Detroit Lions 2022 Season Thread

Dell Dude

EOG Master
The Stafford trade was brilliant. Nothing will change that. Rare trade that was brilliant both sides. Lambs got their trophy. Lions got their futures cat picks. But because the Lions are the Lions, they are going to blow it. Hutchinson is a bust. That was one of the dwafty's. So when the Lions go through all their extra picks and they still suck, don't blame the trade. It's the failure to improve their rooster after the trade. Goof alone makes it plus EV. He's been great.
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
That was a trade that should have resulted - or should since still not graded - in Super Show wins for both teams.
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
I'm no Mel Kiper but since the Lions have gotten high draft choices pretty much every year long enough to be relevant to their full rooster, howid do they come up short on talent and short this bad?

Only excuse is losing players to free agency after rookie contracts. If it's not that, poor choices draft and trades.
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
Sunday is make or break. Should easily shut down Pats offense. If whatever bum at QB lights them up, lights out.
 

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
The Lions have been spoiled by having two of the best kickers in the game over a period of 30 years.

Between Eddie Murray (1980 - 1991) and Jason Hanson, (1992-2012) we had two excellent kickers over a 30 year period. Since then, they haven't had much consistency at the kicking position. Yes, we had Matt Prater for a number of years, but they waived him due wanting to keep the salary at that position lower. Now we have guys like Dominik Eberle who missed two extra points this past Sunda who was just cut, Ryan Santoso last year who missed miserably on a FG attempt vs Pittsburgh to win our first game last season and Siebert who is injured. Lions brought in Michael Badgley to step in if Siebert can't go. Badgley accounted for all the Chicago Bears points on Sunday by making 4 FG's while stepping in for Cairo Santos who was dealing with a personal issue.


 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
Gimme a breaking bad about Murray. Nothing elite about him. Made one big kick his entire shit career and missed all the other important kicks including the biggest kick in 1983.
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
Hanson was ak solid but never got the opportunity to become legendary because he played for mostly shit teams. When they were good, lost big in the playoffs.
 

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
Gimme a breaking bad about Murray. Nothing elite about him. Made one big kick his entire shit career and missed all the other important kicks including the biggest kick in 1983.

Yes, he missed the biggest FG ever....still, he had a stable career with the Lions. Put him in the same class as Gary Anderson.
 

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated

Crazy, but true: Detroit Lions would be better off with Matt Patricia's bad defense​

Tell me if any of this sounds familiar.
The Detroit Lions were 1-3.
They couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t get to the quarterback, couldn’t force interceptions. They had a historically awful defense; didn’t have enough playmakers and weren’t getting much out of their draft picks. They ranked near the bottom in most defensive NFL categories, and everybody had the same question: “Why does this defense stink so bad?”
Sounds so familiar. But do you know when that was?
It was October 2020 — 36 games into the disaster known as the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn tenure.
Quick pause: Let’s take a second here for anyone still experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder because that regime.
'RAT BALL GETS YOU IN TROUBLE':How Lions plan to fix trust issues on terrible defense
But now, the unthinkable has happened. The Lions’ current defense is actually worse than Patricia’s dumpster fire.
[IMG alt="New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia, senior football advisor, watch the game during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Dolphins defeated the Patriots 20-7. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)"]https://archive.ph/Ozs6D/48f7a347a38e6b7f9f476abc50ca50d28ba7cf52.webp[/IMG]
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia, senior football advisor, watch the game during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Dolphins defeated the Patriots 20-7. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Lynne Sladky/AP

“It’s on all of us,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday. “I mean, we can’t — it’s hard to say you’re just going to point fingers at this or this. I mean, we’re all encompassing because my fingerprints are on this, and so are the players’. So, it’s all of us.”
We have seen plenty of bad defenses in Detroit. We have become something of experts at spotting them.
But this current defense is remarkable in its complete "suckiness" (yes, it’s so bad it needs its own term).
The current Lions defense is on pace to give up the most points in NFL history. So in that respect, this defense isn’t "Same Old Lions." It’s way worse than that.
This is next-level bad.
Now, here comes the irony: The Lions are going on the road this weekend to face the New England Patriots, a team that could be starting a third-string quarterback; a team coached by Patricia, now an offensive coordinator (not that he will be trying to run up the score against the Lions or anything).
“They're not going to hold the ball long,” Campbell said Tuesday during the "Stoney and Jansen Show" radio show on 97.1 The Ticket. “They're going to establish the run, run quick screens, and they're going to play the long game with you. They're going to try to ground it out. …
“I think Coach Patricia has done a pretty good job there. You can see him getting better every week and adapting, and if he's watching our tape from last week, there's a number of things he's going to try to attack, or I would, and so those are things we got to be ready for.”
What has gone wrong?
In many ways, history is repeating itself. The Lions are getting nothing out of their draft picks, lack playmakers and the scheme doesn’t seem to match the personnel.
Just like under Patricia.
Then again, maybe, we should have seen this coming because of what general manager Brad Holmes did during the offseason. Or more precisely, what he didn’t do.
He basically brought back the same defense as a year ago.
And he drafted with the long term in mind, instead of turning to short-term fixes.
He took Aidan Hutchinson with the second overall pick, which was understandable after how he played at Michigan. Hutchinson has shown flashes of brilliance (OK, one game) but has mostly been a nonfactor.
Holmes moved up in the draft to take injured wide receiver Jameson Williams, a move I fully support. But it’s costing them right now. Can you imagine how much better this defense would be if he had moved up to take a defensive player?
[IMG alt="Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson celebrates a sack against Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz (11) during the first half at Ford Field, Sept. 18, 2022."]https://archive.ph/Ozs6D/34af5d80c3dc433d4c89d87ddb0a0bbe83cbffcf.webp[/IMG]
Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson celebrates a sack against Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz (11) during the first half at Ford Field, Sept. 18, 2022. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press
And in the second round, Holmes drafted Kentucky edge rusher Josh Paschal, even though he battled an injury in college. Paschal has been out, although he is expected to start practicing Wednesday.
So all of those decisions have impacted this team’s defense, and Holmes deserves a share of the blame.
But there is an interesting difference between 2020 and this year. Even though salary caps change every year, and you can manipulate the cap by deferring money, it’s interesting to look at the percentage a team devotes to defense.
That 2020 defense had more than $87 million in salaries tied to the defense (39.9% of cap space), according to Spotrac.
This Campbell defense has spent $70.7 million on defense (32.5%).
NFL POWER RANKINGS:Lions slide after loss to Seattle Seahawks
So Holmes has saved money by not spending as much on defense while that unit has worsened.
Hmm. I supposed there should be no big surprise then, right?

So what can the Lions do?​

“I think we've got to calm some things down,” Campbell said on 97.1, repeating what he had said at a news conference on Monday. “You know, I think we got to go back to the basics. I think we've got to simplify and then I think we got to shake our roster up a little bit.”
That makes sense. I mean, it can’t hurt, right?
Normally, simplifying a suspect defense sounds like a smart decision, especially at a time like this. Good players can look bad when they are thinking too much or lack confidence.
But the Lions just don’t have that much talent on defense.
So making it simple is just making it simple.
I can’t imagine it’s going to unlock much greatness.
[ Here's what Dan Campbell should do about bad defense ]
As far as personnel changes, Campbell revealed on the radio Tuesday that they will activate defensive tackle Demetrius Taylor: “We’ll see if he can kinda help us out there a little bit.”
[IMG alt="Lions head coach Dan Campbell signals from the sideline during the first half against the Seahawks, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Detroit."]https://archive.ph/Ozs6D/4486d6d8bc168921eda3ea7d6935edafe1794b8f.webp[/IMG]
Lions head coach Dan Campbell signals from the sideline during the first half against the Seahawks, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Detroit. Paul Sancya, AP
That’s bound to help. Anything might.
But just playing assignment football, doing their jobs, filling the right gap, covering guys and not blowing coverages would be a massive improvement.

An ironic twist​

There is one sliver of hope: The Lions' offense.
“If the Lions had a bad defense, they’d be 3-1,” Dan Orlovsky, the former Lions quarterback and ESPN broadcaster, tweeted.
I totally agree.
The offense has been fantastic, the defense horrendous. Under Patricia, the 2020 Lions gave up an average of 32.4 points per game, setting franchise records. But this current team is giving up 35.3 per game. That’s nearly a field goal per game difference, which is significant considering they have lost two games by three points.
The irony? The painful truth?
If the Lions' defense would just go back to Patricia bad, this team might start winning some games.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel
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Dell Dude

EOG Master
There are Christoper Wrays to compensate for a piss of shit defense. First of all, you take chances and go for sacks and turnovers. Opposite of bend but don't break. If you are going to give up a touchdown, might as well be play 1 than play 10. Then you do things to keep the defense off the field by using 4 downs on offense and weaponizing onsides. Like Trumo would say. What do you have to lose?
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
Another thing is to shorten the game by purposely taking penalties to keep the clock rolling if you have the right spot. All of the above. Any and all options. You don't just keep trotting your shit defense out there and hope they will eventually make a stop.
 

Heim

EOG Master
I think I saw Matt Millen as a commentator on the Big10 Network.

Let's just say his playing weight is long gone.

Didn't the Lion demise start with as GM?
 

Rockfish

EOG Addicted
I think I saw Matt Millen as a commentator on the Big10 Network.

Let's just say his playing weight is long gone.

Didn't the Lion demise start with as GM?
He was very ill a few years ago. He had a heart transplant back then. Surprised he is well enough to be on TV again.
 

Dell Dude

EOG Master
Mark my words, Bowling. You mark them right now. Coach Dan Campbell soup for brains will overcorrect and be reckless on 4th downs like he did last year. That's what stupid does. Stupid doesn't learn or get smart. Stupid keeps doing stupid. It's the only thing stupid can do.
 
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