Mid-Season Thoughts

[brewer229]

Offense:

• Oline - Struggled early, Improved a lot in Saints game and was very good in the Falcons game. Hopefully it is an improvement not just the last two opponents were horrible defenses. They are starting to resemble the 2013 group
• WRs - Calvin hurting is a big blow. Tate has been way better than I've expected, the guy is simply amazing. Other options have been improving (especially Fuller), they have been getting open regularly the last couple games. If Calvin is Calvin when he comes back, we have an elite WR group
• TEs - Disappointment. Can't stay healthy. worst performing unit on the team (except place kickers)
• RB - Top 2 have been a disappointment, partly because of o-line, but they just aren't making things happen. Riddick was nice last game. Could be partly Atlanta's defense, but he looked solid, would like to see him get more Reps
• QB - Disappointment. Watching the Steelers/Colts than Packers/Saints I saw more great throws in those two games than I've seen in the last two years in Detroit. If this was 2002 we would be ok, but in 2014 the QB play is so high its ridiculous. We need more.

Defense:

• Dline - Finally playing up to their hype, they have been a terror. If they continue to play at this high of level we should finish top 5 with no problem
• Linebackers - Overall very good, they compliment the D-line well. Been solid in tackling, and pretty good in coverage
• Secondary - Overall solid. They still show tendencies of being exploited if the D-line doesn't get quick pressure. Mathis has been declining every game. Age appears to be catching up, could become an issue down the stretch.

Special Teams:

• Punting - Very good, Martin has booming leg and has shown the ability to have precision. Based on what I've seen appears to be one of the best in the league.
• Kicking - Struggles been evident. Hopefully the second chance for Prater on the game winner turns the corner and we have no more issues. Still a worry.
• Return game - appears to be non existent
• Coverage - Don't recall giving up any big plays, that's all you can hope for.

Coaching:

• Halftime adjustments seem to be good
• D-coordinator - Very good, seems to be getting most out of the people he has. No complaints
• O-coordinator - With the struggles of the offense he needs to take some of the blame. Seems to be lacking creativity and seems to be risk adverse. Personally not loving the job.

Looking ahead:

• Think we need to be 11-5 to secure a playoff spot this year.
• Arizona and New England back to back are looking much tougher. I would be very happy with winning one of those two.
• Tampa and Minnesota are must wins. Bad teams.
• Two games with Chicago still worries me a bit. Their defense is just plain bad, but we've yet to show we can score even on bad defenses. Their offense has been struggling, but they are the type of team that could put together a great offensive game at any point (Much like the lions).

 

[LKP]

Agreed on most other than Stafford comments obviously. He can play better for sure but I want Calvin and TEs back and now he has time in this offense. He's made alot of key plays to keep us in games and win us games. It's not all Tate. I could handle 3/4 less bad misses per game though.

All 4 home are must win. Winning at Chi is the way to get to 11-5 now.

at Zona,at Ne, at Pack is very tough but would be a great road win for some confidence. Glad the two road games happen before the 3 home games so it will just be a huge bonus if we win either those road games.

I thought they would be 6-2 at this point. If we had a kicker 7-1 but I'll take the two comebacks, get healthy during the bye on offense at least. We'll see if they can avoid a second half collapse.

 

[LKP]

Lions O
PPG Offense 20.3 (25th). 23 PPG with normal FG % (3 misses) (18th)
Run O 31st in YPG, 32nd YPC at 3.1. 6 rushing TDs (12th)
Pass O 259 YPG is 9th, comp 61.2% is 23rd, 14th YPA at 7.4, 11 TDs is 17th, 7 ints is 18th
3rd downs 42.7% 14th
11 turnovers lost. 7 picks, 4 fumbles (one was ST with Ross, one lateral at end of Buf game by Fuller)

Defense
PPG 1st at 15.8
Run D 74 YPG is 2nd, 3.3 YPC is 1st, only 4 TDs allowed
Pass D 216 YPG is 5th, TDs 9 is 3rd
3rd down D 32% is 2nd in league
Sacks 23 (6th)
12 turnovers forced. 9 ints, 3 fumbles recovered (8 forced)
2 defensive TDs and one safety
+1 TO differential

6-2 record (3-1 home, 3-1 away)

About where I thought they would be record wise and defense wise. We need Calvin back to open up the run game.

Stafford on pace for 22 TDs and 14 ints.

We'll see if they can avoid the second half collapse.

 

[zoombabyzoom]

Yeah I would kinda like to see Stafford have a healthy Calvin, Bell, Bush, Ebron, Fauria, and Pettigrew. Not to mention an offensive line that can block before I rag on him to hard.

Offense feels like a bunch of misfit toys currently. I think it has done ok with all of the personnel problems we have had. Our defense gets an injury and someone steps up and plays very well. Our offense hasn't had that happen.

With that said once CJ gets back it will help a ton. With him gone least Staff and Tate have kinda jelled quite a bit which could be huge.

I think the offense starts to explode once he gets back along with at least 2-3 of the others.

The playcalling has been awful, but can't expect much. Again, with arguably 6 of your top 7 offensive playmakers gone what the fuck is Lombardi and Stafford gonna really do. Throw into that your offensive line is playing awful and I would be really conservative as well.

 

[mhughes0021]

Id add that our coach is retarded when it comes to managing a clock. 2 or 3 times now hes made very questionable clock management decisions either at half or end of the game. 2 of those could have cost us games including this weeks running the clock out calls.

youre also being very kind when analyzing our run game. Its pathetic. oline, bell, bush...all pathetic. Riddick is the only hope as of now at that position.

 

[mhughes0021]

just another little tid bit on the clock management thing....you guys do realize that if caldwells plan was actually fulfilled an we ran the ball on 3rd down just to run our kicker out there with less than 17 seconds to go....and got a delay of game. it would have been a 10 second run off and we would have lost lol. Again....not a good plan.

 

[mhughes0021]

NYG - great game. we spanked them
CAR - our offense is pathetic...didn't have a chance
GB - hell of a defensive game. Most ive ever seen Rodgers throw the ball so errantly.
NYJ - jets are awful. somehow they made it close.
BUF - offense still awful.
MIN - Defense played awesome. Offense still blows.
NO - NO is dumb.
ATL - ATL is dumb.

So other than the Giants game we haven't had an offensive showing worth talking about. Defense won us the game multiple times. And twice the other team decided to completely go full retard in the 2nd half and let us win.

6-2 and sole possession of 1st place is all that matters. Offense needs to get their shit together if this team is going to be taken seriously.

 

[lgolfer]

just another little tid bit on the clock management thing....you guys do realize that if caldwells plan was actually fulfilled an we ran the ball on 3rd down just to run our kicker out there with less than 17 seconds to go....and got a delay of game. it would have been a 10 second run off and we would have lost lol. Again....not a good plan.

I agree that Caldwell has not done a good job managing the clock lately. He will definitely need to improve in that area or it's going to cost us at least one game.

Try thinking what you just said though. If we ran the ball on 3rd down and the clock was running, it'd be impossible to have a delay of game since the play clock is 40 seconds and there were 17 seconds left.

 

[mhughes0021]

I agree that Caldwell has not done a good job managing the clock lately. He will definitely need to improve in that area or it's going to cost us at least one game.

Try thinking what you just said though. If we ran the ball on 3rd down and the clock was running, it'd be impossible to have a delay of game since the play clock is 40 seconds and there were 17 seconds left.

ahhh yes lol....derrr....that math just creeps up and gets me every once in awhile lol

 

[LKP]

Saints and falcons got spanked in 4th and second half respectively. Win taken by detroit

 

[LKP]

Bills win with a nfl worthy kicker . Bills, jets ,vikings defenses nothing to sneeze at

 

[tigermud]

Let's not kid ourselves here extremely fortunate to be 6-2 with the offense as lousy as it's been, last two games combined caught lots of good breaks, 31st ranked running game, bleeeeh..o line has regressed from last year, thinking it must be the new system or something the o line wasn't nearly this bad last year..

Now if the offense can get heathly and get the running game going we could have something good here!

 

[mhughes0021]

Saints and falcons got spanked in 4th and second half respectively. Win taken by detroit

3rd n 25
matt ryan throwing directly to cassius vaughn
ATL not running the clock out on purpose
defensive holding penalty to stop the clock
delay of game penalty before the clock hit 0
miracle catch by ridiick
...win handed to us on s silver platter by the falcons and refs. We just didn't fuck it up....

 

[zoombabyzoom]

NYG - great game. we spanked them
CAR - our offense is pathetic...didn't have a chance
GB - hell of a defensive game. Most ive ever seen Rodgers throw the ball so errantly.
NYJ - jets are awful. somehow they made it close.
BUF - offense still awful.
MIN - Defense played awesome. Offense still blows.
NO - NO is dumb.
ATL - ATL is dumb.

So other than the Giants game we haven't had an offensive showing worth talking about. Defense won us the game multiple times. And twice the other team decided to completely go full retard in the 2nd half and let us win.

6-2 and sole possession of 1st place is all that matters. Offense needs to get their shit together if this team is going to be taken seriously.

Offense hasn't been healthy enough to do anything. Literally take any offense in the league. Take 6 of their top 7 playmakers on offense and wiped them completely off the game and then throw in a bad offensive line and no running game. And THEN, ask them to learn a new complex system.

I am amazed this offense is as decent as it is now with all of that. Imagine if Peyton Manning had that shit to deal with, he would literally be dead from all the hits.

 

[mhughes0021]

Offense hasn't been healthy enough to do anything. Literally take any offense in the league. Take 6 of their top 7 playmakers on offense and wiped them completely off the game and then throw in a bad offensive line and no running game. And THEN, ask them to learn a new complex system.

I am amazed this offense is as decent as it is now with all of that. Imagine if Peyton Manning had that shit to deal with, he would literally be dead from all the hits.

yup....all that happened to NE last year except they lost their top 8 targets. We'll see if Stafford can take us into the playoffs like brady did.

complex shmonplex. throw to tate or throw to Riddick....its very simple.

 

[zoombabyzoom]

yup....all that happened to NE last year except they lost their top 8 targets. We'll see if Stafford can take us into the playoffs like brady did.

complex shmonplex. throw to tate or throw to Riddick....its very simple.

Exception though New England had the 3rd best rushing attack in the AFC last year. We have almost the worst in the NFL this year. It's a bit of a difference.

 

[LKP]

3rd n 25
matt ryan throwing directly to cassius vaughn
ATL not running the clock out on purpose
defensive holding penalty to stop the clock
delay of game penalty before the clock hit 0
miracle catch by ridiick
...win handed to us on s silver platter by the falcons and refs. We just didn't fuck it up....

Great play on 3rd and 25 that was a rope and great speed by Tate. And good job avoiding pressure by Stafford too.
Great defensive scheme and some pressure to cause Ryan to panic.
Suh is a beast getting held on the def holding
Atlanta had a miracle catch on 3rd down. Our Dline is beastly to cause a hold and Jones had a drop. Drops clearly are normal. See Lions last year.
Prater slipped on the first kick and having to rush it caused the miss. Delay of game deserved due to second half domination.

We stopped the Falcons 3 times before that last drive in the second half. And dominated TOP with 5 scoring drives. Lions dominated and won the game.

 

[tomdalton22]

Prater slipped on the first kick and having to rush it caused the miss. Delay of game deserved due to second half domination.

Missed kick...true loss!

 

[LKP]

Missed kick...true loss!

Second half domination and bad non call by refs on 2 point conversion. True win. Plus Fuller slipped on the int.

 

[tomdalton22]

Second half domination and bad non call by refs on 2 point conversion. True win. Plus Fuller slipped on the int.

I'm just doing what you would do if Atlanta would have kicked the game winner after missing it and getting a "re-do" after THEY committed a penalty. In LKP logic...true loss!


edit:

I forgot...LKP logic does not exist....just LKP LION HOMER LOGIC!