OT - Who is Drinking the Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid?
How big a difference will Reggie Bush make to the Lions' offensive efficiency? They gained a lot of yards last year but obviously didn't score enough touchdowns.
Will the retooled bigger defensive line with our linebacking corp be the right pieces to make the wide 9 work or will they get gashed?
Will they finally be able to field a decent squad of defensive backs?
Let's set the over/under at 8.5 wins.
And finally, will the Detroit Lions make the playoffs in 2013? (cue the Jim Mora clip)
And buy the team from the Ford's. We will go out and lure away the best GM with some $$$, hire the best coach and hopefully in a few years we will win the superbowl. As long as the Fords own this team, I'll alway's expect the worse. It will mean another 6-10 season, Schwartz will be shown the door and it will be yet another rebuilding period. The stars we have will want out and most will leave when they become FA again! A repeating cycle of doom!
The Lions are in that vast pool of teams that in any year can go anywhere from 6-10 to 10-6. The way the NFL is now designed you have 3-4 truly pathetic teams and 3-4 truly elite teams and everyone else goes into the "6-10 to 10-6 camp" based on breaks, injuries, and what happens in the last 5 plays of a game. I suppose this is an upgrade from where they were 5 years ago.
Looking at schedule they have the 6 home and homes with division opponents; allowing for the annual traditional loss @ Green Bay, and thinking Minnesota overachieved last year and Chicago loses something with Urlacher retiring, 3-3 seems feasable in the division.
Non division home games: Bengals, Cowboys, Bucs, Ravens, Giants. Bucs are probably only team they are clearly superior to, but since these are home games they should go 3-2 in this group.
Non division road games: Cardinals, Redskins, Browns, Steelers, Eagles. It is a pretty weak schedule actually - the Browns are poor, the Eagles will be in transition with a new coach, the Cardinals are meh. They have not won in RFK since humans came to the New World, and even Charlie Batch could beat them in Pittsburgh so I say 2-3 or 3-2 here.
That puts them at 8-8 or 9-7 on paper. Again perfectly in the 6-10 to 10-6 sphere the NFL wants... just good enough to give people hope, just bad enough to not have a chance to match up with a team like the 49ers when it counts.
The team loses 5 of 9 starters on the lines from last year, including both offensive tackles. While Backus is not viewed as favorably in the town as is here, by game 5-6 I expect "I miss Backus" to be a chant. The interior of the Lion should be better by subtraction as Peterman is gone and he might have been the worst guard in the NFL. The DT's lost some depth with Corey Williams and Sammie Hill, so Suh and Fairley will play more, probably wear down more. I do like the guy they signed from Chicago last week as the DE. Ansah will be fun to watch...hopefully 4-5 sacks this year. Like Peterman, KVB was a total non factor last year (after having a solid year the prior year) so any warm body should be an upgrade. LBers lost a starter from an average group and will be replaced by someone who obviously was not better since he didn't displace Durant last year. Secondary should be better with Glover as one of the safeties if nothing else. Hoping 2nd round pick Slay grabs the starter position at CB and Bentley goes into the nickel. WRs should be ok esp if Broyles is healthy, and RB should be upgraded with Bush as a replacement for Best.
I think the oline will be much better running this year, but may struggle in pass protection. warford was considered by many one of the top guards in the draft and a very solid pick who should lock down the RG spot. reif did well in spot duty last year, even filled in for backus for one game and did okay, i think it will be a drop-off at LT but not to much. Raiola may be small but he knows what hes doing and you dont keep somebody around for that long if they suck as much as people seem to think. sims will be good again at LG. I'm most worried about RT since gos was pretty good but he also seemed to take penalties all the time so if we cut down those false starts/holdings could be about even at that spot. time will tell though but there is potential here
Report on Warford is he will do well at the line but pulling or taking on a LB at the second level is going to be something he struggles at due to size. (lack of mobility) Yes Reiff did ok at run blocking last year but he wasnt taking on premium defensive ends either, we'll see. The fact they wanted a LT tells me they would have preferred him at RT or RG. One hopes the mystery that is Jason Fox also unearths itself - he has been a permanent injury or non factor his career. Raoila supposedly added 20 lbs and is up to 310ish now - funny he decided to do that this year rather than 2 years ago.
Youth is always something we can be hopeful about but youth does not necessarily translate to better. I think the Peterman spot anyone would be better but the tackles as much as they were hated on - well we'll see.
has light feet. Mobility isn't a concern. It's weight and conditioning that is a concern. If he plays at 320-330 range, he's fine. Heavier than that, it's a problem.
I have no idea if the Lions will be a good football team this season, and more importantly, and I can't stress this enough; I don't care.
The Lions suck. Mayhew refuses to address the tire fire that is the offensive line. The Lions will be lucky to win 5 games. It doesn't matter if you have Megatron, Suh, Fairley, Stafford (overrated), and Reggie Bush (VERY overrated). It starts from the top with the Fords. Until the Fords relinquish ownership I will continue to root against the Lions.
I am not rooting against them, but I will not have hope of any real sustainable success or elevation to true Super Bowl contention status until there is new ownership.
Never change, my delightful Crabby Patty...
No offensive line, No secondary, a coach that can't control his players. I will take the under without a doubt.
The OL has questions, no doubt. But the addition of Warford along with a younger OT in Reiff gives me some hope that the OL will be okay. Tye line last year actually did a good job pass blocking.
The seconday has added a good safety in Glover as well as as good young corner in Slay. The three kids they added in the draft last year have potential. Greene in particular showed some ability at nickelback.
How big a difference will Reggie Bush make to the Lions' offensive efficiency? Not much. He wasn't a big gainer in Miami and is more of a slot than an every down back. Dude has been shipped all over because he really isn't better than average.
Will the retooled bigger defensive line with our linebacking corp be the right pieces to make the wide 9 work or will they get gashed? Gashed. Suh is great at one thing. Fairley is great at no things. That draft pick is going to be a tire fire, out of the league in 3 years.
Will they finally be able to field a decent squad of defensive backs? They did pick up a vet, so maybe? I have never seen a great defensive back squad in Detroit so I will assume no until proven wrong (which I hope I am).
Let's set the over/under at 8.5 wins. Under. The NFC North is good to great division. We're fugged.
And finally, will the Detroit Lions make the playoffs in 2013? (cue the Jim Mora clip). Ummm.... no. If we had an open air stadium I would say maybe. Every great franchise in the north has one thing in common and it ain't about the food.
well glad we know that the reasons the lions dont make the playoffs is because they play in a dome, makes total sense to me....
Not everything has to make logical sense. Some things just are.
Look at the fucking seahorse, man. It be, man. It be.
I think 8 wins is the best this team can hope for with 6 wins more likely. Still too many question marks at OL, LB, DB and Special Teams and I'm still not convinced this coaching staff knows what it is doing.
6-10, Scwartz is fired (even though he is not the problem) and the cycle continues.
God Bless my tortured Lions soul.
Stafford needs a decent OC and a real QB coach, for a guy who needed 727 passes to get just above the 5000 yard mark. that’s like 7 yards a pass. That is not a good ratio compared to many other qb’s in the league. He was unable to throw over 60% completions despite having Megatron.
Stafford's sidearm throwing is a liability most of the time. His feet are jittery. And yes, he has to improves his decision making and reads.
It’s not just Stafford’s mechanics, he has a lot of work to do with his reading and decision making. He leaves a lot on the table and he misses a lot in terms of things that are easily correctable with the right focus.
The arm mechanics are a non-issue in comparison to those 2 issues. That’s where he needs to improve.
Combine that with a garbage front office, salary cap issues, bad drafting in rounds 2 thru 7, Linehan’s crappy play calling, the non use of a fullback, the use of the pistol all the time basically,garbage defense, the garbage wide 9. and non existant run blocking ( hopefully Raiola does not start at center ), forcing the Lions to throw, throw and throw, like the Packers, just the Packers have better play calling on both sides of the ball, and a better secondary, your gonna have issues.
This is not a playoff team in 2013.
This team with the brutal schedule it has in 2013 will be lucky to win more than 4 games
I am not high on Stafford, I do think Bush can make a difference in this offense provided he stays healthy, but with Linehan calling the plays, it will be all for not..
Plus Linehan all he likes to do is pass, yes the o line can't run block worth crap, but hell, we have no fullback most plays for a running game to even exist.
We pass to set up the pass.
Yes, Gb does that, but they have good coaches, The Lions do not.