Ideally it would have been nice to start out this blog by
describing just how easily the Lions handled the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, how
their record improved to an impressive 8-2, and how the win kept them one game
ahead of Green Bay in the NFC North division. Well… none of that happened. Instead
the Lions lost 14-6 showing a lackluster effort on offense against a better Cardinal
team.
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| Lion's offense struggles against Arizona. Photo coutesy of detroitnews.com |
If you look at the comments section of any Detroit Lions
article today, you’ll see a slew of comments about how Lions QB Matthew Stafford stinks, how the coaching staff stinks, and in general how the entire team
stinks too. It’s almost as if these folks on the message boards fell asleep for
the last month when the Lions went undefeated. However let’s not jump off the
bandwagon just quite yet. This isn’t the
same team we’ve been watching over the last 20 some odd years.
SOL…not so fast
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| Lion's Head Coach Jim Caldwell - photo coutesy of Freep.com |
Most Lions fans are very fickle. When things are going well
there’s talk about how this is the Lion’s year to win the Super Bowl. When
problems arise however, you’ll hear those same fans mention "SOL" for same old Lions, or
how they are “Lion’s free.” This is almost a defense mechanism based on 50 plus
years of being burned over and over again by this franchise. The Lions are only
one of four NFL teams that have never played in a Super Bowl, so fans have a
right to be gun shy. After all just last
year, the Lion’s started out 6-3 only to lose 6 out of their final 7 games.
So why is this team different? My answer is defense. Defense
wins championships and keeps teams competitive in most games. This year it just
so happens the Lions are the top defensive team in the NFL. Defensive
Tackle
Ndamukong Suh is having an All-Pro year, while avoiding the brainless penalties
that labeled him one of the dirtiest players in the NFL. Is it a coincidence that
Suh is finally putting together a career year just when his contract is about
to expire? Probably not. Add to the mix the solid linebacker and secondary play,
both question marks in the offseason, and that the Lions appeared to have hired the right coach for this team and there are your reasons to believe why this
team won’t go into another tail spin.
Key’s to finish off the season
Pat Caputo from the Oakland Press discusses the importance of the Lion’s utilizing
all of their offensive weapons, unlike what they did against the Cardinals.
This to me is a key point for the Lions to move deep into a playoff run, especially
with the emergence of the defense. The Lion’s offense has plenty of fire power
as long as Stafford can stay focused with his progressions and accurate with his
throws.
Up next…the Lions visit New England next week to take on the
Patriots.
Refrences
Wait, they aren't? They keep re-inventing ways to lose.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteGlad to have seen the Lions win over Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteYes, for sure. They just need to keep winning so they can make it to the playoffs.
Delete