Ok, then. Moving on. I am feeling very confident about this Sunday’s game against the Vikings. In fact, probably the most confident I will feel about any game the rest of the season (even Washington). Here is why:
Kirk Cousins is Matt Flynn with a better catchphrase.
It is a home game and Ford Field will be rocking with pissed, rabid fans.
The Lions players are probably going to be as emotionally charged as they can possible be for a regular season game.
The refs are on notice. Yes, I feel like they screwed the Lions. I have made that abundantly clear. But, I believe it was due to incompetence and complacency, not malicious intent. Remember when the ref crew that blew the whistle early against New Orleans made sure the next week that they swallowed it up when KC had the 100 yard fumble return against us? Let’s just say that unless Tre Flowers is walking around with the Left Tackle’s eyeball stuck to his middle finger, he isn’t going to get an illegal hands to the face call. If the Lions get a call against them, I am confident it will be legit.
Objectively, I think the Lions are slightly better than the Vikings. And for that reason, I expect with a shenanigans free game, the Lions will take care of business and get the W.
Not sure if we’re better than Minny but I do agree Flowers won’t get called for hands to the face unless he breaks someone’s face mask . I think that we may have some calls go our way this Sunday. Hopefully we can take advantage of that.
I fear the reverse; hope I’m wrong. A bad game furthers the national SOL narrative and dismisses/glosses over the screwjob in GB.
Absolutely HAVE to improve the run game and be better in both trenches
agree - but will add. we are now into must wins each and every week until we gain on the four teams ahead of us for a WC. and two fo those teams are in our division.
we need to gain and pass Minny, Bears, Panthers and Hawks …
until we move ahread and clinch a seed, every game in now a must win imho…
I am hopeing and even expecting 3-0 over the next three games, to get us to 5-2-1…
I think it’s a tossup game, but a pissed off team and home field oughta count for something. But it’s really the same mantra every week: no TOs, as few mistakes as possible, and don’t get conservative. And for Christ sakes, can somebody count to 11? Personally, I’ve give up on the Lions running game, I think you gotta run in enough to keep the defense honest, but in crunch time you gotta go with rollouts and the short passes if you need to eat some clock. Otherwise you’re running into the teeth of an 8 or 9 man front and that’s just stupid.
I agree - I don’t feel good here. Minny has won 3 in a row against us, and I think Zimmer kinda has Stafford’s number (though it may be that he had JBC’s number). I feel like our offense is always really uncomfortable against Minnesota - they bring tons of double-A gap pressure and play decent man-to-man behind it. We won’t be able to run.
Defensively, we are going to get gashed on the ground. Our best hope for his game is to stay in a decent game script and get Cousins to make some mistakes. Winning the turnover battle is an absolute must.
Cook is going to kill us and if stafford doesn’t get the ball out quick we’re in trouble. Hoping for a win but worried about this one. Our run defense and run offense have been a huge disappointment.
The Lions have been getting torched in the trenches and Minnesota is strong in the trenches. I also think that the Green Bay game will have a carryover effect being a short week and all. All the arrows point to a loss IMO.
While that’s true, they can really run the ball. The offensive line mostly struggles in pass protection and the Lions don’t have the pass rush to exploit that. It’s just a bad matchup for the Lions
Our offense hasn’t shown that they can handle the way Minny likes to overload the line in all out blitzes.
Packers did it a couple times and got sacks each time.
Hope they work on some hot reads / quick outlets.
I’d be surprised if the run game works at all.
If we go to the nickel and only rush 3 guys like we been doing Dalvin Cook will have a monster game. We are getting destroyed on the ground in this formation by RB’s who aren’t as good as him.
They really run the ball well bc Cook is a witch. Loved him coming out of school. Mattison is okay but Cook can make something out of nothing.
We can pressure just fine. We rush three more than anyone in the league. It is our MO. Having Daniels and Hand healthy would help but you’re not going to be some pass rushing dynamo of a team no matter who you have if you’re only rushing three
. I think that we may have some calls go our way this Sunday. Hopefully we can take advantage of that.