't creating enough pressure one way or another. Second half, they really stepped things up, Ansah forced a fumble, and they were constantly in Ryan's face, eventually forcing the Vaughn pick. I'm really hoping the injury to Fairley is just a strain, I heard some analyst/doctor say he thought it looked like an MCL strain. It's definitely the MCL, as his knee folded sideways, hopefully it was limited to a 2-3 week injury. If not, we might be in trouble. I'll toss a A- this way.

LB: Coverage was weak early, but they pulled things together in the second half. The problem was, they put the team in a hole early 14-0 and the offense only had the ball once. Especially this team, that's not going to work. We can't keep putting the offense in a hole, and expect the team to have comeback wins every week. Is it just me or does Levy look high when he plays? His eyes just look glazed over, and he shows no emotion on his face. Overall, I would say B-.

Secondary: I think this is the first week that the secondary looked like I thought they would all season. Granted, they were covering Roddy White and Julio Jones. But the coverage was soft, and sloppy. It prevented the line from creating pressure, which is how this defense thrives. This defense is designed to make it or break it within the first few seconds after the snap. Our secondary can play tight and hang with guys for just long enough for our line to create pressure, which bails out the secondary right when they need it. When they play soft, the line can't get to the QB fast enough, which gives the QB options in the quick passing game.

Kicking game....ugh. We got lucky. Really lucky. I'll take this as the pendulum swinging our way for once, after so many unlucky moments with the kicking game early in the season. Things tend to even out, and if this is how it needs to happen, then I'm fine with it. A win is a win.


Coaching: Lombardi puzzles me. Why do we insist on being run first. This team was built the complete opposite way. To pass, opening up the run. And then finally when we're down late, he opens up the playbook, and the offense looks legit. Granted, the defenses we're playing are obviously adjusting at that point.
But overall, I love how this coaching staff makes adjustments. Last year, it seemed we went in with a gameplan, and lived and died by that exact gameplan. This year, they have options. They change things up at halftime if things aren't working, and continue to adjust, and they usually have SOMETHING that works.


Again, we got lucky. If it was up to me, that type of penalty would be declinable, which would have ended the game. But we roll into the bye week with a great record, and a ton of injuries. Hopefully coming into week 10 we'll have most of our weapons back on offense, and Van Noy around to really augment the defense...if only he played DT....

epheisey wrote:Yet again, the Lions find a way to win a game, and leave me disappointed all at the same time.

QB: Stafford is incredibly frustrating. He looks phenomenal sometimes, and then other times makes the same mistakes that he's always made. The pass to Tate was amazing. But then there were other times, like the flea-flicker, the last past to Riddick, and a couple others throughout the game, that were off target. This game could have ended with Stafford being the reason we lost if Riddick hadn't made that great catch. I'll give him a B for this game. A win is still a win, and the pick he threw wasn't his fault.

I think we are over blowing his inaccuracies. i have the game recorded and did some film review. Some of Staffords throws are off because of his familiarity with the personnel. For instance on Riddicks ridiculous catch, if you watch, Stafford actually threw to wear riddick would have been if he kept his stride. Riddick actually stopped. That is more a familiarity thing. Some of his throws were high , behind the target, or at their legs. i do believe some of this is due to stafford avoiding bat downs and i know some throws he was putting high/low to keep it out of the reach of DBs. in the first half though, there were quite a bit that were matt rushing the through due to pressure. As soon as we Stafford gets familiar with different personnel groups, and the line protects jsut a little better, i think we'll be happy overall with Staffords plays. You take away the timing issue throws, he had at the very least a decent game. He should get credited for not turnign the ball over. Past 2 int. were not his fault

RB: Riddick is becoming a personal favorite. His catch was the play of the game. Bell is also frustrating. He makes some great plays, even little things like getting back the the line after the O=line gets destroyed. But then he makes mistakes, like the handoff that he screwed up. Overall, I think this is also a B.

That was miscommunication. Watch the film, its obvious Bell wasn't expecting the handoff. Bell is a lot of the reason we stayed in the game. There were at least 3 plays where his sheer muscle got us the first down or at lest to 3rd and inches.

WR: Can we please get Calvin back?! I want to see this Tate/Calvin combo for real! Stafford finally trusts Tate, so hopefully when Calvin returns, this offense will explode. Fuller is really starting to impress me, and Broyles finally saw the ball. Tate makes some extremely smart plays. His catch on the last drive, where he curled up and ran backwards for 8 yards is the type of thing I love to see. And he's always doing little things like that.

Its going to be interesting once CJ gets back. Lets keep in mind that Stafford hasn't practiced with CJ for 3 weeks now, and he's adjusting to fuller, tate etc. The bye is definitely a blessing. The encouraging thing is that the love is being spread around and that stafford has shown we can score and win without CJ, though CJ makes it a whole lot easier

TE: Not worth grading. They'll all be gone in a couple weeks, thankfully they didn't play a big role this week or last.

This is our hope. Pettigrews injury maybe worst than what we think. Fauria is going to be back, but he's still very much a project, and Ebron has a hammy injury which tend to linger. We have cause to be optimistic, but lets keep everything in mind.

O-Line: They gave Stafford time, didn't give up a sack, and the run game was reasonable. No complaints here, for the first time. B+

W/o waddle too

DL: The beginning of the game, they struggled. Not sure if that was the defense as a whole, more because the secondary gave too much space, or if it was actually the d-line not creating pressure. But they weren't creating enough pressure one way or another. Second half, they really stepped things up, Ansah forced a fumble, and they were constantly in Ryan's face, eventually forcing the Vaughn pick. I'm really hoping the injury to Fairley is just a strain, I heard some analyst/doctor say he thought it looked like an MCL strain. It's definitely the MCL, as his knee folded sideways, hopefully it was limited to a 2-3 week injury. If not, we might be in trouble. I'll toss a A- this way.

i pray that its just a strain and would be quite a miracle. Injury was nasty. i think that this trip to london kind of lull'd the boys to a comfortable zone. i heard Austin , who is normally calm like caldwell, really laid into the boys at half, and they responded. The biggest difference between 1st and 2nd half is that DL was patient with the run, and snuffed out the screens

LB: Coverage was weak early, but they pulled things together in the second half. The problem was, they put the team in a hole early 14-0 and the offense only had the ball once. Especially this team, that's not going to work. We can't keep putting the offense in a hole, and expect the team to have comeback wins every week. Is it just me or does Levy look high when he plays? His eyes just look glazed over, and he shows no emotion on his face. Overall, I would say B-.

Levy was talking so much sh*, i don't know where the no emotion comment came from. i think him and Steven JAckson have a new found respect for each other. 1 thing is clear. Palmer is definitely replaceable. Good solid player, but not a play maker. Van noy should really help once he gets back. and Tulloch is really missed, in the blitz packages and run D.

Secondary: I think this is the first week that the secondary looked like I thought they would all season. Granted, they were covering Roddy White and Julio Jones. But the coverage was soft, and sloppy. It prevented the line from creating pressure, which is how this defense thrives. This defense is designed to make it or break it within the first few seconds after the snap. Our secondary can play tight and hang with guys for just long enough for our line to create pressure, which bails out the secondary right when they need it. When they play soft, the line can't get to the QB fast enough, which gives the QB options in the quick passing game.

Did you watch the game? the whole reason why they torched us in the first half was that Ryan had tons of time in the pocket. Our secondary has been good as a direct result of the amount of pressure our DL creates. Mathis and Slay were both exposed, but its hard when a QB like ryan has a clean pocket. My concerns with the secondary stem from poor LB run D, and tackling left something to be desired. To be fair, Jackson is a huge mofo and White and Jones aren't exactly scrubs. We didn't let any of those 4 players score in the 2nd half. Lot better pressure by our Dline, or LB stopped the run, and our secondary kept plays in front of them.

Kicking game....ugh. We got lucky. Really lucky. I'll take this as the pendulum swinging our way for once, after so many unlucky moments with the kicking game early in the season. Things tend to even out, and if this is how it needs to happen, then I'm fine with it. A win is a win.

i don't put much into the first miss. Its hard when you about to launch a game winner, to hear ref whistles and just overall disturbance on the play, especially when kickers are so routine. Important part is he made the one that mattered. Quote from him "was pissed i missed the first one, so i just kicked the 2nd one harder"

Coaching: Lombardi puzzles me. Why do we insist on being run first. This team was built the complete opposite way. To pass, opening up the run. And then finally when we're down late, he opens up the playbook, and the offense looks legit. Granted, the defenses we're playing are obviously adjusting at that point.
But overall, I love how this coaching staff makes adjustments. Last year, it seemed we went in with a gameplan, and lived and died by that exact gameplan. This year, they have options. They change things up at halftime if things aren't working, and continue to adjust, and they usually have SOMETHING that works.

Football 101, establish the run. Even if its not there, and we suck. We still have to get the defense to respect the run. Did you notice that as soon as our Runnign game started getting going in the 2nd half, our passing game picked up. Playaction allows for that split second for a LB or DB to get caught. I do think that the adjustment to play calling was underrated. a lot more check downs and lot more routes that got our playmakers in space.

i disagree with your assessment that we didn't adjust last year. i know we definitely made adjustments, its just they were poor adjustments, which is probably why you didn't notice. problem last year defensively is that 90% of the time, we only rushed 4. In this league, you can't give any QB that amount of time, regardless of your Dline talen.

Again, we got lucky. If it was up to me, that type of penalty would be declinable, which would have ended the game. But we roll into the bye week with a great record, and a ton of injuries. Hopefully coming into week 10 we'll have most of our weapons back on offense, and Van Noy around to really augment the defense...if only he played DT....

Disagree once again. We went out and took that win from ATL in the 2nd half. That was us not luck. The whole FG penalty blah blah, if no whistle is blown there does prater still miss? there are a 100 what ifs. FACT is , he made the one that counted. Fact is, there's no reason why with a 21 point lead at half, any team should lose. Fact is, we have so much talent and are that good of a football team that we can come back from 21 down consistently(this isn't necessarily something to be proud of but when you do it as consistent as the lions, its gets to be impressive). Lastly, we are the Detroit Lions, we are suppose to beat ourselves as our history dictates. we have at least 5 where we went out and won the game. When did we figure out how to win?

Disclaimer:

i am extremely optimistic about our team , which i think you can sense in my comments. Truly look at how many starters we are playing without


Out:

Offense:
CJ
Fauria
Ebron
Petty
Bush
WAddle
Hillard
Owens

*Bell/Riddick have all missed at least 1 game

Stafford is still wining games with a 6th round pick, RB signed off the streets, RT signed off the streets, KR specialist. While having tate sure as hell helps, we are winning games with less talent. Just imagine how much better our offense should be with the elite talent currently not playing. Problem will be lack of familiarity due to miss practice time, but these have the talent to adjust. The blessing in disguise has been CJ being injured. It forced the lions to figure out how to win without him, and forced stafford to make throws to diff targets and to become comfortable with that.

Out : Defense

Tulloch
Lewis
Bently
Lawson
Van noy
Vaughn
Dig
Carey
Fairley

How many teams can be the #1 defense with 3 starters out , 5 starters more missing at least one game, depth being depleted and having to start the replacement of the replacement of the replacement in your secondary. While some names on these "out" list aren't game changers, its definitely different tier talent and guys like owens and lewis are ST's playmakers. If Fairley is out, we are going to definitely need for our offense to carry us through the 2nd half of the season. I still think we can be a good defense, but Fairley is a special player, and when you lose that, you'll lose something.

Fairley likely out 4-5 weeks with MCL and PCL damage, but no tear found in MRI.

epheisey wrote:Fairley likely out 4-5 weeks with MCL and PCL damage, but no tear found in MRI.

i thought i read, they believe its 4-5 , but aren't sure as of yet