How I would run the offense ...

Stafford is inaccurate this year. He has looked bad on several throws. However his receivers, including CJ, have been ball dropping machines in the first six games. What is so different?

Last year we had no run game, instead we had a very short passing game. With Best it was fantastic. With Kevin Smith it was pretty good. For some reason this year, we are trying to force the ball everywhere instead of just using the short stuff to the backs and TE's. Get Stafford into rythm early with some cheapo completions, draw in the LB's and Safties that way.

This teams has the weapons for this style of game. Scheffler, Pettigrew, KSmith and now Broyles. Even Leshoure and Bell can be effective used this way. I think that Young, who has more speed than Burleson, will also be a better complement to CJ. Just send him deep every other play - tax the defense that way. Clear out space underneath like the Patriots do for Welker. 

As for CJ, just do what he and Stafford do best. Keep going deep. Do it with criss crossing patters, do it by going trips left or right. Who cares? Just keep taking those shots and make sure you put the ball high where only he can get it. Teams fearing the deep ball will surrender the short stuff. But for it to work, CJ and Young need to keep pushing the corners deep.

The wild card here of course is Stafford. He has to hit the short stuff. However, now that the margin for error is zero - I think we will see a different guy....

Stafford, CJ stink on Monday Night

The Lions lost a close one 13-7, but this was really much worse than that. This was a deflating defeat on prime time.

Calvin Johnson, our best player, did not show up yesterday. Yes Tillman played great, but on our first series, he was open by a huge margin, the Bears D was totally fooled, Stafford hit him in the hands and CJ dropped it. Funny to say, but I think that deflated the offense right off the bat. The rest of the game CJ could not beat coverage and Stafford looked lost for most of the first half.

Suh and the defense did show up. To be quite honest, I wasn't all that impressed with the Chicago offense. If the Lions had played better in the Red Zone or at least gotten three field goals from Hanson instead of three turnovers, they would have won this game.

But this team is just not ready for prime time. It really does not know how to win and sadly its best two players cannot seem to lead them to victory on a regular basis. They need help. They need someone to show them how to win slugfests like this. I don't think that person is on the roster.

On the positive side, Broyles looked pretty sure handed out there and Titus Young looked like he was finally beating coverage.

On the negative side you have to list the loss of Burleson and the missed blocks by Sims, Peterman and Backus that always seem to occur at the worst possible time. Not to mention Backus had another false start.

On the mystery side of things, how the heck does Kevin Smith not get back in the lineup? This team needs to exploit the middle of the field and Smith excels at that. Leshoure and Bell don't seem to offer the same options to Stafford.

Lastly, I can't understand the criticism of the coaches. No OC can succeed when his QB is playing as poorly as Stafford and his elite WR drops easy passes. What can Cunningham do better than he did yesterday? As for Schwartz, he needs to be a bit more of a cutthroat coach. He should start with Logan - who had a brutal performance. Mind you, with the loss of Burleson, Logan is probably safe. Sucks.

....more

Kevin Smith doesn't fit - Rieff does

It was sure strange to see Kevin Smith in street clothes during the Philly game. But it's pretty simple to understand if you ask me.

The Lions cannot run block to save their lives. That is why they have to use Rieff as an extra tackle/TE - to get a push (he makes a great decoy too if it becomes a pass play).

Because they stink at run blocking, the Lions need the bigger backs to punch through small cracks in the d-line and to then run over LB's and DB's coming up for support. Leshoure and Bell are well suited for this. Kevin Smith is not.

Smith is the best blocker and receiver of the bunch but he sadly does not hit the hole very hard, nor does he show great vision. He doesn't really run over people, nor does he make them miss. Leshoure can make some miss and he can run them over. Bell runs them over. They both can be as good as Smith catching passes so its a wash there.

In this scheme, Williams is a better replacement for either Bell or Leshoure. Smith is thus the odd man out. A good safety net, but still the odd man out.

Bottom line is while I am sad that this is happening to Smith, I am very happy to see the Lions do something unusual with their offense. Bringing in Rieff looked like it really confused the Eagles. LB and Safeties had to come up to play the run, but Rieff is also a solid pass blocker so Stafford could easily turn it into a pass play. Wow, the Lions confusing their opponents?

Miracle!

Great win, horrible game

The Lions had at least 10 offensive penalties. Each o-lineman had at least one each. Their QB was horrific in the first three quarters missing wide open guys left, right and center. The defense played great but still managed to surrender a huge 70+ yards play at the worst possible time to go along with what seemed like a world record for off side penalties.

The ineptness of Stafford (6 for 19 after 3 quarters) made the Eagle's D look pretty good. The refs helped too as Eagle DB's Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie should have been flagged at least twice each for defensive holding. Things looked pretty bleak.

Then it happened. Just like last year. Calvin Johnson and Matt Stafford decide to get going.  Once they did, they beat the Eagles' defense quite handily. Scheffler and Burlseon seemed to be always open.The Eagles looked gassed in the 4th Quarter and OT and Stafford, Johnson, Burleson and Scheffler did not.

Onto the Bears!

Why no Rieff or Broyles?

Mlive had this quote from Jim Schwartz today (October 10):

"A lot of times you get graded on a rookie class right after the draft, and then you get graded at the end of the year," Schwartz said. "I think it's probably a little too much to be grading those guys after four games. I think we have some very good players in that class, and I think they're going to help us. All those guys are going to help us. Time will bear that out."

Sadly ... the comments from Schwartz are starting to sound like Millen era drivel. Guys like Boss Bailey, Jordan Dizon and Ikaika Alama-Francis never did play on teams with horrific defenses.

This is what we do know about the 2012 rookies ...

Broyles was a standout at OU going over the middle and beating man coverage. However, in the NFL he cannot get on the field even though we have trouble getting open in the middle of the field and getting seperation on tight coverage.

Rieff was a tough blocker, mobile too and able to handle speed or physical DE's despite short arms (joking) ... the guy ahead of him has looked awful the past two games, giving up ridiculous sacks at atrocious times.

Bill Bentley is the guy that really needs more seasoning. Green, Whitehead, Lewis and Lewis haven't shown much so far. Green needs a 'mercy' removal from special teams before he is seriously hurt.

Yes it is early, but this team was beaten by the atrocious Titans and the very beatable Vikings. The team folded on back to back weeks because of poor veteran play - Schwartz needs to ACT! Guys like Backus and Raiola are to comfy in their roles. Pettigrew is a bust this year. Does anyone think a winning org like NE or PIT would put up with those ridiculous lapses in concentration if they had a couple of top picks sitting around waiting for a chance?

Finnegan and Jenkins would have been nice ...

Watching St. Louis beat Arizona last night, it was kind of sickening to think the Lions might have been able to get both of Cortland Finnegan and Janoris Jenkins. Even one would have been nice.

Jenkis has unbelievable cover skills and recovery speed. Finnegan is a real tough guy back there and a big hitter. Both can tackle. Even one of those guys paired with Houston would have been a tremendous upgrade.

But it is what it is. And what it is ... is a defensive line that is undermined by very soft coverage and poor tackling. Jacob Lacey so far has shown why the Colts dumped him - he cannot tackle or locate balls in the air. That is the same problem with the two rookies, Green and Bentley. The play of the safeties Spievey, Wendling and Coleman is really worrisome. Missed assignments, bad angles and missed tackles are more common than not.

Overall, I would say that the Lions issues on defense at DB are really a function of poor player procurement. That is on Mayhew and Schwartz. And it is clear they know they have problems or they would not have traded for one guy (Kevin Barnes, who they now have cut) and then claimed a guy off waivers (Jerome Murphy who they also ended up cutting) since the start of September.

Delmas will certainly help, but this team will have to score a ton to even get to 8-8.

What to work on during the bye?

Setting aside the horrific play of the special teams, the Lions could be 4-0 if they had done a better job of holding onto footballs and holding onto opponents at key moments. That is what they have to fix.

Basic football.

The defense needs to tackle the pedestrian Michael Crabtree on checkdowns. DB's can't let the average Titan receiver pluck balls off their helmets and run 60 yards for a TD;  the receivers have to catch the TD’s and the first downs against the 49ers, Titans and Vikings;  Raiola has to NOT snap the football on those fakes. Don't fumble. Turn and look for the ball and avoid PI's. Know your blocking assignments. Basic stuff.

Block, catch balls and tackle people when it counts. That is the difference between winners and losers. The Lions just have to make plays or find more players that can.



This is my wife's Silverback Yorkie, Thelma. She's a
better tackler than either Jacob Lacey or Erik Coleman.

 

Just play football

Lions need to play angry. Lions are just not that good. Lions need to focus. Reading all the opinions this morning is giving me a headache. I think it is pretty simple. The Lions are just not making plays. Here’s a quick recap of the season so far:

Game 1 they barely win against St. Louis on a day where Matthew Stafford is incredibly inaccurate.

Game 2 they lose against SF on a day where their defense forgets how to tackle during the 49ers crucial final drive, allowing three third-and-longs to be completed after short throws that were well short of the sticks. They were in this game until that point.

Game 3 an effort featuring an embarrassing special teams performance and pathetic tackling by the secondary is closed off by a ridiculous mistake by 11-year vet Dominic Raiola. They had no business being in this one, but they almost won despite a horrendous effort. Wasteda nice hail mary too!

Game 4 comes and another special teams disaster spoils a solid defensive effort. However the story of this game is the offensive ineptitude. Drops by Pettigrew and CJ in the end zone.  Drops by Young on a key first down. The killer fumble by Leshoure. They almost survived all that until a backup DE out smarted Jeff Backus and nearly killed Stafford.

The Lions haven’t been blown out in any game. They simply are not playing well. I thought that Mayhew and Schwartz were tough guys that wanted to win at all costs. They would be merciIess and cut guys that made stupid mistakes. But now I just see a couple of guys that are balking at some tough decisions, including ...

·         Jeff Backus has looked slow all season and just came off a horrible game. You have Rieff and Fox waiting for a chance. Both are more physical. We need 'more physical'.  backus has been a warriors but he hasn't won squat in 11 years. Just do it.

·         The passing game over the middle is a sad thing to behold. Titus Young cannot get open. Pettigrew drops every other throw. You drafted Ryan Broyles because he could get open over the middle and catch everything in sight. Play him.

·         Brandon Pettigrew has been awful at critical times this year. Give Scheffler or Heller his role. Use Broyles more. Use Heller as a FB more. Bench Pettigrew after big screwups, give him a chance to refocus. Send a message.

·       Play Kevin Smith. KS30 has always been an effective blocker and an effective receiver over the middle. Opponents are giving you the middle of the field. Play Smith. He knows what to do and he gets open. Backus whiffs a lot at critical times. KS30 knows how to chip rushers. Try that when it matters. Save Leshoure and Bell  for when you have the lead.

·        Osgoode, Lacey and Coleman were not good pickups. These guys look like they are ‘done’ make a statement and start cutting. Each has made huge, huge mistakes the last three weeks. Take a stand – cut. Someone on the practice squad, maybe Carmen Messina, might make a few ST tackles no? Would Jerome Murphy really have been worse than Lacey?

Not filling those gaping holes really hurts

I have written this a few time before, but the team had two gaping hole's entering the 2012 season: defensive backs & running backs. With Delmas out, only Houston is an NFL starting calibre DB. With Best concussed, the team had no ground game or secondary weapon that scares offenses. By not addressing those holes, they effectively neutralized their best elements.

Stafford-to-Johnson is useless if no one else needs to be covered. The best pass rushing d-line is negated if even the lousiest dump off turns into a big play because your DB's cannot cover or tackle.

Right now, it looks like Mayhew has outsmarted himself with his personnel management via the draft. Stafford and Suh were no brainers, but Delmas (frail), Best (injury), Pettigrew (reliability) and Fairly (inneffective and a luxury pick) look like suspect top picks, same with Titus Young (attitude and a luxury pick). Third Rounder Levy is a good player, but Speivey is not (horrible pick). Bentley looks like he will be good.  Leshouse looks ok, but like all the RB's of the past few years he is realizing that our veteran laden o-line cannot run block. Based on what we have seen from Backus and Young, Broyles and Rieff should be playing after the bye week - or else they were also muffed (and luxury) picks. Sammy Hill is a great draft pick up. Maybe the only real find.

I am not ready to throw in the towel on the season, but it certainly does not look like this team is well enough equipped to finish higher than 6-10.

The basics of football are completely lacking on this team.

Missed tackles. Dropped balls. Missed blocks. The basics of football are completely lacking on this team. No game plan can survive such physical ineptitude.

Kassim Osgoode should be cut outright. Why carry a special teamer that can't play special teams? Jonte Green should be sent to the practice squad. He is physically overmatched. Not sure why he is still out there on Special Teams, but he won't be there next week ... I hope.

The other guy that should be drawing some heat is GM Martin Mayhew. It's pretty clear that without Louis Delmas and without Jahvid Best, we are hurting at critical spots on both sides of the ball.

Yet, during the off-season there was no visible attempt to get a back-up for Best or a back-up for Delmas. "Insurance" so to speak. Instead they opted for a LT and WR with their first two picks and nothing of significance in free agency (FYI when I say "nothing of significance" I am referring to Jacob Lacey).

Having said that, I think that it may be time to put Riley Rieff in at LT. Backus was absolutely man-handled today. Not just by Allen, but also by just about every other Viking possible. This comes a week after Raiola botches a critical snap in OT. Two veterans, back-to-back horrible outings.  It's time to make a change and wake up the team.