I have enjoyed the journey of the Lions from Shelia forming a group to find a GM and Head Coach, to the hires of Brad and Dan. Then through the pain of tough loses and then encouraging wins. I’m totally on board.
Good teams win. I enjoy what I am seeing. But they need to seal the deal…they need to win.
…with no WRs, a different OC, no OL…Yup!
If OC struggles, Coach Dan takes over (feel like I’ve seen that before). 
Dude was involved in rewriting the playbook that is based on the offense he’s already run, but tailored specifically for him to succeed with things he likes to do and is good at.
With half the team missing, a bunch of rooks and UDFAs
This year, with injured players coming back it’s essentially the equivalent of 2 draft classes worth of players. While I’m not saying they’ll be world beaters, I think it’s fair to expect MASSIVE improvement.
They know the system now, they have a full compliment of players and 75% of the guys on the field will be guys that either were not on the team or didn’t play last year.
Every offseason fans will say this above - “this year we are getting our healthy players back so that’s a big addition” as if injuries will somehow stop the following season. Every season a bunch of players will get injured. Then next season the injured players will heal, come back, and more/different players will get injured. Then the following offseason the fans will say “oh we’re getting the injured players back, so we should be better” and then when a bunch of players get injured they’ll say “well how are we supposed to judge with all these injuries?” Injured players coming back are often times offset by the new injured players. Injuries don’t stop in the NFL.
We agree 100%. I expect the defense to be better. I expect the offense to make a jump. This coaching staff has got to put some results up on the scoreboard this year for the goodwill to continue. It’s like the players told Dan during up downs in training camp - time to pay your dues coach. One 3 win season with that awful roster is/was acceptable, albeit ugly, but time to put a respectable football team out there this season.
If the injuries, and players returning from injuries look the same to you this season as it did in seasons of the past…we will disagree…big time!
I’m 51, and have been a lions fan since I was shitting yellow. This is different.
Yup - as mentioned above …Getting OL healthy - MASSIVE difference. Ragnow and T-Deck will make more difference than any of the WRs we added…buuuut…add in ALL of the WRs AND OL…N I C E!
I still don’t entirely trust the DL, but they will still be light years ahead of last year.
The attached chart shows the Lions as the 6th most injured team in week 6 LY. This does not count the injured players lost in pre=season or those placed on IR. LY, we had more than an average amount of injuries with a less than talented roster.
I hope with more talent, the injuries will subside some.
I wish I could get there but I have seen too many years where we over-achieve one week and shit the bed against lower competition the next wiping out all that positive momentum we felt.
But I do believe in this ownership, front office and coaching staff (I would have never believed I could have typed that a couple of years ago) and I do believe we are going to have far fewer shit the bed moments. I can see a world where we get into a final wildcard spot, but I can’t shake feeling that it is far more likely that we do not.
I don’t know man. But after last night that glass of Kool Aid is looking sexy as hell. She a Honolulu Blue charlatan tempting me with those big ice cubes and sweating running down the glass.
Underrated point.
My biggest concern with this team is the passing game. We had a lot of bad last year, but the passing game was just so terrible. This just isn’t about the WR. Its about the QB play, the coaching/play calling, and the WR group. So am doing my best to stay grounded with this team until I see more concrete signs of improvement. Hard not to like what they did this offseason though.
Agreed, no doubt about it. 100% accurate. But regardless my point still stands - that counting all the injured players coming back without factoring in how many we will lose to injury is a zero sum game.
So have I, but I haven’t seen THIS year…and neither have any of you.
I think this nails it on the head. When a team is good they win games even when they have an off day or appear to be getting outplayed in a game. So anything short of winning isn’t a good measurement of knowing when a team is good.
Great posts in this thread….!!!
Let’s pretend we didn’t all watch Goff finish 3-3-1 with a cast if misfits, and rock an 11-2 TD/INT in the process-
Beyond our QB looking like his confidence was shattered, and he was in the wrong offense- both true- he got his swagger, better play calling and wins the 2nd half.
Ragnow - week 3- end of year
Swift - weeks 12-15
Hock- week 13-18
Romeo- week 3- end of year
Okudah- week 1- end of year
Amani O- week 15- end of year
Hock- week 13- end of year
J Jacobs- week 14- end of the year.
Hutch
Chark
Jamo
Paschal
Joseph
That’s 13 guys we mostly played without to finish last year. While we’re we’re competing and winning.
There are always injuries, yes.
Last year the best players on a talent depleted roster were injured. We had UDFAs starting!!
The WR group was a joke.
Lynn made the worst of it.
Last year was a perfect storm type year.
Odds are the Lions do not have 2 perfect storm years in a row.
Roll the dice 20 times, how often will you get snake eyes?
Zero sum game? No, disagree.
Anything can happen but you have to always consider the odds. How many of us have been struck by lightning? How about struck 2x?
Best bet — fewer key players will go down.
My own evaluation / hopeless guesswork …
The offense should be competitive. If they can stay healthy - the O-line is a real weapon. Alongside the returning Ragnow - I think Jackson and especially Sewell are primed for a jump from an already strong foundation. The skills positions are perhaps less established and more volatile but are significantly improved from this time last year. The biggest question mark for me is Goff - but I think he’ll be better than last year and ultimately I don’t think that’s not a bad position to be in in year 2 of a rebuild.
For me the defense has considerably more question marks. Although they’ve been unlucky with injuries - the pass rush should still be better with Hutchinson and Harris. At linebacker and secondary they seem to be going with a ‘let’s throw a number of promising players at the wall and hope some stick’ approach - which isn’t the worst strategy in year 2 of a rebuild. It’s really the interior of the D-line that worries me the most and I can see them being vulnerable against strong o-lines and against the run. We’ll find out against the Eagles in week 1 I suspect.
As the season approaches and this could be just me being nervous - I increasingly think that Holmes’s draft this year was a long term swing at potential downstream. Jamo, Paschal and Kerby don’t look like they’ll be contributing all that much at least in the first half of the year. In the same slots they could have drafted Jordan Davis, Jaquan Brisker and Leo Chenal who would probably all be day 1 starters against the Eagles and give them a little more balance. But again that might just be me being nervous!
Fair & impartial analysis of both the roster & coaching staff is the only means to make a judgment. Keeping in mind (fans) have a somewhat limited expertise. With that said it seems apparent this roster ( though not finalized) is much stronger than 2021. The most obvious being the WR & pass rush with deeper depth across the board. The future looks bright!
I agree with your basic point that the team has some big questions on both sides of the ball. To me, the ceiling is fairly high - say, 10, even 11 wins if all goes very very well - but the floor is also quite low (4 or 5 wins), especially with an injury or two at any number of positions. Really, WR is about the only position group I think could lose a couple guys and still be solid. And guess what? Losing a few guys to injury is pretty common in the NFL
But I disagree w/a number of your particulars.
[quote=“Luke, post:20, topic:16595, full:true”]
This is the time of year where everyone feels good, everyone is high on the team, health is as high as it will be all season and the Ions are undefeated. And the focus is on whether an undrafted FA can “take the next step” and things like that. But in reality what is far more important is:
Not really. The record of OL and receiver injuries last year has been recited ad nauseam - and it ain’t like they were fielding superstars at WR even when everyone was healthy. The early play calling was the only thing worse than we had reason to expect and that was fixed nicely mid-season.
Sure. Until they prove themselves for the first time, promise is just that.
Not ideal, but, A) JG’s a bona fide vet now, and vets pick things up way faster than very young players, especially at the QB position; B) much has been made about how JG and Johnson worked together to incorporate some of Jared’s favorite looks from his Rams’ days. That’s a HUGELY favorable twist on the “yet another play caller” dynamic; C) new play caller - if he’s that (Campbell might still call the plays) - but, even so, they hardly started the O from scratch compared to last year.
This concern is really overstated IMO.
This is my biggest concern. Probably everyone’s at this point. Like the O, the D has to show it can get good results consistently on the field, as a unit, when it counts. It’s all promise. But unlike the O, the D is riddled with players who haven’t shown much, individually, since their college days. The D doesn’t have a single guy I’m confident will be above-average at his position this year. If they can stay healthy and be a league-average unit over the second half of the season, I’ll be very happy - and Glenn will have earned his paycheck many times over. I suspect that the offense will need to carry the team if the playoffs are to remain a realistic possibility down the stretch.
Easy
I will know we are good when we win 11+ Games in a season
All I can go off of is one preseason game so far…. So I’m comparing this game to last year and the Bills in our first preseason game in 2021:
Last year 19 1st down this yr 26
3rd down went from 5/13 to 8/15
TOP was 30:02 and now it was 33;50
We produced overall 150 more yards last night
We score only 3 point going into the 4th Qtt and last night we had 17 at the half
Goff played the whole 1sr qtr last year and got only 3 points
Last night was one drive and a TD and they looked good….
Bottom line is we are better this week overall…. By a freaking ton from last year at this time….
Good take. I am concerned that we’ve drafted 4 defensive linemen in the 1st 3 rounds alone and kept the Okwaras yet DL is a weakness. We have two high draft pix on the DL with significant core injuries. Not great drafting in that regard.
