Interesting comparison of years past up to last year, along with some projection and pre-season fluff for moving into the season.
I still don’t trust the OL, but they looked vastly improved last game. Starters got more time, and that’s no coincidence, but things really appear to be heading in a very positive direction.
I watched the Bronco’s vs the Niners. What a difference between those two teams and the Lions pre season games. Heavily scripted plays were being run. It was like watching a regular season game during the first quarter, but Jimmy Garafalo still looked terrible because the Broncos defense looks real. Vic Fangio must be a defensive genius.
Flacco is going to have a very good year with that offensive system.
I think this is as much philosophy as anything else. Patricia has made it clear that pre-season is basically a series of scrimmages for him. He deliberately does things differently to see how players react, how certain plays work, etc. To him, it’s a time to experiment at a game-pace (or near game pace).
Other coaches use them more like dress rehearsals- practice like you play and all that. Sure, no one puts all their cards on the table, but some teams play more like it’s the regular season than others. I think you’ve just identified two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Now, is there a right way or wrong way to use preseason games? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone else can know either.
I agree with all of that. I am not as worried about Patricia and the Lions as some at 247 are. Clearly, he is using this preseason just like you stated.
Interesting to also note how he has changed in just one season. Sounds like camp is much less grueling for the Vets. Being able to adapt and learn on the job is important.
You don’t want your guys, especially the big fellas up front drained of strength and energy from a difficult TC, when they hit the field for real. I don’t know for sure if that was a factor last year when they got clocked by the Jets, but I thought they looked tired in the 1st qtr. Same as they did against NE in the 1st PS game this year.
As far as the run game goes, there are some defenses you can run on and some you can’t. I do think our OL is better than they were last year at run-blocking though, and those new TEs will help too. Plus that FB we got. So, the number of teams they can run on this year is going to be more than it was last year IMHO. Guess we’ll find out one way or the other in about 19 days.
Good news. Run game moving in positive direction. Like that. A run game that’s always moving very slightly forward.
The good news is the Lions run game is moving forward inch by inch. The bad news is it was just 3rd and 3.