Bye week discussion: Taking stock

[RedRamage 109]

Okay, cause it's a bye week, perfect time to look at how the Lions are doing and give some opinions...

The offense has largely under performed in my humble opinion.  It's not that they've been awful, but they haven't been great either.  Stafford has at times looked off, and at times looked very good.  Same could be said probably about every unit on offense.  At times the running game looks great, at times it's been poor.  They actually had a 100 yard rusher... but only once in five games.  JBC hasn't shown me anything to make me think he deserved to stay on as OC.  I had hoped that Caldwell was holding him back and that a new HC would allow him to freer to call plays the way he wanted too... well, no.  I expected with another offense spent largely focused on the offense that it would be a top ranked offense, and it hasn't been.  Other than the Jets game they haven't been awful, but mediocre isn't going to cut it with all the resources spent there.  My grade so far would be a C-. This was supposed to be the strength of the team and it hasn't lived up to what I expected.

The defense, on the other hand, has played a lot better than I expected.  Now, to be fair, I didn't expect nearly as much from them, so even with them playing better than expected I'm not saying they are good... more like average when I expected worse than average... especially with Ansah once again missing significant time.  I think this is showing Patricia's finger prints.  The defense has played to their strength... the secondary.  They've blanketed receivers and this as allowed a "less than" DL to get a number of sacks... far more than I expected.  Again, don't get me wrong here.  I'm not saying they are top tier... just that I expected a **** sandwich and instead I got plain bologna on dry bread. My grade so far would be a C+.

Coaching... it's hard to say too much on the new guys.  They've shown signs of really getting it, and shown signs of being lost.  It's kinda what I'd expect with a first year HC though so I can't really say anything more than "incomplete" on Patricia and his new staff.  That said, I'm VERY concerned about JBC.  As I said above I had hoped that we'd see a new JBC w/o Caldwell and that's why Quinn and company wanted to hang on to him.  But so far... meh... it's just a lot of the same old offense that many defenses seem to be able to predict quite easily.  Coaching grade has to still be I until we learn more about Patricia, but so far it isn't' looking overtly encouraging.

[Shelton 1,324]

Red ramage thread.

[RedRamage 109]

Shelton post.

[Yoda 639]

12 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

Shelton post.

Shelton Post is actually his full name. So... joke's on you. 

[Shelton 1,324]

Shelton T. Post if we are being fully honest. 

[Mr. Bigglesworth 2,866]

The T stands for Tickle.

[Shelton 1,324]

It stands for Thread

[Buddha 733]

current nfc north odds:

viqueens +150

bears +160

packers +350

shelton t post's detroit lions +800

i still think the packers are the best team in the division.

[Mr. Bigglesworth 2,866]

FWIW, fivethirtyeight has the Packers as the worst team in division.

[Shelton 1,324]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Bigglesworth said:

FWIW, fivethirtyeight has the Packers as the worst team in division.

yah and they also hilary was going too win what a bunch of idiots

[RandyMarsh 445]

I don't get the Packers hype especially with a beat up Rodgers.  I think you can make a case for them being the worst team in the division. 

Kinda off topic but in regards to the Packers I feel they have been overrated for awhile now.  Every year people treat them like the consensus favorites and maybe there is some truth to that but it's not like they have been head and shoulders better than everybody in the division.  In the past 5 and half seasons they have only won 4 more games than the Lions.   

[Mr. Bigglesworth 2,866]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-bears-dont-need-blitzes-to-destroy-your-quarterback/

[RandyMarsh 445]

The Bears are really scary, as long as Trubisky is even average they are going to be a team to be reckoned with.  Could you imagine how good they would be if they drafted Mahomes instead?

[Shelton 1,324]

**** the bears

[jb84 15]

Actually, this new D scheme with lots of D in the back field may prove interesting. Pass happy teams, Pack and NE, had problems with it. I'm more optimistic than I was earlier. 

[jb84 15]

And the Bears look to be real! DAMN!!!

[lordstanley 565]

Go Dolphins!

[jb84 15]

yup, but not sure if Lions will keep up with Bears

[lordstanley 565]

Dolphins, you idiots.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21158057/the-dying-art-qb-sneak

[Buddha 733]

that bears loss was awesome.

[Passepartout 12]

Bet every single time an NFC North opponent loses this board must break out the champagne.

[Motown Bombers 777]

Rodgers is picking apart the 49ers defense. Maybe the Lions defense was actually slowing him down and not just the injury. 

[Motown Bombers 777]

And now we're seeing the Rodgers from the Lions game. 

[cruzer1 171]

I like the Lions chances more than ever right now.  They need to stop running games, but other than that I like the team a lot.

[RedRamage 109]

18 hours ago, Passepartout said:

Bet every single time an NFC North opponent loses this board must break out the champagne.

If I'm not mistaken, Buddha lives/works in Chicago, so he takes extra pleasure in seeing Bears fans grumpy.  It isn't just that the Bears are an NFC North rival in this case.