With Michael Thomas going to be out post-surgery for up to 4 months, the balance of the WR corps is worse than the Lions–by far.
Tre’Quan Smith-----34 for 448—13.2–4 TDs
Deonte Smith--------20 for 186----9.3–1 TD
Marquez Calloway–21 for 213–10.1–0 TDs
Tyrell Williams------42 for 651—15.5–6 TDs
Quintez Cephus----20 for 349—17.5–2 TDs
Breshad Perriman-30 for 505—16.8–3 TDs
I saw this and was curious about the timing of the surgery? Any idea why he waited so long?
IMO even before the Thomas news the Lions and Saints O’s are very similar. The difference is one gets ranked consistently 10 spots ahead of the other.
QB…Goff vs Hill and WInston? Edge…Lions…or push if you really want.
RB…Kamara/Murray vs Swift/Williams? Edge…Saints…not as wide of a gap as people think IMO.
WR…Garbage all around. Edge to Saints with Thomas. Edge to Lions without
TE…Hockenson vs ? Trautman? Edge Lions by a wide margin.
OL…Both are very good. Push here.
The question is…are the Saints really that much better on O than the Lions? Sure Thomas is very good…but without Brees?
I don’t think so.
I believe our WR corp is being criminally underrated. Cephus and St. Brown will be consistent contributors. Williams is a solid player when healthy. Perriman can take the top off…again when healthy. I don’t think you need a monster WR. Not when you have underneath weapons like Hock and Swift.
You make some good points in comparing them. The reason the Saints get ranked so much higher is Sean Payton, whether that is fair or not can be up for debate. But, Payton has a proven track record calling plays in the NFL, he’s lead several top 10 offenses in his career. When Brees has been injured in the past, they still have been very successful without him.
I’m optimistic than Lynn is going to have a decent offense this year though. Gotta let our o-line get physical and violent as much as possible early in games and really try to control the LOS and TOP.
Agree with Hock and Swift, a safety is going to be naturally cheating their way which allows our revievers and extra half second to second to get deep. The key is going to be the running game, if we get that going consistently, with Hock and Swift/Williams in the passing game, we will see a lot of 8 man fronts
Wonder if they will consider the Tater?
It’ll be interesting to see if Payton can adapt going to a totally different type of quarterback.
Brees was hyper-accurate. You could run that Brady offense where you need to be completely accurate 99% of the time.
Winston is a less accurate and less disciplined version of Stafford. Just plugging him into an offense designed around Brees is a square-peg-round-hole situation if there ever was one.
If Payton is as smart as his reputation, I think you’ll see the Saints move to a more vertical, chunk-yardage offense. You’re going to get more INTs from Winston one way or the other, so you need the passes that do connect be a lot more valuable.
Kamara is a top 5 skill player in the league and Swift had what is basically an average rookie season.
And Thomas is a top 5 WR in the league when healthy.
Hock is better than Trautman, and that isn’t a question, but a top 5 RB or a top 5 WR has more impact than a top 5 TE IMO.
Also, the scheme of the Saints is far superior to the Lions.
Saints by a wide margin.
Does he actually give a f$$$ anymore? I think that’s debatable.
The key comparison people are missing is to the Oline. Having a top 5 Oline can do wonders for a team in every aspect of the game. It helps the defense, it helps special teams, and both the run and pass game. With Thomas out, I’ll take the Lions skill position players with OUR Oline.
A Lions scheme that hasn’t existed yet?
You’re right, but if you had to bet your house one way or the other…
On Jameis Winston?
well we haven’t done Jack in a very long time, so we get no recognition-fair…even expected.
this offseason is feeling a little different in a better way, LET the masses underestimate us, just treat us like some forgotton stepchild. and watch us come to life, open up a can of whoop ass on our opponents I don’t think we will be so damn predictable either, we have leadership with brains finally-that alone will create problems.
He’s been working out
The Saints have the proven best tackle tandem in the league, and have a bunch of good young talent in their interior…
Ragnow < Ramzyck
Sewell < Armstead
Decker > Peat
Jackson < Ruiz
And are we going to think that Halipoulivaati Vaitai is better than anyone they have?
Why didn’t you just compare position to position?
This is a truly great post!
I actually think our team very, very closely resembles the Saints.
Goff- Brees (saints through 28 tds total)
Swift- Kamara (rushed for 950)
Williams- L Murray (rushed for 650)
T Williams- M Thomas (450 yards)
Amon Ra- E Sanders (750 yards)
Cephus- T Smith (450 yards)
Hock- J Cook (500 yards)
Power OL- Power OL
Romeo- T Hendrickson (13.5 sacks)
McNeill- M Brown (1.0 sacks)
Brockers- Onyemata (6.5 sacks)
Flowers- C Jordan (7.5 sacks)
Levi O- Davenport (1 sack)
J Collins- D Davis- (4 sacks)
Anzalone- Anzalone (lol)
Melifonwu- M Jenkins (3 int and 2.5 sacks)
T Walker- M Williams (3 int)
Q Dunbar- J Jenkins (3 int)
Okudah- Lattimore (2 int)
AO- Gardner- Johnson (1 int)
Brees played a game manager roll with screen passes and TE safety valve plays. They had 1 RB over 700 yards receiving, 1 WR over 700 yards and a TE at 500. Kamara, E Sanders and Cook had 2,000 yards combined.
Goff could easily project 900 yards from Hock, 600 yards from 500 yards from T Williams…
Other than 13.5 sacks from Hendrickson, I don’t see one saints player other than maybe D Davis or M Jenkins that might be out of reach.
This lions team is close in talent and size/speed composition to what saints were last year.
I went off their best versus our best regardless of position.
Here’s positional…
LT: Armistead > Decker
LG: Ruiz = Jackson
C: McCoy < Ragnow
RG: Peat > Vaitai
RT: Ramzyck > Sewell
Generally, I agree, except I think Vaitai & Peat are roughly equal.
In 2020, at RG, Peat had a 61.2 overall grade.
In 2019, Peat’s 48.5 grade ranked 69th among 80 OGs.
In 2020, at RG, Vaitai had a 64.4 overall grade in 6 games.
Since 2016, Vaitai @ Guard:
327 Snaps (282 were in 2020 w/Lions)
65.5 OVR
52.0 PB
67.6 RB
Granted, Vaitai at RG is a far more limited sample, but Peat hasn’t been that good.