After watching the Lions game yesterday, I have come up with some thoughts on the team. Three games against good competition is a good place to judge the team, although injuries have started to take a toll.
Mistakes and lack of adjustments are the biggest reason the Lions are 0-3. A lot of people may say, isn't that true of every team? I wouldn't think so. Sometimes its poor offense, lack of talent, poor defense. I do not think the Lions are talented enough to win consistently. But the last three games, I have seen some scary stuff that reminds me of two years ago.
Yesterday, the Lions had about 20 turnovers called back because of penalties. And a couple really solid offensive plays were erased, in an offense who just can't make dumb plays. The defense played better, and our defensive line is pretty incredible. Suh especially. But dumb penalties and dumb plays can make anything look bad. It was just incredibly frustrating to see a good play and expect a flag to be thrown. And not all of it is the refs hating the Lions. And its not because of dumb rules. Smart players make smart plays.
The offense is pitiful, and having Best miss any length of time will just about end any chance we have of scoring more than 14 points a game. Sure we were in the redzone twice and Hill got picked it off twice, but the offense was bad. Wasn't Hill supposed to not turn over the ball? Wasn't he supposed to not make mistakes and provide a steady hand? I haven't seen it yet. The only touchdown scored was when the Lions had the ball on the 11, and I still didn't have confidence they would score there. Megatron was a little more involved, and finally Tony Scheffler was thrown too. But mostly I did not feel good about our offense. Hopefully Best is OK and Kevin Smith can come back from directing movies/his knee injury and give us 3 yards a pop he excels at.
Going forward, the Lions have another 3 weeks with Green Bay, St Louis and the New York Giants. The Lions won't win in Green Bay, they haven't since December 15th, 1991. St Louis is very winnable, especially if Steven Jackson is hurt. Even the Giants, who are worse than people think, is partially winnable. Then after the bye, if the Lions get healthy, its time to make a push for .500
On a side not, nobody likes crazy Uncle Jared and his dumb antics. Saying how he hates Detroit is one thing, but to blame it all on Lions players is just dumb. And nice job Shaun Hill for going back in the ring and stand up for himself. I don't like Jared Allen, and I hope the Lions shut him out for the rest of his career so we don't hear him say something stupid and hillbilly-ish.
Glad Jim Schwartz decided to go for the field goal before halftime with 14 secs and a timeout left! Way to stick your tail between your legs and run off into the lockeroom like coward!
ReplyDeleteI agree, that last drive was terribly mismanaged and sloppy. We could have at least taken a few shots in the endzone. I don't know why we can't close out a half, and honestly I am seeing a little of the former regime in this game.
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