FanPost

My View From Section 329


I haven’t written anything in a while. I went to the second practice, where I thought I saw all I needed to see. Even though I have season tickets, I missed both preseason games due to baseball, and I missed the Monday night game as I was traveling. So the Patriot game was the first time since early August that I actually saw them in person. I feel that I can see so much more from my seat than on TV. So this is my perception of the team. I wrote a couple comments late preseason telling people that the sky wasn’t falling, but really didn’t explain myself. I will here for those few that might care.

I am extremely bullish on the Lions right now. Last years team had 3 major weaknesses. We couldn’t run the ball, we couldn’t rush the passer, and we were out coached x’s And o’, every game, I felt. Patricia is a huge upgrade, which I will get to. But first the running game. I wrote after that first practice that one of the 2 stars of that practice was Blount. In person, you can see that he has amazing vision when running the ball. He is so much better than anyone we have had since my season tickets started, 8th year I think. My first season was Schwartz’s 2nd year. He cuts at top speed and bursts thru holes. He is a huge addition, much more so than I thought at his signing. And Kerryon might have even better vision. Our running game is massively improved. The line is healthy, Ragnow is a beast in the running game. He stills gets fooled sometimes vs quick DTs, but he’ll learn. I’m sure many will start pining for more carries for Johnson, but the Blount carries are very important. Johnson was more effective because Blount helped wear them down. He needs to remain a part of our offense, and I think get at least 10 carries a game. There is no comparison between our backs from last 3 years and this year. Huge improvement, and it’s been obvious from the first practice.

Even though many worry that our dlinemen aren’t talented enough, they are ok. We need improvement, but not as much as fans seem to think. We are going to get our pass rush and sacks due to our scheme. LBs will get lots of our sacks. Kennard and Davis might be our best pass rushers. The dline has a different set of responsibilities now, and the guys we have are learning. We are ok there if we stay healthy, and that is without considering Ziggy, who Patricia could make a 20 sack guy if he played all the time. If we add a healthy Ziggy second half of this season, this defense is real good. Our scheme is massively improved, but complicated. Guys gotta learn it, it’s coming.

Fans tend to forget how bad Caldwell was already. The team was never enthused, although that still worries me. We play flat too often still. But we got killed after halftime and at the start of most games, when other coaches schemes gave us trouble. Remember Minnesota last year after halftime? 4 runs, about 80 yards, TD, season ending drive really. Awful. Now, we are much better off, and this will start rolling. One thing NE always does is take away the other teams best weapon. Gronk was very quiet, caught a few, nothing killer. Start to expect that. Stars aren’t going off on us too often. It will be interesting if we can corral Zeke this week, we all know Dallas can’t beat us unless he plays great. I bet we hold him down, but I’m pretty sure if we play a back like him late season, he won’t kill us like they always have in the past.

Who really doesn’t think that Stafford will be just incredible with a running game? Our offense is easily the best in the division. Rodgers is hurt, and isn’t gonna heal. Minnesota got incredible play from Keenan last year, a rating of over 100 I think for the year. MVP type stats. Cousins, who is decent but not great, will not be as effective. And Minny can’t block anyone, their DE is in the hospital, they got problems. Chicago looks good, but Trubisky looks like Blaine Gabbert to me. He has a real long way to go. Our offense could have pro bowlers at several positions. So, can our defense be decent? We just DOMINATED Tom Brady coming off a loss, where he supposedly never loses. This defense is gonna be pretty good, and it will improve as the season goes on. I think logically we are the division favorite, I felt that all off season, and I feel it even more after 3 games.

We do have some weaknesses. I’m hoping that Patricia can scheme and cover them up. One of the few plays that worked repeatedly for NE, they had a receiver, used a bunch of different guys, run right at Davis, then just cut either way. Open everytime. Wide open. Davis, while fast, does not react to pass receivers very quickly. And Jones is awful vs the pass. We are going to see some games this year where Davis just blitzes all the time, he is a very good blitzer, although he misses the tackle way too often. But he has a knack for pass rushing, I could see him line up at DE in passing downs sometime.

A few random points, I haven’t posted much lately.

I am worried that the Lions have a short term window to win. I am not a fan of Quinn at all, I would never be able to work for a guy like him. The Lions have a perception problem, players in the league don’t want to play here. The obvious Gronk stuff, but we haven’t attracted a top FA since Marvin Jones? A couple linemen that we paid huge money to. But the best Lions players from the recent past all have very bad things to say, or at least no nice stuff, when asked about playing here. Calvin, Levy, Suh,Van Noy, Whitehead, nothing positive . This spreads around the league, and we end up only getting a bunch of guys just playing for the money. Quinn treats players like commodities, and they’re not. Contracts are handled poorly, Tate is a nice example there. The bottom of the roster is always changing, has been for 3 seasons now, yet we never sign anybody who helps us. Try someone out, on to the nest guy. This is very bad for morale, these guys have friends on the team, no one really wants to work somewhere where people are always getting fired.

I think Tate is not going to be resigned. That is why Powell is on the team. He is really good, and has a nice future, and can play the slot very effectively after 1 year of grooming. Tate is gonna cost 12,000,000 or so, and Powell gets the minimum. The money will go to the defense next year, LB I bet. Ziggy will also be gone unless he takes a 1 year prove it deal after he finds no one will sign him multi year.

Our secondary is pretty good, although Teez looks like a bust. A A is still gonna be traded.

I think we win the division. At some point this year, we will have a nice winning streak. No one will want to play us in the playoffs, as we have a great offense, great QB, and a brilliant def coach. As they learn the nuances, this team will keep improving. Very high on this season and next.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.