I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach a re-watch until at least Tuesday.
My initial thoughts:
Somebody, or somebodies, is getting smoked in the run game.
I think its time to trade J Davis. He doesn’t belong in this system.
Quinn for not being smart enough to keep a few extra dlineman when 2 were injuried and not gonna play for the 1st six games.
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Our DT’s are really banged up. Snacks played with a groin injury and was in an out of the line up all game. With 3 of our top 4 DT’s out or playing hurt than it’s no surprise we’re losing the battle in the trenches.
The vikes ran it right at us and there was nothing we could do. The problem isn’t the LBers. They need good DT’s up front to eat up blockers. Right now we’re seriously thin at DT.
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That’s why I argued in another thread that we should have IRed Hand and kept another DE. That would have allowed Flowers to take more snaps at DT.
Yeap speilman said it when the DTs played good the he played great. When the DTs played bad he didnt play as good. The lack of DTs is killing the pass rush and run stopping but also effects the LBer play.
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I don’t get how last year we were so good with the same players at stopping the run and this year we are so bad? Is it injuries, stamina? Players losing an edge?
It is really disappointing that J Davis has been such a disappointment…I don’t think any of those LB’s who were ranked high in his draft have turned out…
Davis has been hurt and had limited playing time. Also our DT’s are doing a poor job of keeping opposing teams OL off our LBers. The problem is the play of our DL. Mainly the DT’s. We’re thin at DT with all the injuries and as a result our DL is getting pushed around.
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I feel like the line was completely gassed by the end of the game. Bend don’t break can do that. That is two games now where the D-Line was completely spent by the 4th Q (ARI)
I mean are our DLine players REALLY that bad? I don’t get it. A’Shawn was a 90 PFF guy last year, now he’s under 70? How?
Snacks? Does he suck now too?
Its not adding up to me. Plus we added Flowers.
I do think we need Hand back.
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We score faster and more often on offense this and we rarely give up big plays on defense.
I haven’t checked but I’d bet our defense is on the field more than last year.
I’m with you. On paper even without Hand and Daniels this D-Line should be still pretty good. I don’t know how it’s this bad this year. Snacks doesn’t even seem to be near as good, I’m wondering if scheme has something to do with the D-Line’s bad play? I get it that Flowers is not always going to fill the stat sheet, but he has been pretty bad from what I’ve seen.
All I know is the Lions won’t win without stopping the run and providing no pressure to the QB.
I have been hoping this was reason. I will say it, if we can get our Dline healthy i think we beat the vikings on the road.
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Snacks has been playing through a groin injury and it’s effecting his explosiveness and ability to hold the point of attack. Apparently that groin injury got worse this game. He missed a lot of snaps due to it.
We’re missing 3 depth guys on our DL and our top DT has been playing hurt. Not to mention rumor is that Flowers isn’t 100% after coming back from surgery. The DL is just thin and banged up. Until it gets healthy we’re gonna struggle to win games.
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I think so too. With a healthy DL our defense can mix it up a lot more.
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That makes more sense. Although it doesn’t help the situation now, it does make me feel better that if they get healthy this line will get a big boost.
I agree … I pointed out in another thread that I assumed they didn’t think Hand would be out this long or they would have IRed him. If they knew and didn’t IR him than it was a big mistake.
Hand should be back next week so hopefully that helps some.
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At the end of the day it stinks we are 2-3-1 but we have a lot of winnable games still on the schedule…ALOT. I might have mentioned this already but Vikings are good. Cousins is the weak link but if he is consistent at all, BIG IF, then they are a really balanced team with and you saw that yesterday. Cook is a great back and he was making Cousins life easy. Get the defensive line healthy as Air is saying and lets see how we do then stopping the run against the vikings and force Cousins into more pressured situations where the margin for error is slim.
The problem is even if we win the “winnable” games we won’t catch the Packers for the division. Then we have to compete with the rams, Seattle,9ers, Vikings, panthers and maybe the eagles for the WC.
In other words our luck better start shifting soon. This is why the Packers game hurt so much. A win in that game we wouldn’t be more than a game out for the division even with the loss yesterday.
As good as Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher were, you could tell the difference when they were getting good DT play vs not.
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I believe CHI started 3-3 last year. Let’s not forget that.
It’s still very early in the season and this division is tough. I think 10-6 or 11-5 will win our division. I still believe that’s obtainable. We just need to get healthy and clean up a few things.
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Dammit Air! I’m trying accept mentally that this team will miss the playoff and here you go with all this positivity 
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