Eagles @ Lions - Game 2

[ajaX82]

Guess i spoke too soon with the game being over...

I thought we did a mostly good job containing Vick. We did miss some big sack opportunities...i remember specifically Jackson whiffing on one. And CJ needs to be way more involved in the offense. The first half he was invisible.

There are good things to take from this and bad things. I see this season going forward looking much like these first two games in that we are always competitive but with a lot of close losses.

[Q00]

^^I agree, they don't know how to win yet, or have enough experienced players/coaches that know how to win. Shwratz' inexperience as a head coach showed yesterday, and that he might know how to win as an assistant, but being the main guy its much harder to win.

That said, they do show progress in other important areas needed to win, but it may be a long season of games like this before they figure out how to get over the top.

Also, keep in mind the two teams they lost to - the Bears are 2-0 and won at Dallas and look like a playoff team, and the Eagles who almost won at Lambeau last week, and have a lot of the pieces still in place of a perrenial playoff team.

So that is one thing to hang their hat on, I guess. They went toe 2 toe with two pretty good teams, and when they start facing the lesser teams, they should be able to get over the hump.

[Liqourish]

The only coaching decision I disagreed with was going for it on 4th and 1 instead of getting the field goal. Besides that, we had a chance to win at the end, but couldn't get things going.

Jahvid Best was a beast. Pettigrew had a pretty good game. Shaun Hill did okay considering. Our D-line was good, even with Vick spinning out of sacks. We just didn't have quite enough to pull it out.

If we could get our passing game going and get our secondary to hold on to their interceptions... we could actually win some games. I like the fight and hunger with this team though. They are resilient and relentless. A step up from last season to be sure. I just wish we'd have a good drive in the third quarter instead of waiting for the end of the fourth to try and move the ball.

I don't think anyone could watch these first two games and say that this team isn't improved. Our Dline is solid, our offense has the pieces to succeed once Stafford is back. Our Oline has been decent. They are creating holes for our RBs and giving our QBs time to pass. A couple missed assignments, but overall, they look much better than last season.

Our back seven on defense is what's holding us back right now. We really need to address these 5 positions (Peterson and Delmas are good) in order to be a complete team.

[TSE]

I think that's a ridiculous thing to point that the team is improved, like as if that is a positive notion to dwell on when it should be taken for granted that we improve beyond what we've seen, if anything we are still short on apparent improvement. First of all it's highly improbable to not improve when you have a full set of high draft picks and a terrible team. If you aren't winning the SB then you need to and SHOULD be improving. The dynamics of the NFL game are such that it is very easy to get better if you aren't already the best team. Not doing so is only for the unqualified and the ignorant. Our talent on paper is clearly the best we have ever had in any season post-Barry, I don't think you will find many people who can look at any year since then and say we had more talented players than we do today, but we are still way behind where we should be after so many losing seasons. We should be DOMINATING this year or setup with great POSITION to dominate next year, and we are way off track and completely in a terrible spot by setting up what looks like another "no-man's land" season, the worst kind there is, where we don't properly dole out experience to our young players and yet still do not make the playoffs. We are going to get stuck in the middle and establish yet another terribly low expected value for the future in comparison to what it should be if we were smart.

This team is shameful more than any other word that comes to mind today.

[Icness]

I think that's a ridiculous thing to point that the team is improved, like as if that is a positive notion to dwell on when it should be taken for granted that we improve beyond what we've seen, if anything we are still short on apparent improvement. First of all it's highly improbable to not improve when you have a full set of high draft picks and a terrible team. If you aren't winning the SB then you need to and SHOULD be improving. The dynamics of the NFL game are such that it is very easy to get better if you aren't already the best team. Not doing so is only for the unqualified and the ignorant. Our talent on paper is clearly the best we have ever had in any season post-Barry, I don't think you will find many people who can look at any year since then and say we had more talented players than we do today, but we are still way behind where we should be after so many losing seasons. We should be DOMINATING this year or setup with great POSITION to dominate next year, and we are way off track and completely in a terrible spot by setting up what looks like another "no-man's land" season, the worst kind there is, where we don't properly dole out experience to our young players and yet still do not make the playoffs. We are going to get stuck in the middle and establish yet another terribly low expected value for the future in comparison to what it should be if we were smart.

This team is shameful more than any other word that comes to mind today.

So you would rather continue to lose every game, but not have those games be competitive? You don't want the team to try and win, to try and entertain the fans? It takes time to learn to win and build from the absolute nothing that was the Lions. They are two plays away from being 2-0 and did that largely without their starting QB. If you can't get excited about that as a Lions fan, you're trying way too hard to find fault.

[Liqourish]

So you would rather continue to lose every game, but not have those games be competitive? You don't want the team to try and win, to try and entertain the fans? It takes time to learn to win and build from the absolute nothing that was the Lions. They are two plays away from being 2-0 and did that largely without their starting QB. If you can't get excited about that as a Lions fan, you're trying way too hard to find fault.

QTF

[ajaX82]

I think that's a ridiculous thing to point that the team is improved, like as if that is a positive notion to dwell on when it should be taken for granted that we improve beyond what we've seen, if anything we are still short on apparent improvement. First of all it's highly improbable to not improve when you have a full set of high draft picks and a terrible team. If you aren't winning the SB then you need to and SHOULD be improving. The dynamics of the NFL game are such that it is very easy to get better if you aren't already the best team. Not doing so is only for the unqualified and the ignorant. Our talent on paper is clearly the best we have ever had in any season post-Barry, I don't think you will find many people who can look at any year since then and say we had more talented players than we do today, but we are still way behind where we should be after so many losing seasons. We should be DOMINATING this year or setup with great POSITION to dominate next year, and we are way off track and completely in a terrible spot by setting up what looks like another "no-man's land" season, the worst kind there is, where we don't properly dole out experience to our young players and yet still do not make the playoffs. We are going to get stuck in the middle and establish yet another terribly low expected value for the future in comparison to what it should be if we were smart.

This team is shameful more than any other word that comes to mind today.

So you would rather continue to lose every game, but not have those games be competitive? You don't want the team to try and win, to try and entertain the fans? It takes time to learn to win and build from the absolute nothing that was the Lions. They are two plays away from being 2-0 and did that largely without their starting QB. If you can't get excited about that as a Lions fan, you're trying way too hard to find fault.

Preach brother.

[TSE]

So you would rather continue to lose every game, but not have those games be competitive? You don't want the team to try and win, to try and entertain the fans? It takes time to learn to win and build from the absolute nothing that was the Lions. They are two plays away from being 2-0 and did that largely without their starting QB. If you can't get excited about that as a Lions fan, you're trying way too hard to find fault.

I don't get what you are saying by saying continue to lose every game. If i was the GM we would be 2-0 right now. I am pissed off at the Lions for a gazillion things that all contribute to losing games. My ideas are designed to get us wins not losses. Our decision makers off the field are atrocious in that area and are hugely responsible for most of the losses we have had. We have a lot more player talent that people give us credit for because our non-player personnel heavily discounts our win probability. We were only 2 plays away from 2 wins because we should have been 8 plays away from losing the game, but the egregious errors by our coaching staff and management is what made up that difference and that's a true travesty. The coaches have one key prime directive to me, and that is to not interfere in such a way that clearly handicaps our players and position within the game. They can't even manage TOs correctly and the players don't control all of that stuff, it's up to the bosses to not make simple illogical mistakes that are completely preventable just with intelligent thought. There's no excuse for any voluntary mistakes and we make more of those types of mistakes than just about everybody else.

[kellmellus50]

An example of a dumb offence call all is trying to get 1 yard 3 straight plays they ran even on fouth down with zero results.lions never used a full back to get the 1 yard (why have one they don't use him) .And then after trying 2 plays running to get the 1 yard they run again ???? when they should have a play action pass.The offence calling is pathetic.Your right TSE we should have been 8 plays away from losing the game

[TSE]

Yeah I'm not sure what they were thinking with that Suh at FB pair of plays. It didn't look like they practiced that very much and was just terrible execution. They didn't even come close to making anything happen there. They violated a basic law of short yardage running, which is you never want to bunch up players like that unless you know what you are doing and you have schemes for players that can get a push. Any time you bring so many bodies in for an obvious run that lack of space is a huge opportunity for the defense to make a stop, it's just a statistically very low percentage play without the right personnel or coaching. The Lions have been doing useless plays like that for years without learning from them or adapting to the obvious flaw that it favors the defense a lot more than other choices or other plays that they are capable of executing correctly with a higher consistency rate.