First thing they have to do move a couple basic principals up their list.
Avail-ability is the first ability.
They’re not deep enough to roll with backups while we wait for banged up, old vets to get up to speed.
Ansah, Lang and Daniels are the biggest sore spots, followed by a hobbled big guy in Snacks (also over 30). If you’re going to roll the injury dice on guys like Hand and Bryant, you can’t go double-or-nothing with Daniels. That’s too many years without key players. That well is dry. Can BB get away with? Sure. Can they draft a guy in the 3rd knowing he’ll not get on the field for another year? Sure. Can the 31 other teams? Nope. If you want some redshirt draftees, grab them in the 7th.
T-Day is NOT the 1st day of the season. Our Season begins week 1, just like the rest of the league whose teams are not blessed with BB and 12.
This makes a lot sense and I can see why you are so against this regime as a result of this logic. It does make sense. I guess my logic is the opposite. That they did expect the entire organization restructure and it was delayed by Martha wanting Caldwell to stay on. So that’s kind of why I’m patient bc I don’t think it would be smooth this early, a lot was undertaken.
Why should this team have been viewed as a tear down rebuild after coming off of consecutive winning seasons? This isn’t a problem of promising too much, it’s a problem of delivering too little.
your right. Even with my last post I hoped we made the playoffs this year but didn’t expect it. I think they get they could be a playoff team this year…your right. Think injuries really took it to that premise.
Well, it kinda was a rebuild. There are only like 4 players left from Millen and Caldwell’s team needed entirely different players for the scheme. Offensively it wasn’t as drastic but defensively some of the parts didn’t or don’t fit.
I suppose it depends on how you view those 9-7 teams. Were those actually good teams or 5 win teams that were carried by stafford’s heroics. I remember there were a lot of arguments about that very thing.
Millen was a shitty GM, but he still knew more about football then the rest of us. He lived and ultimately died by the splash draft pick…ie Big Mile Williams. Had he had a little more Quinn in him maybe we would have drafted a Ware or a A. Johnson.
For every Millen there could be a Lynch, so teams will gamble! Some times ypu come up on the losing end, like the Lions many times…but understand there are 100 ways to skin a cat and we have tried various methods. One day one will work!
Great points. What I find funny is media was blasting the niners and saying this offseason that Lynch was an idiot. That drafting bosa was a mistake after already getting Dee and having that great line he already had…shows what they know.
Stafford has now been in the NFL 11 years and his best winning percentage and all stats except yards per attempt improved under Caldwell.
Caldwell leaves and all that goes in the tank even when the OC stays but this fanbase for whatever reason gives no credit to Caldwell for it.
Caldwell wasn’t a great coach but until this fanbase pays it’s karmic debt for acting like Caldwell was a dumpster fire we aren’t going to have success.
I see what you’re saying. I don’t think caldwell is a bad coach. I don’t think he was a great coach either. And my comments regarding being carried by stafford have less to do with Caldwell and more to do with the overall talent on the team. I just don’t think the overall talent was that good.
I don’t want to turn this into a Caldwell thread, but I find it funny how short sited some fans are.
When we hired Caldwell he was the “consulation prize” in the Whiz sweepstakes. Everyone blasted this team saying how we missed out on Whiz amd settled for Caldwell. Well a few years later the Lions looked like geniuses when Whiz was fired.
Like it or not Quinnn tried to work with Caldwell and drafted players for his system…example Davis over someone like Watt. He never tried to sabotage him by drafting players and forcing them on Caldwell.
This team needed a culture change and have had two drafts to try to change said culture…this the reason we took guys like Ragnow and Hock in the first round. In reality, Quinn and Patricia have had one true year to assess the roster and change it suit Patricias wants/needs.
Fixing the Lions is not an overnight job and we started with the foundation rather then slapping a coat of paint on it and saying “fixed”. Quinn said 9-7 wasnt good enough but he also said he wanted a perennial contender…that takes time. Not a one year fix…look at the Rams for an example…flash in the pan last year and very mediocre/pedestrian this year.
Well, if they were really 5 win teams, then that means that Caldwell was a super coach who squeezed the most out of the talent given. If you’re going to be a negative “what if” type, then you have to discount Patricia’s ‘lucky’ wins, too.
I’m not saying we should re-hire Caldwell. I am saying that the team was objectively, quantifiably mediocre-to-good immediately prior to Patricia’s arrival. Then, from the very first game, it immediately deteriorated into dumpster fire and has continued as such.
If you (or anyone else) thinks that Caldwell wasn’t a good enough coach for this team, fine. I’m not going to get into a fistfight over that. What I will continue to question, however, is the benefit of the doubt that some people are still giving to Patricia. Prior to his arrival, we had one losing season in four years paired with two playoff appearances. Since he’s gotten here, it’s been a dumpster fire without a hint of winning.
Winning is good…but as a Lions fan do you want a one year flash in the pan season…like the Panthers of years ago…or would you prefer to be a perennial contender like the Ravens/Seahawks…etc.
I want the second amd am willing to give this regime another year or two.
This team is not a pushover…and thats the start of turning this around. Maranelli teams were just a hot mess with no sustainable longevity.
I think these guys are building the foundation. Good solid players with flexibility that just do their jobs. They are close to that,but let down big time by Dline guys from the get go.
Once the foundation is built they will add some stars to take a step up the ladder.
Injuries derailed the whole thing this season. Could be a lot better next year.
Hmm… Yep heard it before too.
A rough look at the 2017 Roster and the 2019 roster shows 37 of 53 being different players.
That’s a 70% turn over of our roster from Caldwell’s last season to now.
Running Backs have been completely overhauled
Tight Ends have been completely overhauled
Defensive Line has been completely overhauled
3/5ths of our WR have been replaced
Jared Davis and JRM are the only carry overs from LB
4/5ths of our Safety group have been replaced
Darius Slay is the only carry over from our CB group
OL is basically the same, with the addition of Ragnow
This is very much a team that has “supposedly” been built for Patricia.
2 off seasons is a lot of opportunity to get players in here to work Patricia scheme.
2 Free Agencies
2 Drafts
2 opportunities to conduct trades
and probably close to $90 Mil to work with in cap space.
This doesn’t even address my frustration with this never ending discussion of needing “Patricia Players” to run 'Patricia’s scheme".
Good Lord, if he needs such specialized players then his freaking system sucks. If it is so hard to find these players that he supposedly needs to run “his scheme”, then his freaking scheme sucks. If it’s going to take 4 years to acquire “his players” to play “his scheme”, then his scheme sucks.
Are normal fucking NFL players that excel on other teams just flat our useless in “Patricia’s scheme”?
And if Quinn hasn’t been able to acquire the “right kind of player” with a 70% turn over of the roster, then Quinn sucks at his job.
If you have an issue with me saying that the lions were a mediocre team that was carried to just above average by their star quarterback…fine. But Caldwell was not a super coach, he was a good coach, just an average head coach. And the basic reasoning it seems your taking is that Patricia should have come in immediately and taken a 9-7 team to higher heights. I don’t agree, but rugby is stating it a lot more eloquently and coherently then I so I won’t repeat his good points.