Lions went 1-6 in first 7 games
then…
Lions finished 8-2
My questions for you boys… as one who only casually observed this surge:
-Were their specific personnel or strategic changes that drove this?
-Did certain players break out?
-Was it related to schedule (playing weaker teams)?
Yes → Buggs’n’Commish got healthy, as well as a few others…
Also → went from 4-3 to 3-4…we wanted to have a more attacking style 4 man front, but found that we weren’t equipped for it from a talent perspective.
Joseph appeared to come on stronger.
Houston was HUGE, & his first game was the one before thanksgiving, if I remember correctly.
Chark seemed to play much better later in the season
Anzalone seemed to play better (defensive front could have been responsible for some fo that too).
definitely contributes to it.
Fluke? → NOPE!
IMO, the barometer was the Vikings & the Bills. Those were great measuring sticks to tell us where we are at.
Weaker teams…
As in Minny
Jax, thumped their arses
Buffalo, they were lucky to escape and the post game look on Josh Allen’s face confirms it
GB, with all on the line, coming in on a roll, at Lambeau in 22 degree temp
Who are these weaker teams my friend
Some scheme changes but IMO it was about Jared channeling his inner Aaron Rodgers and our amazing rookie defensive class getting it’s shot and improving in a dramatic and rapid fashion.
Lions had 3 games in the early losing stretch where they scored a lot but lost (35, 45, 27). Which suggests the up-surge was primarily due to defensive improvement. (?)
I will add to this. While nobody disputes he seemed to be a really good guy and certainly a team guy, the split second they dismissed AP that defense changed almost overnight.
Can a secondary coach have that big of an impact? I don’t know. But I do know what was happening before he left and what was happening after he left.
We finally played complimentary football.
First, our offense was on fire, and defense was historically bad.
Then, our defense started to improve slightly, but our offense tanked (0, 6, 27, 15)
Finally during the 8-2 run, we put both together.
We also fired Aubrey Pleasant, our DB coach. I think that woke everyone up and told the team - “we expect more”.
But I think most of it was due to nearly mistake-free football. Penalties and turnovers went way down. We weren’t shooting ourselves in the foot, we let other teams do that to themselves.
This is also spot on. The Lions had a big problem of getting in their own way and making critical mistakes at critical times. For whatever the reason being, they decided to just play good, clean football and let the other team be that team that wouldn’t get out of their own way.
Over our last ten games, we committed 4 turnovers, while the other teams had 16 turnovers. During that stretch of ten games we won the turnover battle eight times (eight wins), and lost the turnover battle twice (two losses).
I think it was a combination of getting healthier and the rookies getting a lot of playing experience, then everyone learning to play team football.
Changing 3-4 to 4-3 and dismissing a position coach mid-season…aggressive moves.
I interpret it to mean that we will hit the ground running when this season starts. The critical adjustments will be between Goff and the WR’s and the entire D. On D, because of the vet’s we have brought in for the secondary that adjustment is likely to be most consequential. No one ever saw our DL get a sack and thought, “Well that’s a coverage sack.” No Lion fan has said that out loud for who knows how many years? And if they make the right adjustments for the DL we are going to see the opposite, where our secondary is the beneficiary and their int’s go up.
I would be very surprised if our draft results in more than 2 immediate starters. Think about that, 4 picks in the first 2 rounds and 8 over all and yet our biggest haul is going to be depth. And of those 8 picks, I believe based on their first 2 drafts that at least 7 will be retained either on the 53 man roster or the protected PS. The days of calling CB’s and RB’s from off the street…over. The strong finish from last season was a direct result of rookies getting their chance and becoming major contributors. Goff protecting the ball and an O that D’s had to actually have to game plan for instead of yelling out our plays before the snap, well, those days are over.
If they can get some real help for the interior DL we can play to our strengths instead of playing to do our best to cover our weaknesses. I didn’t address the LB’s because I believe they will stand pat at least thru day 2, and that whatever help they may add isn’t likely to be significant next season. That strong finish laid a path for the future needs that need to be addressed and what they did in FA is something of a miracle as we covered much of it already. This off season is likely to be the most consequential ever for the Lions, yes, ever.
Interesting. Maybe true, given the depth and the less than stellar draft.
IMO…Spoon, JSN would start soon. Kincaid, Mayers, Bijan would start immediately.
Probably any edge, o-lineman, LB, S would sit for some time.
We rarely ran a 3-4. We mostly line up in 4-2-5
Sure but do you see us drafting first round TE’s? And with our acquisitions of CB’s I doubt that even if we draft one early that they would start. JSN would be a #3 and Bijan would start as would Carter or Anderson. I just don’t see too many players who would walk right in and start.
Wasnt it reported that Glenn was telling the CBs to press on coverage and Pleasant was telling them not to listen to Glenn?
Lions record with TJ Hockenson 1-6
Lions record after TJ Hockenson 8-2
Its math
Because of course:
correlation = causation
Nickel and dime defenses are squeeing out base defenses for all teams.
But teams still do have their preferred flavor of a base.
