The Weekend Spotlight - Week 14 Edition

Good Evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another edition of the Weekend Spotlight.  I am your host, KDawg.  The thirteenth installment of my weekly series has the Detroit Lions doing battle with the Green Bay Packers, for the second time this season, at home in Detroit, MI, at Ford Field.  With just 4 games left in the season, and coming off of yet another loss in week 13 against the Bears, the Lions will play against a team that they already lost to once this season.  It is getting more and more difficult for me to write these posts, in the face of such a disappointing season, but as usual I still have great expectations for the Lions in this game.  Once again, the trendy norm of the odds makers has Green Bay as a heavy favorite against the 2-10 Lions, yet I STILL believe that the Lions COULD win this game.  The Lions are still faced with a plethura of injuries, but this time the Packers are pretty banged up as well.  Drew Stanton will start at QB again this week, and I think I have already made it clear that I do not see that fact as a major disadvantage for the Lions.  All of that aside, let's take a look at the injury reports for both teams:

The very first thing that JUMPS off the page at me when I look at this report is the fact that Gosder Cherilus is now listed as "doubtful", whereas he was listed as "questionable" when he played against the Bears last week.  This does not sit particularly well with me, considering that his listed backup is the 6'7" 303 pound unproven rookie out of Texas, Jason Fox.  I am confident that Fox can handle the call, but I certainly hope he is ready because not only will he have to contend with LDE Ryan Pickett, but also he will have Clay Matthews coming at him at times.  If Fox can not slow them down, then Stanton will be scrambling for his life for most of the day, and we all know this could spell disaster (even though I have hope that he will play it cool and make sound decisions under fire).

I am encouraged to see that Avril and Best will play, and whether or not Ekejiuba plays does not concern me due to the fact that Bobby Carpenter has been very impressive on special teams (in my opinion).  The fact that Alphonso Smith and KVB have been placed on the IR does certainly suck, but I am much less concerned about their losses than I am about possibly not having Cherilus.  I feel that Lawrence Jackson and Turk McBride can get the job done together, in place of KVB, and I have hopes that Nathan Vasher can hold down the fort on the right side of the defense (he is now listed as the starter at RCB), matching up with Donald Driver.  That matchup right there is one to watch this week, as Vasher's ability to stop Driver could be huge.

I am happy to see that Cullen Jenkins will be out for the Packers.  They do not really have a great replacement for him, as they are left with either CJ Wilson (a 6'3" 290lb rookie out of East Carolina) or Howard Green (a 6 year journeyman who has struggled to make teams...his longest stint being in 2004 with New Orleans, where he started in 12 games, played in 14, and had 27 tackles (17 solo) and one FF...he has not started in more than 1 games since, and that start was this year (he has 2 tackles (1 solo) and a FF).  Maybe the loss of Jenkins will give us a chance to run the ball against Green Bay this time around.  Last time Shaun Hill was our leading rusher with 53 yards rushing, followed by Jahvid Best with 50 yards on 12 carries.  With Drew Stanton, we might just have a solid weapon in a rushing capable QB this week.

The Lions are now 2-10 on the season.  With 13 weeks of the regular season already behind us, once again I will reveal who I believe will be the key players, on the Lion's offense and defense, for a Lion VICTORY!  As usual, I will provide you with the logic behind the reasoning for my picks, including stats.  It will be a difficult task to beat the Packers at this point, just like I said about Chicago last week, but it is not impossible.  We played the Pack pretty well last time around, in Lambeau, so I am confident that we will be in this game.  I am going to try to keep it short and sweet this week (really this time).  Regardless of how improbable it may seem, VICTORY can STILL be ours, and I'll tell you why and how as the WS W14E begins after the jump...

So here is the skinny...we are 8th in the league in passing offense, and the Packers are 6th in passing defense.  We are 28th in the league in rushing offense, and the Packers are 18th in rushing defense.  The Packers are 6th in the league in passing offense, and we are 16th in passing defense.  The Packers are 23rd in rushing offense, and we are 25th in rushing defense.  In comparison, last week we faced the Bears, who were 16th in the league against the pass and 2nd in the league against the run.  We faced a far superior run defense last week, and we came away with 134 yards rushing and a TD against the Bears, so I think we may have a decent shot at running the ball this week (let's see if Jason Fox makes a difference on the right side).  On the other hand, we face a superior passing defense this week, and we didn't exactly light the world on fire in the passing game last week (part play calling I say).  I would be happy with a turnover free performance from Stanton again this week, and if we can get it done on the ground I would not be upset if he only passed for 180 yards again.

Offensively, Brandon Pettigrew is going to be the key player to a Lion victory this week.  He was the leading receiver last time around vs the Pack, and I think he will have to be again if we hope to win.  Calvin Johnson had 2 TD catches vs Charles Woodson last time, and we can only hope to see similar success this time around.  Pettigrew had 8 catches for 91 yards last time, and Scheffler had 6 catches for 63 yards, so clearly the Packers can be beaten over the middle.  They say that the TE is a QBs best friend, and they truly are his release valve...so I hope Drewgie is aware and ready to hit them early and often.  If he has to dink and dunk, then as long as it is working I say go for it.  Drew is going to have to play well in order for Detroit to have a chance, once again, but Pettigrew is going to be the go to guy if we are going to win.

Defensively, most people would say that we have no chance to stop the Packer's passing attack.  I say we do.  Last time around, Aaron Rodgers passed for just 181 yards and threw 2 INTs.  However, he had 3 TD passes...which ultimately was what beat us.  Rodgers did not have time to set up and throw against us in our last meeting, and we have to be damn sure that he faces the same sort of pressure this time around if we have any hope of stopping the Packers on offense and winning the game.  The Packers put together just 261 net yards offensively against us in week 4, versus our 431...penalties is what killed us last time (13 for 102) and was likely the main reason we lost the game.  Shaun Hill threw the ball 54 times...LOL.

Anyway...on defense we need to 1) Pressure, hurry, hit, and sack Rodgers regularly, 2) Stop the run, and 3) Stop the short passes from becoming big gains.  The Packers will likely take some big shots down field, and they might even be successful a time or two, but if we can MAKE them beat us by playing an old school Raiders, live or die by the big play sort of game (by stopping the run and the short passes from going to the house, while also contributing constant pressure on Rodgers), then we have a chance to win because our offense will have more chances to score.  That said, the key player on defense for a Lion victory this week is going to be Cliff Avril.

Avril's performance last week against Chicago was nothing short of beauty.  He had 3 out of our 4 sacks (Turk McBride had the 4th) last week, and if he can continue to provide that kind of pressure, while also getting some solid help from Suh, Williams, and Big Sammie Lee Hill, then the Lions just might win this game.  The Packers are not going to run all over us, but we also need Suh, Williams, Hill, Levy, Peterson, Johnson/Palmer, and Delmas/Spievey to do an excellent job at stopping JOHN KUHN.  Even though he only had 39 yards against us last time, he came up with some clutch runs when Green Bay needed him the most.  Brandon Jackson was comparable, but he seems to be the lesser of two evils in my opinion.  Cliff Avril...big time pressure...KEY.

We CAN win this game, but the Lions are going to have to protect the ball on offense and play a mistake free game (or at least as close as possible to that).  They are also going to have to find a way to play a FULL 60 minutes of hard nose football, and a way to make things go OUR way for once.  I believe it will be a close game.  I predict that neither team breaks 28 points, and that the Lions win if what I said happens.  Once again, I want to thank all of you who read this post.  As always, I hope the refs do not beat us, and I hope that the Lions play a well disciplined game.   This has been KDawg, and you have been reading the thirteenth regular season edition of The Weekend Spotlight!  Happy Football Sunday ladies and gentlemen, and GOOOOOOOOOO LIOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNSS!!!!!

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