By popular demand, I am going to go ahead and re-rate each of the players for the Lions, now that they have passed their bye week and are heading into the second half of the season.  First of all, I want to be clear that I am going to use my old analysis as a mold, altering it with updated stats and opinions.  This is because I have much of the same feelings now as I did then, and I do not want to take as much time to do it as I did after week 3.  Because of these facts, I have split the analysis into 2 parts (Offense and Defense - one yesterday and one today) and provide the link to my prior analysis for comparison.  I will also add my rating of the offensive line to the end of this analysis, as a unit.  Here is the link:

http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2009/10/1/1064932/guys-i-am-super-bored (you may have to copy and paste).

Please keep in mind that I will base my analysis on actual stats, and I will add my own personal opinion to it. I hope that this post will be enlightening and interesting to all of you, and I look forward to your comments and additions.  I will give each player a rating based on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being useless, 2 being poor, 3 being slightly useful, 4 being below average, 5 being average, 6 being above average, 7 being solid, 8 being very solid, 9 being amazing, and 10 being the picture of perfection.  The analysis will begin after the jump.

Defense:

MLB - Larry Foote

Larry Foote has been great so far this season.  He is a force against the run and he has shown that he can cover guys over the middle.  He is leading the team in tackles with 46 (up from 28 at the last analysis) and he has 1 sack.  He has not gotten another sack since my last analysis, but he remains our best tackler on defense.  Again, he impressed me with his desire to play for the Lions, and so far his play has not disappointed.  I love his addition to our team, and I hope they sign him to at least a 4 year deal after this season (barring career ending injury....knock on wood).  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a solid 8.

OLB - Julian Peterson

Peterson has continued to step up his play since my last analysis, even though at times he left many wondering where he was.  I still feel that he has far more potential than he is showing us, even though he now has 26 tackles and 3 sacks (up from 7 tackles and zero sacks......remember he only had 5 sacks last year in Seattle, and that mark is still easily within reach).  He continues to play well in coverage, as I have not seen him get beat or blow a coverage assignment yet.  I think we would all like to see the pro bowl caliber LB that he can be, so I continue to hope for improvement from him this season.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a solid 6 (above average, but not good enough to be solid so far).

OLB - Ernie Sims

Ernie Sims, who has dealt with injury this season, has not done much since the injury.  He still has a goose egg in the sack department (0), and he has only recorded 1 tackle since my last analysis (15 total, up from 14).  Keeping in mind that he has not played much since my last analysis, along with the fact that Sims has never really been expected to get a ton of sacks, as he was expected to be more of a coverage linebacker, it is really difficult to say that he has improved or digressed in his production.  I believe he has done a good job in his role, when he has played, and he had been solid in run support until the injury.  He had been the picture of durability until this year, and I hope that he can return to form soon.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, keeping in mind the fact that he was injured and has not played as much since, as well as what he has done this year while he was playing, I am forced to lower his rating from a solid 7, to a 6 (above average).  If he returns to form this season, I have no doubt that he is still a solid coverage linebacker.

OLBs - Jordan Dizon and DeAndre Levy

Dizon has come in to spell Sims, and now Levy, on multiple occasions this season.  At my last analysis he had done pretty well in that role.  However, I have not been impressed at all with his play since my last analysis, as he has only made 4 tackles and he has not done well in coverage (13 total tackles, up from 9).  What he has done on an average basis is help out against the run when he has played.  His size and durability are still my main concerns, and it is yet to be seen if he could play every game for an entire season (I still doubt he could, nor that he would do well if he did).  He is a backup at best in my opinion, and is better suited to a ST role.  On the other hand, DeAndre Levy has exploded onto the scene since Sims's injury, playing at an unexpectedly high level even as a rookie.  He now has 29 tackles (up from 8) as the replacement for Sims.  I still say that Levy's size and upside are superior to Dizon's, and apparently the coaches agree as Levy taken a majority of the snaps as Sims's replacement.  Levy has done a much better job in coverage than Dizon, in my opinion, and he continues to improve. I still say both men could improve on their coverage skills, but both have shown pretty good tackling skills against the run.  Ratings on a scale of 1-10, I give Dizon a 4 as a linebacker (5 as a ST player) and Levy a solid 6 (leaning toward a 7 as he continues to develop).

DT - Grady Jackson

Grady Jackson continues to serve his purpose of being a space eater and a gap plugger.  In my opinion, he continues to do well in this role, as evident in our defense's improvement against the run this year.  Grady Jackson was never expected to be a great pass rusher in Detroit, but rather he was expected to do what he has done so far, which is take up space and be hard to move.  He now has 12 tackles (up from 4).  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a solid 6 for his expected role (however, if I were rating him on his overall ability to generate a pass rush as well as stop the run, I would still say he is a 4 (below avg)).  He is a stop gap player, who is not getting any younger....the Lions are likely to look to make improvements at this position through the draft.

DT - Sammie Lee Hill

Contrary to Grady Jackson, I believe that Hill is expected to utilize his size and athletic ability to generate a pass rush in the middle of the defensive line, as well as to eat up space and stop the run in his respective gaps.  He has been out with injury, yet I still include him in my analysis as he will likely return this week.  Hill has not gotten a sack yet, and he still has only 3 tackles.  He is still a rookie with a huge upside, and being a raw talent who was thrust into a starting role as a rookie, I think he was doing admirably well before the injury.  He still has a long way to go before he will be the dominating force that the coaching staff wants him to be, but he is getting valuable experience which will hopefully translate into improvement quicker than not (my same hope still goes out to Matt Stafford).  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a 5 (I would decrease this to 4, but I think he will be back this week and he will pick up where he left off).

DT - Landon Cohen

In a backup role in a D-line rotation, Cohen has not really done too much to write home about and his amount of playing time has not increased at all.  He now has 9 tackles (up from 2) and still has not shown a strong pass rushing ability considering his amazing strength.  I still think that his lower body strength must be something to be desired, as we all know how strong his upper body is considering the number of bench press reps he can do at 225.  He needs to work on his leg strength and utilizing leverage if he ever wants to be anything more than an afterthought.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a 4 and this will not improve until he acquires some strength in his legs and gets a push in the middle.

DT/DE - Andre Fluellen

Flu had impressed me at the point of my last analysis, but he has fallen off since then due to injury.  When healthy, his size allows him the versatility to play both DT and DE.  Until his injury, he had been playing well, but since my last analysis he has only collected 1 tackle, and has not recorded another sack (7 total up from 6 tackles and still just 1 sack).  I really like the fact that he can play both DT and DE, and his versatility will likely keep him around longer than guys like Cohen (who can only play one position) if he can stay healthy.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, because of his injury and lack of production since, I give him a 5 (down from a 6) until he can come back and improve my opinion.

DE - DeWayne White

White has also been injured since my last analysis.  DeWayne White had not been an unstoppable force even when he was healthy, but he was not doing a horrible job either.  He was getting a good push on the outside, but with no push in the middle he was simply washed out of most plays.  He still has 4 tackles, but no sacks.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I give him a 5 until he gets healthy and improves my opinion.

DE - Cliff Avril

Avril had been disappointing to me at the time of my last analysis.  He was injured early and only had 1 tackle with no sacks.  However, since returning from the injury he has looked like a man on a mission and has played quite well.  I'll even go so far as to say that he has begun to look like he did last year as a rookie.  My  hope that he could come back and significantly improve seemed to be answered, as Avril now has 14 tackles and 2 sacks since returning from injury.  Jason Hunter had looked to be the far superior player, but now he is injured and Avril is shining.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I am raising his rating to a solid 5 (up from a 4) and I would say he is a 6 (above average) if he continues to play at his current level.

DE - Jason Hunter

The offseason free agent acquisition had been the best pass rusher we had upon my last analysis.  He was consistently in  the backfield, pressuring the QB and making plays.  Upon my last analysis, he was the only bright spot on our DL, in my opinion.  Since then, he was injured and had only gathered an additional 3 tackles with no sacks (14 total, up from 11 and still 2 sacks).  I still think that he can be a valuable rotational player when healthy, as Avril has returned from injury and started playing well, and White is coming back as well.  I had thought that Hunter had won the starting job, but with his injury and Avril's recent contributions on defense, I think he comes back from injury as a backup (unless White is not getting the job done).  Rating on a scale of 1-10 I still say he is an above average player, but because of his injury and the likelihood that he will now be a backup I must lower my rating to a 6 instead of a 7.

DEs Copeland Bryan and Turk McBride

Both of these two guys came in as FA acquisitions for depth while White, Hunter, and Avril were injured.  Both men played exceptionally well before both of them were also injured.  Bryan recorded 5 tackles and a sack before his injury, and McBride recorded 6 tackles and a sack before his injury.  Until Cliff Avril had returned with a fire under his ass, both Bryan and McBride were looking pretty solid as rotational players (much like Jason Hunter).  Ratings on a scale of 1-10 I give Bryan and McBride both solid 5s, as I feel they did an adequate jobs for what they were expected to do, and they looked just as good as Dwayne White or Cliff Avril (prior to Avril's return from injury).

CB - Anthony Henry

Anthony Henry is another player who has been a pleasant surprise on our defense this year.  However, whether it be because teams have stopped throwing his way as much or because his age is finally catching up to him, Henry has not had as much success since my last analysis.  He had been the best corner on our team this year, and I thought he had played above and beyond many of our expectations (considering we all thought he had lost a step and should be playing safety), but now his play is starting to look like we may have been right.  I still have not seen him get beat deep, and I do not think he has blown any coverage assignments (to the best of my knowledge), but he has only had 6 tackles since my last analysis and has not gotten another INT.  Rating on a scale of 1-10 I had previously given him a solid 7, but I think he has fallen to just an average 5 since.  I think our idea that he needed to be moved to safety is still something that should be considered, however Marquand Manuel and Louis Delmas have been playing well as of late.  Henry will likely remain at CB, but I am not expecting great things from him for the rest of the season.

CB - Phillip Buchanon

Buchanon was supposed to be our play maker at CB this year.  So far he has pretty much been a non-factor.  He was benched in favor of William James, and James has continued to play.  On the season, so far, he has 10 tackles (up from 5) and no INTs.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I give him a 4 (down from a 5).  I think Buchanon may have seen his better days.

CBs - William James and Eric King

There isn't much to say about Eric King, who has only added 1 tackle (7 total up from 6....no INTs) since my last analysis and has really done nothing to speak of, but William James is another story.  James has gone from a backup role to the starting corner in replacement of a lackluster Phillip Buchanon, and he now has 17 tackles (up from 6) and 1 INT (a pick 6).  I am not overly impressed with James, but it is my opinion that James is obviously better than either King or Buchanon at this point.  Even though James has done an average job, I still do not see either James or King as anything more than average at this point.  Ratings on a scale of 1-10, I give James a solid 5 and King a 4 (down from a shaky 5).

S - Louis Delmas

The rookie out of WMU, who was the defensive rookie of the month for the month of September, has continued to play very well.  He has accumulated 37 tackles (up from 17) with no INTs, but he has now recorded a sack to his credit.  Again, his tackle totals could indicate that too many running backs are making it into the secondary, but all in all Delmas has been solid.  He is still a rookie, who has obvious room for improvement, but he may very well be the DROY if he continues to play at this level.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I give him a 7 (he has continued to be solid, and he is certainly better than above average for a rookie).

S - Marquand Manuel

Marquand Manuel has continued to surprise me.  Contrary to what I had heard about Manuel being a liability in pass coverage, I have only seen him get beat once that I can recall.  He has accumulated 32 tackles (up from 17.....69 tackles over 6 games for the safeties combined....not a good sign) with no INTs.  I still do not see Manuel as a ball hawking type of safety, but he has been good in run support and has proven to be a good tackler.  Durability is still the only concern I can see at this point, but so far so good in that regard.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I still give him a solid 6.

S - Kalvin Pearson

Pearson has seen limited play in a situational role as a backup so far this season, and has mostly played on special teams.  He has garnered 10 tackles (up from 6) and no INTs.  I have never been a big fan of Pearson, but he is not been the worst player I have seen. Yet, he still has not done anything that jumps out at me.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I give him a shaky 5 (a 4 or even a 3 as a safety).

DB - Ko Simpson, Demarcus Faggins, Kevin Hobbs

These guys have all done a relatively decent job as backups and depth players.  Ko Simpson has an  INT and 4 tackles this season in a limited role.  Faggins has recorded 3 tackles, but has not looked very good in general.  Hobbs has done slightly better than Faggins with 9 tackles, but has not made himself very noticeable either.  Ratings on a scale of 1-10, I give Simpson a solid 5 for his limited role, and Faggins and Hobbs both a 4.

The Offensive Line:

I could break down the offensive line position by position, but I see them as one unit and so I am going to rate them as such.  The offensive line had shown vast improvement over last year's unit in both run blocking and pass protection, upon my last analysis.  Since then the O-line has had some issues, particularly with pass protection and blitz pickup and recognition.  The Lion's offensive linemen have now allowed 22 sacks (17 over the last 3 games, up from 5 over the first 3).  Only Green Bay and Kansas City have now allowed more sacks than the Lions, and Washinton has only allowed 20 (to put it in perspective).  The Lion's are now 30th in the league in sacks allowed.  The guys up front have also shown that the new agressive, downhill blocking scheme is far superior (at least for them) to the zone blocking scheme that was used last year, however they have shown more recently that they can not handle it when teams really turn it up and bring it.  Still, the offensive line can be credited for doing a much better job this year in run blocking, as compared to last year at this time.  Our concerns with Jeff Backus are starting to show true again, but maybe with Jansen getting the nod at LG from here on out will make a positive difference in Backus.  The reality of the situation now is that the stupid penalties, the lack of blitz awareness and ability to pick it up, and the fact that our offensive line has not done as well against better defenses is an all too real problem.  Maybe Stafford makes the difference, but even he was sacked 10 times over the 4 games that he was part of.  Backus is still the weakest link, whether he is the most durable or not.  He went from playing half way decent at the start of the season, to being all but a ghost over the past 3 games.  He has simply been dominated, and it has hurt us in a bad way.  All of the good feelings that I had for the offensive line over the first 3 games is now gone.  Rating on a scale of 1-10, I give the unit a 4 (below average) as a whole.... and that is really sad considering the fact that they are much improved over last year.

And that about sums it up for now Lions fans......please feel free to comment, make additions, or make suggestions.  Enjoy......I will comment if you have something intelligent to say.