God knows we are all heavily invested in this team, and it’s clearly evidenced by the time devoted to reading articles, watching games, and posting in here.
Getting emotionally prepared to deal with a 4-5 season by critically analyzing every preseason snap WILL NOT TAKE THE EDGE A LET DOWN….
If the Lions get plagued by injuries, hit a bunch of bad luck and bad calls, or simply lack talent, it will suck. If they make a miraculous year over year turnaround and win 8-10 games… IT WILL BE GLORIOUS!
Keeping that in mind, an 8 win team usually sucks on one side of the ball… and is pretty decent on the other-
Our offense scored with a nice 9 yard run on it’s only full first team drive. A total of 10 plays, and right down the field to pay dirt… THERE WERE 44 MINUTES AND 58 SECONDS PLAYED WITH ZERO OFFENSIVE STARTERS…
Hock, Paschal, Romeo, Levi, Jamo, Iffy, and Anzalone didn’t play at all, and thus we were without 5 of our top invested assets.
The fact that the group of McNeill, Brockers, Hutch. Harris, AO, Elliott and Walker each player 12 or less snaps really doesn’t give us much anything to go off-
Bottom line- we have a mess to untangle at LB (basically survival of the fittest), a very thin group at DT, and bad backup QBs- and we are pretty happy with the rest, and in 4-6 weeks we should be getting back more and more talented guys.
The team is not going risk injuries while already thin. Look for a vet QB or vet DT signing soon
I expect the starters to play one series against Indy just like this week and then sit completely preseason week 3. The coaches know what they have, it’s the backups they need to evaluate. I also think the offense will be the better of the two sides of the ball to start, but I think the defense could develop and be sneaky good by mid season. They have a farther way to go than the offense which already had a lot of players in place.
We shouldn’t. We also have to remember that there was no preparation for this team. There clearly was no game plan to keep Mariota in the pocket. I feel, Campbell wanted to see how the guys would fair under the lights.
I honestly think that they don’t even care. Just trying to get through 60 minutes.
Guys like Davis, Houston, Woods, Dion-Hamilton, Hughes, Lucas, Cornell, Cominsky and Bryant are all we are really looking at.
Which 5 of them make the team?
If we play great and win 9-10 games then non of our concerns or assertions will have mattered, it will be fun period.
If we play well on offense, and at QB, but our D is really bad again, the. I’d assume we end up with a 5-7 win team and I would presume Jalen Carter is a nice top 5-10 overall target to fix our DT spot.
If Goff struggles (I doubt) and loses a lot of games to injury… we probably pick 2-4 overall and an elite QB is in place.
I really think we win 8-10 games and draft all D and a RB next year
People always tend to overreact and always will. Its called the preseason for a reason:Its about looking to see what you need to work, who is or is not good enough, etc.
I have never took preseason games all that seriously as there is no reason too.We have a good team here, I firmly believe that.
no need to overreact but the concerns we all knew were there made themselves evident. We’re weak in the middle and have linebackers that may as well be spinning tops out there. The Oline is great - But it’s depth is suspect and the corners might be an issue.
It also bothers me that we lost in a very Lions-y way. I know it’s not SOL and I know it’s preseason but this series of events:
We’re driving for a likely game icing drive but our QB fumbles. Not only fumbles but our own RB blocks the QB from recovering it. Keystone Cops moment.
We get an interception but a screw-job roughing call nullifies it
We drop another interception
We then flush out the QB who heaves a 4th down desperation throw to a covered WR who catches the TD
Because of course he does
That is so quintessential Lions - it’s like fate always comes up with the most absurd ways to help the Lions snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This perfect kitty cocktail. One part bumbling, one part bad luck, topped with a bad call or two
It’s hard not to get twitchy from PTLS Post traumatic lions syndrome
I was listening to Foxsports radio in the car today. Adam Kaplan, who I really like and believe is pretty plugged in both with the league and with other writers covering the league, was asked where he’s next going in his training camp tour. His answer:
“,… and then on Detroit to see the Lions. I keep hearing how good they look. At first I was skeptical but it keeps coming up just how good the Lions look going into the season.”
I would be good money if all NFL team were given the option to reduce the requirement to either 1 or even ZERO preseason games, they do it in a heartbeat.
Goff fired up his teammates by insisting he play against coaches initial or instincts. Honestly I don’t know if I like the fact that DC let him play….
Browns lost starting center nick Harris for the year, Broncos lost starting MLB Griffin, and Jets and Falcons have to hold their breathe over Drake London and Zach Wilson knee injuries… and for what?
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We are no longer talking about backups getting meaningful reps, now it’s bottom 30 roster guys going balls out trying to get noticed while starters and backups try not to get hurt. That’s a recipe for trouble.
Our starting O knifed down the field with ease, and Goff averaged nearly 12 yards a pop, and showed a continued connection with RA and Brock Wright (this one is exciting!)…. Both J Will and Swift popped runs of 9 yards, had solid ypc averages against the starting D- and scored in their only drive….
go back and watch the highlights- Ra got popped in the helmet and bent backwards on his second catch, and swift took a should to his helmet as he broke the goal line.
K Raymond got open deep, made a great adjustment hauler in a big play, and looked explosive in the return game.
Having to play for 3 quarters against an athlete like Ridder is a pretty tough task for 3rd and 4th stringers. We played vanilla scheme with guys who won’t be on the team for 2 quarters against the Falcons likely starting QB by mid year….
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I would be more alarmed if I were the Falcons fans!!!
Let’s pretend for 1 second that Blough who should never, ever be on a football field- “DOESNT FUMBLE AWAY A SNAP WHILE RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK!”
In which case we win, we bond their QB of the future in check with our backups, backups…
WITHOUT THE MINI HAIL MARY TO END THE GAME- Ridder was 9-21 for 82 yards and no tds in 3 quarters…
Goff
Swift
Decker
Jackson
Ragnow
Big V
Sewell
Hock
Chark
Reynolds
St Brown
(Jamo, J Will, B Wright, E Brown)
obviously Jamo is being counted on as our WR1, and if that prevails, then imagine how strong that group will be! J will is an ideal RB2 type, and the fact that Wright can block and catch and Brown is a proven fill in really inspires confidence.
concerns- 3rd RB and swing tackle- I hope we see more from Jackson next week. I like Netflix story but don’t know that he has enough juice if he had to carry the load for 3-4 weeks. Jackson has proven he can, and we have a far better OL than he’s played behind. I really hope Obinna Eze makes it close enough to cut. Elaine since we’ve already seen Nelson’s low ceiling last year.
—- QB2 - if Goff plays 17 games, then we win 7-10 games imo. If he misses a lot, then we win 3-5 games tops. Whether it’s 2 or 6 even, does it matter? MOST WOULD BE BANGING TABLE FOR A TOP 3 PICK QB IF GOFF MISSES SIGNIFICANT TIME, AND THUS A BACKUP SCRATCHING OUT 2 MORE WINS HURTS THAT CAUSE-
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Hutch
Levi
McNeill
C Harris
Barnes
Anzalone
Okudah
AO
Elliott
Walker
Harris
(Paschal, Brockers, MRod, Romeo, K Joseph, Jacobs)
I know we aren’t pumped about DT right now, but what happens if Paschal ends up being a really solid player? What if Levi is more precautionary than anything right now? What if Brockers is 20% better with less reps and more familiar scheme?
Hutch is our best pass rusher. Harris is currently our #2… last year Harris had to be our Edge1-
we can lineup Hutch and Paschal at edge at 268 and 280 pounds respectively, and last year we often had JO and Harris at edge at 250 pounds each.
lets assume Elliott is far better at safety than Harris was, and having Iffy/Joseph as athletic young talent trying to earn snaps could really be an improved safety tandem.
