Going into the 2019 season what did MOST people THINK the strength of the Lions team was heading into the season?
Hint, it was on the defensive side of the ball.
Crickets? No one wants to confess? 
The DL was being claimed as possibly the best in football.
I argued that it lacked elite talent. A few well respect members of the board argued Snacks, Flowers and Daniels were all Elite level players.
I disagreed labeling Snacks and Flowers as good and Daniels as a question mark that I suspected would land around average. I was expecting an above average DL.
I was wrong and they were way wrong … lol
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I’m not sure I agree w/you calling me “well respected,” but I damn sure thought we had an elite DL going into last season. LOL
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Here’s some last year hype about it.
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Just listened to about 80% of it. Painful stuff
I thought maybe 20th ranked, I don’t get sucked into hype but I sure didn’t expect 30 sum ranked !!
I am just as guilty, my point? As much negativity I hear about our existing DL, I’m hoping we are all just as wrong.
I was not impressed with PP as DC the last 2 years, hoping things moving forward will be much improved!
Last year everyone thought it was the strength of the defense. It turned out to be just the opposite.
So maybe if we can get every to say our DL sucks and is the weakest link then maybe it will turn out to be the opposite?
Hmmm maybe this means Matt Patricia is going to coach his ass off? … lol
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i’m not sure what the point of the OP is but yes, practically everyone thought the DL would be a strength last season (probably checkmate as well) – i know i did
it turned out to be THE weak point on the team
the reasons for that are well documented
This year it looks to be very average (or still below average?), which either way would still be a step up from 2019
Lets hope:
Shelton can do a respectable job replacing 2018 Harrison
He has to be better than 2019 Harrison right?
Williams delivers something other than being this years dud signing
I believe they will still sign a body or two on the DL – please 
Collins still has something in him for a couple of seasons
Trufant can stay healthy and remain somewhat effective
Kearse offers reasonable depth at safety
The rookies Okudah and Okwara can have respectable seasons
If a majority of the above can be mostly true, the defense can only step up
At least get to 3rd quartile?
And how about i add …
We never see Chase Daniel on the field!
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Even if we do, he should be a step up over the backups we saw in 2019
I’ll say it again
Clearly, the draft objective was to finally have a run game again
IF that can come together as well
the lions may be able to finally close games which could seriously add to the W column
Added bonus – a solid run game can help rest a questionable defense – which is not yet talented enough to be relied upon
Every year its a bunch of IFs – especially when it comes to this franchise
Round about training camp, actually, slightly before with Harrison talking about holding out, Bryant injured, Hand a question mark and A’Shawn being a point of debate, I had questions. I thought if they were healthy, they would be a strength. What did I know?
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That’s why you play the games.
IMO, the injuries to the DLine wrecked our season. Snacks and Slay holding out and getting injured did not help either. Flowers really wasn’t Flowers until like halfway through the season or so because of an injury he was still recovering from. He ramped up.
Judging from what I saw on the field there was no way even healthy that the D would have been great though. It might have went from terrible to below average or something. Not enough growth by Davis. Our linebacker core in general was really bad on top of a bad Dline. Weakness at CB2. By the end of the season Coleman wasn’t looking good either which was disheartening.
Lions have now added 6 new starters on D: Jamie Collins, Trufant, J Okwara, Okudah, Shelton, and Harmon. Maybe 7 with Nick Williams not sure (Hand) how that competition will go but I expect a starter level contribution regardless. That’s about half the D. Then you thrown in last year’s picks that will either start or contribute significantly: Tavai, Will Harris, Oruwariye, and Austin Bryant.
Flowers (26)/R Okwara (24)
Shelton (26)/Strong (23)/
Hand (24)/Williams (30)
J Okwara (22)/A Bryant (23)
J Collins (30)/Jones (29)
J Tavai (23)/J Davis (25)
Trufant (29)
Tracy Walker (25)/Justin Coleman (27)/Amani Oruwariye (24)
Duron Harmon (29)
Will Harris (24)
Jeff Okudah (21)
Lots of youth ; lots of room for growth.
On the offense, you could say the same thing. We just don’t know about next year. One thing that really stood out to me was the commitment to the run game. Lets be real: Big V is not as good at pass blocking as Wagner. He’s a better run blocker. The draft had a wealth of upper notch WR talent, we chose a RB.
I think were in good hands with Bevell, but this year teams will adjust to him better It looks like they are leaning in to being a really good running team. Softening them up, then using Stafford to start taking shots deep.
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June 2, 2011, Jim Schwartz had a contest to name the Lions front four. I was 100% against it because you don’t PICK names, teams EARN names. He settled on “Silver Crush”. The rest is history.
It can be harder to just tee off and rush the passer when the running game is good. Just saying.
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Does Anyone Remember?
That’s a painful question for Lions fans.
Sorry Casanova, didn’t mean to reply to you specifically.
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Sorry doesn’t cut it, I’m crushed, in fact I’m “Silver Crushed”.
I was going to do a memory of the “Another one Bites the Dust” collapse.
or Silver Steak name Billy Simms contest.
s t r e a k ```` to.
I had high hopes for the D. Injuries at every level killed the defense. Some on offense. The big turning point was the GB and Chiefs game. Had they won those (should have), things may have been different. Season was lost at that point. At least they got to take a good look at the depth players/free agents and give the injured guys time to heal for next season.