There's still some hope for this season left
by msivits on Oct 18, 2010 8:00 PM EDT
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PrintAlright were 1-5, but for the 1st time in years we have been in all the games this year and one could say if Stafford never got hurt we could be leading the division. This is why I believe the Lions still have a shot at making some waves this season.
- Stafford comes back against the Redskins, it was kind of weird watching Stanton throw the ball down field wasn't it, Hill you played well and proved your a quality back QB, but a down field arm you don't have. Stafford comes back and takes control of this offence, Linehan can start calling plays for the QB he designed them for.
- There's a good chance for the 1st time this year the team will be healthy. Stafford, Johnson, Levy oh my.
- Our D can actually hold teams when they need too. Now don't take what I said out of context, there's still a long way to go, but they also came a long way from last year.
- I don't no why but I have a funny feeling Best will get alot more involved making big plays when Stafford comes back, I don't know why just one of those feelings.
- No team in this division unstoppable, I believe we still play the Queens, Bears and Packers again, all at home.
- Same goes for all our games on are schedule, If we get the ball rolling with the Skins, the confidence meeter will be running high when the Jets come to town the following week.
We all know we had a rough 1st half of the season with Stafford out, but we almost won alot of games I never would of thought we would of had a chance in. You take all the dumb luck we've had, horrible calls, injuries. Now we start the 2nd half of the season with 2 straight home games with a healthy team. I think Schwartz knows this team is so close to turning the corner, now if we can stay healthy, gain some confidence, momentum is a funny thing once it's starts rolling.
- PS - We start our 2nd half of the season on Halloween, come on how cool is that, black cat kind of feeling I think were in store for a fun 2nd half of the season...
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride of Detroit or its writers. FanPosts are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable fans.
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Best will be a lot better once he's close to 100% healthy
He suffered a turf toe injury and left the game when they played in Minnesota. He hasn’t not only played the same, he hasn’t even found the endzone. This offense will be downright nasty once Stafford is back and Best, Calvin, and what ever starter we’re missing get’s healthy. Once that happens, with the way the NFC north is looking right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lions win 4 in a row and are sitting at .500 and a game or two out of first place. Wouldn’t that just brighten up your day?
From 0-16 to the Superbowl baby!
That's what I was thinking too Redskins, Jets, Bill and Dallas
Like I said, that big ball of confidence starts rolling our way, could get fun real quick
We beat Dallas
I think Phillips is done. Jets is gonna be hard but we can easily win 3 of those 4 games.
You can't keep the Pain Train off the tracks!
Me fail english thats umpossible
by The Profiler on Oct 18, 2010 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions
.500 is my guess at the 10 game mark, with us maybe trailing by a game or two to the division leader.
I’m praying for a huge streak to happen now that Stafford is back and everybody is getting healthy.
From 0-16 to the Superbowl baby!
Besides, we haven't even seen half of the playbook that Linehan has designed for Stafford and Co. It's going to be exciting imo.
From 0-16 to the Superbowl baby!
As long as stafford stays healthy....
I promise you if Stafford goes down again, I’ll go Elvis Prestley and put a 45 round through my television.
Stafford will stay healthy.
Stafford’s not injury prone, he proved that in college. Our oline is playing better, and the only reason Stafford took the dirt was Julius Peppers got through (which was what, one of two times that game?), and we all know Julius Peppers is more a semi-truck than a bear.
And actually
If you rewatch the takedown, it resembled a wrestling move moreso than a tackle.
The motion of Peppers locking his arms underneath Staff’s looks unintentional – it seems like he’s trying to force a fumble, anyways, but it effectively pins his shoulder back from his body as he goes down. I would agree with the assessment that Stafford is not injury prone – he has taken a monster shot last year, knee injuries are relatively unavoidable with a bad o-line at the QB position, and this one seemed to be a freak incident as well.
I can’t wait for Matt to come back. I’m just sad I have to wait two weeks for it.
Stafford has had three major injuries in less than a seasons worth of games played
While he might not be injury prone, that has yet to be established, he has a history going with the Lions that is not promising. Ignoring this reality is not going to make it go away.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
Taking injuries does not make you injury prone.
Every injury he took was relatively expected from blindside hits. He has yet to miss a season, and he showed himself in college that he is very resilient when it comes to dings.
College is not the pro game. There is nothing similar.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
What?
Absolutely irrelevent.
A torn ACL is the exact same in college as it is in the pros. So is a broken arm, so is a concussion.
I don’t get what you’re saying.
players are bigger, stronger and faster
Pro ball is like playing all star college teams on steroids. comparing an injury history from hits in the college game to the pro game is completely irrelevant. I guarantee you Stafford was never hit by anyone like Peppers while playing college ball.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
I wasn't comparing the hits.
I was comparing the resilience. That’s a personal issue. It doesn’t matter if Peppers (who actually didn’t hit Stafford that hard) is seperating his shoulder, or falling on the sidewalk is doing it. It’s about himself, his ability to recover.
Whether an injury is incurred at the pro level or the college level makes no difference on how a player recovers from an injury.
recovery from an in injury is not related to being injury prone
Injury prone players get hurt often enough to make them far less valuable to their team. I am not saying Stafford is there yet but he is well on his way if this shit keeps up. He plays with a ton of heart but sometime your body can not do what your mind wants it to do.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
This started
Because the first time I mentioned college was “he showed in college that he’s resilient to dings”. So yeah, this line of argument is entirely to do with injury recovery.
ok
When I joined the conversation, I was talking about 3 major injuries since joining the NFL and we have discussed that since. Anyone can recover if given the time, desire/effort and medical help needed.
Not anyone can stop getting hurt.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
Technically everyone in the NFL is injury prone, because given enough playing or practice time, they all get injured.
Just a matter of how often and the severity of the injury.
Ndamukong Suh - Bringing 50's football back to Motown!
Hell for that matter I think it happens at the high school level
I know that I used to barely be able to walk the day after a game.
Ndamukong Suh - Bringing 50's football back to Motown!
ugg, i had forgotten about those days smurfy
Thanks for reminding me…..
Well, lets clarify then. By injury prone, I mean, a player is injured to the point were he is no longer able to participate in the sport in any meaningful way that could help his team and of course having those type of injuries happen often enough to damage his ability to grow with the players around them.
Again, I am not calling Stafford injury prone. I am saying he is on the path of being injury prone. 3 major injuries in less than 11 games is not a good sign.
Lions fans deserve better than being the laughing stock of the NFL. Lets all hope they are heading in the right direction finally.
Our offense was explosive under Hill
Under Stafford, I believe it will be down right Deadly. Happy Halloween Redskins, no treats for you this year, just a couple of tricks >:)
Still turning.
The Detroit Lions are pulling off one massive, Need For Speed caliber drift around this corner, and they’re coming hard out of it.
I expect them to even out and tear up the straightaway after the win over the Jets at home.
I know the Jets are good, but even they have to respect out high powered offense.
We will have the best offense in the NFL once we get everybody healthy and Stafford get’s going. 9-7 and a division title would not be out of reach if we cut the penalties and injuries out of the rest of the season.
And yes…I’m drinking the kool-aid right now. Extra strength even.
From 0-16 to the Superbowl baby!
Of the remaining schedule what games do you think we will be favored to win?
I am thinking,
Redskins, underdog at home
Jets, underdog at home
Bills, favored on the road
Cowboys, underdog on the road
Patriots, underdog at home
Bears, underdog at home
Packers, underdog at home
Buccaneers, underdog on the road
Dolphins, underdog on the road
Vikings, underdog at home
So realistically we will be favored to win one more game this year. That means anything but another 2-14 season is probably over achieving. I believe we can get two upsets on the road at Buffalo and Tampa bay, I also believe that we can beat the Redskins and Bears at home. That should put us at 5-11. However I also expect us to pull of a shocker upset, I don’t know who it will be for sure but I would wager either the Jets, Patriots, or Cowboys. So while I think it is highly unlikely the best I see us going is 8-8. More likely 6-10 but still even at 5-11 or 6-10 that is a decent step to take.
While offense sells tickets I am a believer in old school football. I believe to consistently win championships that you need two of three components. A franchise QB, a top 10 running game, a top 10 defense.
We have a shot at the franchise QB and hopefully he stays healthy this year and grows with the team. But by no means would I put Stafford in the category of a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.
Notice that I did not include Drew Brees or Ben Rothlisburger. I think Drew and Ben are at the top of the tier just short of franchise quarterbacks. If Drew can lead the saints deep into the playoffs for many years he will earn his spot there. Ben on the other hand probably should be there, I cannot think of any good arguments to not put him there, I just don’t like him and maybe over time I will have to put him there anyways. Favre was there years ago, he is too old and inconsistent now though. Aaron Rodgers is heading there, but not there yet, like Brees he needs to prove more. Phillip Riviers is probably right up there in the next tier. He helps his team get close, but they do always fall short, and until he has a couple of championships he is not in that group. I think you all see what use to determine a franchise QB. Can you get your team to the show regularly, and can you win championships with only a defense or a running game to compliment you.
There is a lot of evidence to support my theories and if people want to discuss it further I am more than happy to. In order to keep this reply shorter I will hold off on that unless someone really wants to dig into that topic with me. But the gist of my point is this, the Lions believe that Matthew Stafford is that guy for us and only time will tell, but we do have a guy that fits the criteria and that is not something we need to work on.
When it comes to the running game I think it is pretty clear that we are still working on that. While Jahvid Best is clearly an asset, he is not the complete solution. At this point we need better run blocking before we can have a consistent run game.
With the Defense we are improved, we will likely finish somewhere between the 15th and 25th best defense in the league. But we are not there yet. To have a championship caliber defense we need to be in top 10 contention at the least.
So while I believe we are headed in the right direction I think we are well off of being a playoff team yet. Another off season working on the defense, mostly a line backer, safety, and corner, and an overhaul of the offensive line similar to what we did to the defensive line last off season, should put us very close if not over the hump to being a legit team and a playoff contender.
The white elephant in the room, staring at us now, that has not been talked about much I must bring up here. Depth. We do still need to build depth at many positions. In most cases if we have a starter go down we do not have a guy that can step up and fill in well enough for us to win. It will be easier to say what positions we do have depth at, QB, TE, and RB (debatable) on offense. On defense we have depth at DE and DT. So I think if your reading along with this, and what I say makes sense to you, then you would see as I do, that we are a ways off yet of being a perennial playoff team.
Next year we can make a run as long as the right people stay healthy and we have another good off season. Another good off season after that would put us as a power team in the NFL. But we are not there yet, I do not think we are in any way going to make a playoff run this year. Of course I hope I am wrong, but I just don’t see us as being on the proper talent level yet. I am reminded of the Houston Texans once again, a potent passing attack that is struggling to find a running game and defense to go along with it.
Ndamukong Suh - Bringing 50's football back to Motown!
Smurfer, you know I like most of your stuff,,,,,Right?..but
This post was/is a convoluted mess. What is your point here?
I get it, we suck with no running game. The O-line sucks but you don’t mention them.
Yup, were headed in the right direction….I think
Yup, were not close to being a playoff team yet.
Yup,,,next year……shit that’s written in stone isn’t it? The infamous next year….lol
Come on baby, hit me with some good stuff…….lol
LoL well
In terms of playoffs there is not much hope for this year. The only game I think you can pencil in as a should win is the Bills, the rest while many are winnable, are going to be a dog fight. 5-11 is reasonable I think, but even 8-8 I see as out of reach. We just do not have the team to overcome the odds.
Every week not only do we have to play the opponents, but we have to play ourselves, we have no edge to overcome playing more talented teams. In fact our stupid penalties and self inflicted errors like dropped balls and fumbles do more to ensure we lose than anything. We actually have to out talent the other team, play above our level, or hope they shoot themselves in the foot worse than we do.
Dallas is tied for us to lead the league in penalties but they out talent us so much that a break even there is not going to help. We rank 10th in the league in turnover differential at +1. The Vikings and Cowboys are tied for 30th with -5. So maybe the Cowboys is the big upset game for us. The Vikings also take a fair amount of penalties too, so we could come closer than people think in that last game, but damn both of those teams really do out talent us badly and even if we do play better than they do, it will still be hard to win against them.
I think you get the whole franchise QB, running game, defense logic. Basically I see us as having parts there but not the complete picture to be there yet. Maybe next year, certainly the year after.
Just think of how bad we will be set back if Stafford is injury prone or does not reach full potential? Then we will have to build a good defense and running game to get there with an average to great but not a franchise quarterback.
Running game we absolutely need a line, IMO the whole damn current line is not doing too well. Backus is our best lineman, so likely he is the last piece you worry about, we also have two young guys in the wings so IMO a LT is not a huge need at this point. I like Rob Sims, I think he can be built around and be solid for the next 4 years. Raiola is actually holding it down half decently, while I would love a big, physical, dominating center like we used to have in Glover, I am not sure that is the first thing we fix, I am all right with working a replacement for Raiola on the back burner. As the season goes on my attention is focusing more on Peterman. He was our best lineman last year, this year he is playing injured and for the love of god I do not know why they are not playing Dylan Gandy to let him heal up! Maybe he can heal up over the bye and get back to his old form. While in the 3-4 year window Peterman could be all right, in the short term our lack of depth is killing us there. With Cherilus I see improvement but I also see inconsistency still, which is a killer. He does not take a ton of holding calls, but when he does they sure do hurt. The problem currently on the line is clearly on the right side. I don’t know if one of the guys is weak and therefore making the guy next to him look bad because they are cheating to try and help, or if they are both an issue. Because I see Peterman favoring his knee and getting beat the majority of times, failing to run block, and taking the most penalties, I am going to put him as the biggest current need. All of that being said, most of this is stuff that does not need a fire sale to fix, and not even any super high draft picks. We could easily address this stuff with free agents, value trades like Rob Sims was, and 3rd to 5th round picks.
On defense we badly need another corner, line backer, and a safety to compliment Delmas. Though C. C. Brown needs to be replaced I would say that replacing Jonathan Wade and finding a linebacker that is enough of a stud to play all three positions are clearly more important. Short term I don’t see where we have anything to lose by playing guys like Paul Pratt and Caleb Campbell. It is not like they will do any worse IMO than Wade or Ciurciu. Amari Spievey I think will be there eventually, but he got pulled for some reason and we saw more of C. C. than him. I don’t know it that is injury or performance related.
So I guess I see some short term things that might help in the long run, but I just don’t see much hope for this season in terms of wins. I don’t see any chance we make the playoffs. I see that we are close but not quite there yet. While I have plenty of optomism for an improved Lions team, I just can not quite buy into even a .500 team.
Ndamukong Suh - Bringing 50's football back to Motown!
On doodoo v spievey
I’d bet money Brown had a talk with the coaches and begged to be in for NYG just to hit some of the guys who were undoubtedly clowning him in the last few years. And it paid off well, CC hit the field hard and did okay (as far as our secondary is concerned.)
Hoping spievey starts week 8.
Geez, you write some long stuff
RIP Robyn Bailey 1961 - 2010. I love you mum.
by Hyperion Ecta on Oct 19, 2010 6:28 AM EDT up reply actions
Do you mean to say "we are", msivits?
Because I agree. A lot of things had to go right for the Lions to get into the playoffs, but that is usually how it works for Super Bowl teams. They are surprisingly healthy all year. I felt the Lions needed that to get to the playoffs.
surprisingly healthy, I missed you on that
I think they’ve been unhealthy, look back to Dizon getting hurt, how much could we use him now at mlb with Levy being hurt
No, I meant teams that go to the Super Bowl are generally very healthy all year.
I agree that the Lions have not been very healthy. In my optimistic outlook at the beginning of the season, I felt for the Lions to take a giant leap forward this year that they needed to be very lucky with injuries [ie. key players stay healthy all year]. That has not happened, so we are not [currently] in the playoff hunt.
I am really looking forward to the Lions finishing very strong and setting themselves up for a very successful 2011. The 2010 playoffs are very much a longshot right now. We need a minimum of 8 and 2 to be in the mix. That will be very tough.
@smurf:
I agree w/ you about what a team needs in order to win a championship(s) in a long term setting. However the argument can be had that a “franchise QB” isnt actually needed to win a championship just preferred. I do think a Good top 15 Defense can be just as viable as a top 10. And the running game only has to be viable enough to help move the chains and keep defenses honest. Then again on any given Sunday … anything can and will happen …..
It seems like the Offense is going to be rebuilt through the draft, considering they need Backus and Raiola’s replacement ready to go by end of next season. They are the veterans w/ the most mileage on this team right now as well as “questionable” on how much longer, and the truth is Both QB’s were hurt from the LEFT side of the line, surely there needs to be something to Shore up this offensive line but they are playing well enough to keep us in games so far but not enough to win them. As a offensive powerhouse needs a strong and mentally tough O-Line. But like you said they go down this line will struggle w/ no depth. Right now just judging by them extending Scheffler this week, it makes for the potency of this offense solid for the next 2-3 years w/ out worry of having to sign anything more than a TRUE power back, and a solid 2/3 receiver. (beyond Oline) Staff, CJ, Best, Pett, Scheff, Burleson, are all on this team through at least next season and look good as a group of viable weapons. But this team gets this offense going and can get the run game more established and they are already built to win now, its the Defense not so. Offense when healthy could easily be a top 10 offense even w/ out a true slot receiver, and even that seems like somethings brewing on the Bryant Johnson front, if anyones been paying attention to news after this weeks game.
Thats where I think they will spend the most time in the off season, 3 players away from a solid D isnt so bad. This is also where i think 8-8/9-7 is still a bit off, By the end of today’s trade deadline the LIONS need to make a move for a LB, now, and not just as a short term solution. If an 8-8 /9-7 is to be had otherwise 5-11 / 6-10. I was never sold on Levy and this injury thing is hurting him i think not only in development but also not letting him prove what they saw enough of him to not warrant picking up a TRUE MLB hopefully he comes back healthy and proves his place. This LB corp is hurting this team the most i think as plays develop and in lack of contribution. I think this secondary struggles because of the middle group and its lack of consistency. Otherwise I dont think as much pressure would be put on the young secondary. And w/ all the injuries that have been had, and I hate to say this but Follet wont be the same player rest of season after that collision, and the depth has left nothing but something to be desired in terms of filling in. Im even thinking that the L.Johnson concussion though never said is a little more concern than spoke of due to his past injury, thats 3 of 6 LB’s that we really cant depend on the rest of way out for this season.
@ this post
8-8 no playoffs and shows solid finish that they are well worthy of – 9-7 playoffs only if we won the division (funny a lot of sports writers mocked Delmas and other Lions for saying 8-8 or 9-7 will win division this year) However our early season losses will probably knock our chances unless, we beat the remaining Divisional teams when they play them at home finishing 3-3 as i think its possible the entire division would be 3-3 w/ in itself by end of season. As well as they would have to post wins over the Pats, Jets, Dallas, thats a long haul to reach but 6 of the 7 games needed just to finish 8-8/9-7 and get the north. The remaining games are trap games so to speak but we would have to beat the entire AFC East i think to even remotely get the chance as the pats and jets are going to win over atleast 2-3 of those 4 teams if not both sweep all 4 teams, ( Bears, Packers, Vikes, Detroit) If you consider that the entire North has a tough schedule the remaining way, GB and Minn both face twice in next 4 wks, while GB also faces the jets and Dallas, Chicago may be the hardest to catch as their schedule is soft over next few weeks in comparison to the rest of North but they’ve also been exposed and they have tough finish to the season. Minnesota has the Cards, then two divisional against GB and then Redskins. Detroit would actually have to break .500 by their 10th game in order to get any momentum going for a position in the NFC north and go on 8-2 run to finish the season. W/out the LB this isnt happening.
A coward dies a thousands Deaths a soldier dies once ....
by JaiGaiaAries on Oct 19, 2010 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions
I said there's still some hope left, not were gonna make the playoffs
6-10 or 7-9 would still be making waves this season, because it means we would be upsetting some teams on our schedule
I think only the Bengals made the playoffs after starting 1-5
But after watching us play all our games with out Stafford, I was still surprised that we were in all the games.
Whew, I get it now....lol
I’m beginning to believe that our biggest current issue is not the D but the O-line.
Good post, Smurf!
I think you have a pretty good bead on the situation. I dont see a playoff caliber team yet, either. They are young and still getting comfortable with each other as a team. Lots of rookie mistakes(rookie in the sense of working together for the first time, not necessarily the first year in NFL, although, obviously, we do have that as well). Working together over time will lessen penalties and more confidence, i.e.; SOME wins should eliminate a lot of the dropped passes and fumbles. I think we still have a good year or TWO of good draft picks, FA, etc. before we are consistently competitive. I DO also think we WILL win some games nobody believes we can, such as maybe the Pats on Turkey Day. I remember, back in the day, when Pitt was on a roll(I believe they came in at 10-1) and were HUGE favorites to BLOW OUT the Lions on Turkey Day…at the end of the day the score was something like Detroit 52 Pitt 10.
Sir Ronbomb
It would be amazing to see us get that uncanny knack of owning Turkey day back :)
Ndamukong Suh - Bringing 50's football back to Motown!
Guys would you rather that this team alternate between close wins and blow out losses?
I follow the Jags in the AFC. They are now 3 and 3 after being absolutely embarassed at home on national TV. Their three losses are 38 to 13, 28 to 3 [at home too], and now 30 to 3 [at home]. Sure they won close games against Indy and Denver and Buffalo, but I would match up our Lions against them any day. I could say that about Tampa, St. Louis, Seattle, Washington, and Miami too.
WHEN the Lions cut back on the mistakes a little they will start to win. They are making enough positive plays to win most games now. It will happen. Patience.
Last season we were bitching about overall talent
This season we are bitching about stupid mistakes and penalties. In my book, that is a major step forward.
if the shoe fits...get another one just like it - George Carlin
by JCruize on Oct 19, 2010 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
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